Museum of Communication Bern shows press drawings of the year
Once again this year, the Museum of Communication in Bern is launching an exhibition toward the end of the year featuring the best Swiss press cartoons of the year. These cartoons make it easier to reflect on the past year and start the new one with a smile. The best cartoon of the year is by Oger.
"Laughter as liberation, wit as a weapon: especially in times when there is little to laugh about, humor is all the more important - perhaps even vital," said Jacqueline Strauss, Director of the Museum of Communication, to the media on Thursday.
With a single image, a drawing tells entire stories, opens up abysses, stimulates thoughts and makes people laugh at the same time. According to the museum, the press drawing is a top communicative achievement and an underestimated journalistic art.
The exhibition shows what was on the agenda in 2024: the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, Nemo in first place at the ESC, a 13th AHV pension for Switzerland, extreme weather with flooding, the Olympics in Paris, the elections in the USA and the landing of Swiss army planes on the highway.
Swiss Cartoon Award goes to Andreas Ackermann
As part of the exhibition, the award for the best cartoon of the year was also presented for the second time. This year's prize, worth 1,000 Swiss francs, goes to Zurich cartoonist Andreas Ackermann - whose pen name is "Ogre". His cartoon "Halloween 2024" was published online on October 31, 2024 on the satire platform The petard published. "The Middle East conflict has shown how difficult it is to take a stand, even for cartoonists. After more than a year of war, there is no longer a simple good and evil classification, and this cartoon sums it up wonderfully," says Marco Ratschiller, cartoonist and president of the Gezeichnet association, explaining the jury's decision.
Second place was awarded ex aequo to the works of Vincent Di Silvestro "Albert Rösti rouvre la porte du nucléaire" (Vigousse) and Ruedi Widmer's "Bank Robbery" (The Land messenger) was chosen. Third place went to the cartoon "Sur le chemin de la Maison Blanche" (NZZ on Sunday) by Patrick Chappatte on the election of Donald Trump.
The "Gezeichnet 2024" exhibition runs from December 13 to February 23 and includes almost 250 works by over 50 press illustrators. (SDA/pd/swi)
