Deb’s Travel Diary: Manga, BD, & Comics Exhibit @ Pompidou

Crossposted from our sister site: K-ComicsBeat:

Continuing my France – Japan travel diary with Day 1 in Paris. You can see my entry for Day 0 – Day 1, which has some of my past travel mishaps and travel tips. Now on to the actual comics/manga part of the trip!

Day 1 (continued) – Bande dessinée, 1964 – 2024 exhibit at Pompidou Centre, Paris

After arriving in Paris, I dropped off my bags at my hotel, and walked to Pompidou Centre to visit the Bande dessinée (Comics) 1964-2024 exhibit. This exhibit opened in late May 2024, and was part of the various events and cultural activities in the City of Light to celebrate the 2024 Olympics.

Compared to the US, France treats comics like a distinctive form of cultural expression that is valued alongside music, literature, sculpture, painting and drawing, architecture, theater, and media arts (radio, television, photography). I knew that are referred to as “the 9th art,” but I was surprised to see that there’s a 10^th art as well: video games and digital arts.

Comics being singled out as a valued art form in France really something special. You see this level of respect and government funding/support for comics in Japan and maybe S. Korea, but not so much in the US, where comics exhibits and museums dedicated to comics and comics creators are relatively rare.

I was so grateful that I bought tickets for this exhibit ahead of time because there was a sign at the door saying that “today’s tickets for temporary exhibits were sold out.” This was extra important because the last day of the exhibit would be Monday, November 4, and Sunday was my only full day in Paris. I made a point to arrive in Paris this weekend because I really, really wanted to see this show in person, so it would have been a huge bummer to come all this way and be turned away at the door.

Rule 6 for France Travel:  Book tickets for museums and attractions in advance

Many popular museums and attractions in France offer online ticketing. Even if the museum/attraction isn’t sold out, these advance purchase tickets often let you avoid long lines to enter (The Louvre Museum is a prime example of this).