The World Gallery of Cartoons is the one and only event of such provenance in Macedonia, the oldest in the Balkan and one of the most long-standing in the world. It was established back in 1969 by the newsroom of the magazine Osten, making artistic forms like cartoon, satiric drawing and comic strips available to the wider audience.

The World Gallery of Cartoons through time has experienced different fortune – from being completely supported by the community and institutions, to transition inability to publish an annual edition. The reappearance of the World Gallery of Cartoons in the past few years was marked by personal engagement and enthusiasm by those who refused to agree to its elimination and hence managed to sustain it at the pleasure of the community – domestic and international.

Thus, in Skopje and in Macedonia, the wide open window to the world remained open, equally accommodating the wind and rain, the sun and moon. OSTEN remained to be the ray of light obstinately defying time.