
Think of a City illustration by Ian MacEwan © Ian MacEwan
The City is our story – but what is a city? That’s the question being posed by architect Alison Sampson and comics artist Ian MacEwan through Think of a City, a tumblr-based, mass storytelling project involving a huge range of creatives from across the globe that include Britain’s Dave McKean and US comics artists such as JH Williams III , combining their talents to deliver a unique cityscape online.
“We don’t know what will happen, any more than you do, but we each will add something, one after another,” says joint project creator and manager Alison, a Senior Architect at London-based John McAslan and Partners (who also says they won’t be revealing the running order of the images contributed). “We hope you will walk our streets and take a coffee in one of our cafes.
“Who knows what you might see, or the strange events you might chance across.”
Part-serious architectural investigation, part international art collaboration, for fun, for eventual exhibition, to work together, to see what happens, Think of a City is a mass storytelling project.
“It takes more than two people to build a city, and this project is a collective effort from everyone involved,” says Alison. “As with a city, we each bring our own offerings to the group, and perhaps, together we are stronger.
British creators incolved so far include Rob Davis, Ben Dickson, Oliver East, Jonathan Edwards, Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, Antony Johnston, Will Kirkby, Dave McKean, Alison herself, Si Spurrier, Chris Wildgoose and Rob Williams.
Although comic books provide linear stories, cities are something different. Join the creators on a Dérive to experience this city of the imagination, told page by page, by storytellers from around the world…
• Visit Think of a City at thinkofacity.tumblr.com. Any queries should be addressed to: thinkofacity(at)gmail.com
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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