Comics, video games, board games and bricks, but also live performances and meetings: from the voice actor Alex Polidori, voice of Tom Holland in Spiderman, to science communicators and web characters Adrian Fartade and Barbascura X. The musical shows of Cristina D are not to be missed. ‘Avena and Giorgio Vanni, voices loved by entire generations of young people. A colorful and fun fair, which welcomes hundreds of stands and interactive areas and which promises to give two days in total light-heartedness.
A growing response year after year, three editions to the credit and a transversal and enthusiastic public, with 29 thousand visitors at the recent spring event: on the strength of a consolidated success, Gardacon doubles, inaugurating its autumn edition in the name of many innovations and some great confirmations.
The comic and pop culture fair organized at Centro Fiera Montichiari is ready to welcome the public with an even richer offer, both in terms of exhibition and thematic areas. Over 150 commercial stands for an immense trade show of games, comics and gadgets.
Not just comics and video games, but an all-round journey into the worlds of fun loved by young and old. And speaking of news, the Magicon area promises to leave everyone speechless: a real and totally new themed convention, where it will be possible to experience the world of magic at 360 degrees, with the magicians of the Court of Illusion in Brescia. who for two days will engage in a series of unrepeatable performances, numbers of illusionism and continuous shows for young and old.
Magic, mystery and color also meet in the renewed Sci-Fi area, where the main Italian associations and realities will lead visitors on a journey through the most beloved film and TV series settings – from Star Wars to Doctor Who, from Back to the future to the most recent “Stranger Things” – with the most skilled cosplayers and scenarios that have made history, to live a real daydream.
No less magical are the areas dedicated to videogames, including the inevitable retrogaming zone: 80 original classic arcade games freely usable in their original version on a cabinet, an area on the history of computing by Retrocampus and almost 100 consoles that retrace decades of shared history and memories, from the Atari to the Commodore and the Megadrive. The futuristic new gen stations of the Gamers Arena, driving simulators, VR and the most popular video game tournaments of the moment (Fifa 23, Call of Duty, Mario Kart 8, Just Dance, Valorant) are also back. At Gardacon apparently distant worlds meet and unite, and so the step from electronic games to analog and traditional ones is really short: alongside videogames, in addition to the new initiative dedicated to wooden and skill games, there are thousands of square meters of bricks. A huge area inside which you can admire the creations of the most skilled Italian builders and have family fun with workshops, under the expert guidance of those who have made this pastime a real form of art.
To the delight of all lovers of animated theme songs, two unmissable musical shows by Cristina D’Avena and Giorgio Vanni, which respectively on Saturday and Sunday will revive the atmosphere of children’s TV and the best cartoons, interpreting the most popular melodies live. loved by the children of yesterday and today. But the musical soul of Gardacon does not end with the theme songs: on Saturday Bardomagno, a parody folk group linked to the “Feudalism and Freedom” community, will play, on Sunday it will be the turn of Furor Gallico, a folk metal band with inspirations related to the fantasy world.
Space also for the world of the web, with an in-depth study on issues related to scientific dissemination through social media: Saturday Adrian Fartade, expert in astronomy and founder of the YouTube channel Link4Universe, Sunday Barbascura X, who became famous on the net for its original and fun format ” Ugly Science “.
Representing the world of dubbing Alex Polidori, the Italian voice of Tom Holland in Spider-Man, who will perform in a unique live show with stuntman Marko Noctis, where dubbing and acrobatic performances come together in a 360-degree interpretation of the character.
A certainty of Gardacon is the artist alley, which for this edition hosts over 40 authors of national and international fame, such as Christian Cornia, Francesco Barbieri and Riccardo Burchielli: the cartoonists will draw live and meet their fans in search of a sketch, then taking turns on the workshop stage to reveal all the secrets of their art. But the superheroes do not live only in the drawings of the artists, but also on the cosplay stage, where on Saturday and Sunday hundreds of fans will parade who are preparing to faithfully interpret characters from cartoons, films and TV series, imitating them in clothing as well as in movements, and recreating live the most famous episodes and the scenes that have now entered the shared imagination.