OPEN DOORS. OPEN MINDS. A comic book project by the Stuttgart – Cardiff town twinning association

From left: Carolin Kümmerlen (City of Stuttgart, Coordinator for Sister Cities in the Global South, the United Kingdom, and the United States), Sarah Chand (“ComicJuju – Stuttgart Comic Days,” co-founder, artistic director), Liam Barrett MA, PGCE, BA (Hons) (Illustration Lecturer, Faculty of Creative Industries / University of South Wales), Bett Norris (Lecturer in Illustration, Faculty of Business and Creative Industries, Creative Industries Research and Innovation Group, University of South Wales), Prof. Florian Bayer, and Rector Dr. Barbara M. Eggert (Photo ©Dominique Brewing)

OPEN DOORS. OPEN MINDS.
A comic project by the Stuttgart-Cardiff town twinning association
Exhibition | Opening March 13, 2026 | StadtPalais – Museum für Stuttgart

To mark the 70th anniversary of the city partnership between Stuttgart and Cardiff, students from the Merz Akademie and the University of South Wales have collaborated with ComicJuju e.V. on a joint project. The focus is on the universal experiences of arrival and welcome.

In October 2025, the Stuttgart students traveled to Cardiff to explore their Welsh twin city. This excursion was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the PROMOS program. In workshops and encounters with Welsh fellow students, they collected stories set against a backdrop of medieval architecture and contemporary culture. In doing so, they not only took on the role of guests, but also became a mirror in which their hosts could see their familiar surroundings in a new light.

These experiences gave rise to individual comics – from Stuttgart and Cardiff. The works combine personal encounters with social issues: What does it mean to arrive? How do we open doors? The students’ comics are also published collectively in this year’s riso-printed ComicJuju Zine.

The Cardiff delegation is traveling to Stuttgart for the opening – 70 years after the city partnership was founded as a peace project to break down prejudices through personal encounters and transform political abstraction into human reality. The exhibition opening is part of the program of the Stuttgart Comic Days, which will take place from March 9 to 15, 2026.

Project management: Sarah Chand (ComicJuju e.V. – Die Stuttgarter Comictage), Prof. Florian Bayer (Merz Akademie) and Liam Barrett (University of South Wales)
Cooperation: ComicJuju e.V. – Die Stuttgarter Comictage, Merz Akademie Stuttgart, University of South Wales, City of Stuttgart and Cardiff Council