Lithography as an individual journey: Livingstone 3 showcases unique works by European artists

Can a reproductive technique more than two centuries old become a medium of contemporary artistic expression? This was one of the questions explored at this year’s international Livingstone lithography symposium. The results are on view at the University Library in Pilsen until the end of August.

One matrix, many identical prints? Not this time. The third edition of the Livingstone lithography symposium at the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň departed from one of the fundamental principles of printmaking. This year, the artists worked with the concept of the pièce unique - a single, unrepeatable work. At the Sutnar Faculty, lithography thus shifted from a reproductive technique to a medium of direct personal expression.

“The focus on the pièce unique is not intended to deny the role of printmaking, but to place the singular nature of personal experience, including its imperfections and partiality, on an equal footing. In an environment where the media’s portrayal of the world makes it increasingly difficult to make decisions and distinguish between things, individual experience provides the basis for our inner sense of direction and our own hierarchy of values,” explained Mikoláš Axmann, head of the Graphic Art studio at the Sutnar Faculty, on behalf of the organizers.

According to Axmann, this year’s symposium was also distinctive in its working methods. The artists produced large-format prints without using a printing press. He believes that radically simplifying the process redirects energy away from operating the equipment towards what truly matters: developing attentiveness and cultivating our capacity for understanding.

“This shift in the overall framework gives the 230-year-old reproductive technique a contemporary form and undoubtedly represents genuine writing and drawing on stone - lithography in the truest sense of the word,” Mikoláš Axmann summarised. Although each artist has a distinct visual language, their work shares an emphasis on experience gained through direct contact with the stone and the printing process itself.

This year’s Livingstone symposium was once again organized by the Graphic Art studio at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art, University of West Bohemia. Building on their long-standing links with European artists and printmaking workshops, the organizers invited Nastasia Ciupa from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Olivia Christen from Studio TIZIANA in Pirna, Li Portenlänger from the Eichstätt lithography workshop, and Belgian printmaker Els Patoor to Pilsen. Sutnar Faculty graduate Filip Trnka also accepted the invitation, alongside members of the host studio’s teaching staff. In addition to Mikoláš Axmann, the symposium therefore featured Bedřich Kocman, Jan Kocman, and Said Ismail.

The Livingstone 3 exhibition, now on view in the foyer of the University Library at the University of West Bohemia’s Bory campus in Plzeň, presents the unique works created during the symposium. It reveals the different ways in which contemporary European printmakers approach this traditional medium. Admission is free, and the exhibition is open until 30 August, on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.