RESPECT is an international project which unites comics artists from Russia and Europe. It aims at presenting social issues in a topical, accessible language. “You are not obliged to love your neighbor. Just start to respect him,"- this is the informal slogan of the project “RESPECT. Stories from/about other countries”.
We believe in the world of atomized culture and peoples there is a language that can unite us – the language of comics.
The project’s main target group is young people and teenagers. This is the social group that reacts most violently to social tension and, moreover, defines social terms in the future. In order to speak to the today’s youth it is necessary to use their language. Comic strips offer such a language. Moreover comics have both – the visual strength of cinema and the didactic potential of literature.
Artists from different countries meet in Russia and spend some time together: 5 days in May 2011 in Moscow and 5 days in Autumn 2011 in Ekaterinburg. During this time each artist thinks over a graphic RESPECT-story, takes part in lectures and discussions and gives master-classes.
Participants of the first stage of the project: William Goldsmith (UK), Gerhard Seyfried and Ziska Riemann (Germany), Alexander Gellner (Germany), Erdil Yaşaroğlu (Turkey), Jose Antonio Bernal (Spain), Igor Baranko (Ukraine), Roman Sokolov (Russia), Aleksei Iorsh (Russia), Alim Velitov (Russia).
Comics and information about the project will be printed as wasy-to-handle-pocket books, postcards, posters and stickers. They will be distributed in cafés, bars, schools, universities, clubs etc. Exhibitions based on the the two workshops will be shown at KomMissia 2012 as well as various other cities of Russia.
Moscow International Comics Festival KomMissia, the Moscow Centre for Contemporary Art WINZAVOD (co-organizer of the Festival), the British Council, the Moscow branch of the Goethe-Institut (Germany) and the Yekaterinburg branch of the National Center of Contemporary Art (NCCA). The project is supported by the European Commission.
Official project’s web-site - www.respect.com.mx
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Watch the detailed photo report from the event in the 
