Found Footage – The Collage as a Narrative Principle

Most people think of cut-and-paste paper works when they hear the word “collage”. Together with cartoonist and illustrator Jan Soeken, students at Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg took a broader approach: How can something new be made from something that already exists? What happens when we take things apart, rearrange them, or bring together things that do not seem to belong together? And how can gaps and disruptions become part of a story—not only between text and image, but also within the narrative itself? Starting from found objects and unexpected source material, the students created comics and visual narratives full of gaps, breaks, and surprising connections.