Yes is more comics as an architectural manifesto

Andrzej Jarczewski

doi:10.37190/arc210211

Abstract

The aim of the article was to present a comic book as a new medium of communicating the architectural manifesto and to highlight the transmission possibilities that this genre of art brings to architects. The subject of our study was the archicomic Yes is more created by Bjarke Ingels, the founder of the Danish architectural firm BIG. The visual and narrative means used by the author, which are characteristic of the language of comics, have been analyzed. A study was conducted on what linguistic and graphic forms the author used to take advantage of the popularity of the medium chosen by him. In a declaration so important for every author, which is a creative manifesto, the choice of the medium of communication also becomes an artistic declaration. During the research, the case of the architectural manifesto of the British design group Archigram was investigated, which first published it as a comic book. The article describes how Bjerk Ingels, in his archicomic, gave his thoughts on the architect’s methods of operation, how to create architecture, and how this architecture should exist and function. The 400-page long graphic novel used the divisions, narrative lines and visual effects characteristic of a comic book. The author, appearing here as a comic book hero, uses images illustrating the methods of designing architecture and the effects of this work. The conclusions of the study are in line with Ingels’ actual achievements. Referring to the phenomenon that the comic has now become in the form of a manifesto gives measurable marketing effects, confirming the effectiveness of the medium used. Yes is more is the most cited example of an architectural comic today.