European graphic artists gather at Sutnarka for the third Livingstone Symposium

From reproduction to expression. This year’s international symposium focuses on lithography as a medium for individual artistic expression. Graphic artists from the Czech Republic and abroad will gather in Pilsen. The symposium is hosted by the Sutnar Faculty.

This year’s third edition of the Livingstone symposium, subtitled From Reproduction to Expression, turns its attention to lithography as a distinctive artistic medium that, beyond its reproductive function, offers space for personal expression and experimentation. Graphic artists from Poland, Germany, Belgium, and the Czech Republic will gather at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. From Sunday, 28 June, to Thursday, 2 July, they will work side by side, with the results of their collaboration later presented to the public.

“The third edition of the international Livingstone large-format lithography symposium highlights the transformation of a reproductive technique into a means of artistic expression. Priority is given to uniqueness and the freedom to work within a relatively large image field,” said Mikoláš Axmann, head of the Graphic Art studio at the Sutnar Faculty and one of the symposium’s organizers. According to Axmann, the symposium’s international character stems from long-standing professional relationships that the Graphic Art studio has developed with artists and print workshops abroad.

This year’s symposium will welcome Nastasia Ciupa from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Olivia Christen from the TIZIANA lithography workshop and studio in Pirna, Li Portenlänger from the lithography workshop in Eichstätt, Belgian graphic artist Els Patoor, and Filip Trnka, a graduate of the Graphic Art studio who now works at the Kbely Collective Print Workshop and the Žitná Lithography Workshop. Members of the hosting Graphic Art studio will also take part in the symposium.

The five-day symposium will culminate in the exhibition Livingstone 3 at the University Library of the University of West Bohemia on the Bory campus. The exhibition will present works created during the artists’ residency at the Sutnar Faculty. The opening reception will take place on Wednesday, 1 July, at 6 p.m. The exhibition will be open to the public from 2 July to 30 August 2026.