How powerful can an individual’s voice be? What does it mean to take responsibility for the world around us, and how is the relationship between freedom, truth, and power changing today?

The exhibition Havel 26 at the Ladislav Sutnar Gallery explores these questions through the work of students at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. On the occasion of what would have been Václav Havel’s 90th birthday, the exhibition returns to his ideas and explores how they might resonate with a generation that knows his life story primarily through secondhand accounts.

Havel is not presented here as an untouchable historical figure or as the subject of nostalgic reminiscence. Instead, he serves as a starting point for the students’ own reflections, doubts, and artistic interpretations. Students focus on topics such as human rights, personal responsibility, civic engagement, and contemporary manifestations of “the power of the powerless.” They are interested in how Havel’s reflections on truth, freedom, and responsibility relate to today’s world, marked by information overload, social media, and disinformation.

The exhibition brings together works by students from the Interactive Design, Photography, Intermedia, Graphic Design and Visual Communication, Graphic Design and Digital Media, and Animation studios. In one place, visual poetry and analog technologies meet digital media and generative artificial intelligence. These diverse approaches demonstrate that Havel’s legacy need not be merely a subject of interpretation but can become a living impetus for finding one’s own stance.

The exhibition will also feature a mini-cinema with screenings of animated films and artist-created videos. Interactive exhibits will engage visitors in a play with text, images, and technology, offering them the opportunity to become part of the action itself.

The exhibition invites visitors to discover which of Havel’s questions remain relevant to us today.