Bratislava Illustration Biennial 2025 hit by Slovak artist boycott

21.10.2025

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Over 20 Slovak illustrators have declined to showcase their work at the 2025 Bratislava Biennial of Illustration as a form of protest.

According to the participants of the boycott, the reason for the protest was that the International House of Art for Children BIBIANA, which organizes the Illustration Biennial in Bratislava, “has not been functioning as a democratic cultural institution for a long time – not just for the last year and a half.”

Currently, 22 illustrators have refused to present their works. Among them are: Bianka Töröková, Bystrík Vančo, Csilla Dózsa, Danka Olejníková, David Soboň, Edita Hajdu, Filip Horník, Han Donau, Ján Kurinec, Katarína Ilkovičová, Katarína Hutníková, Mária Nerádová, Marta Matus, Matej Ilčík, Nikola Aronová, Noémi Ráczová, Petra Lukovicsová, Hedviga M. Gutiérrez, Zsolt Lukács, Martin Smatana, Martina Matlovičová, and Viliam Slaminka.

“We are Slovak illustrators – you may not recognize our faces and names, but you see our work in books, magazines, and on posters. For many of us, participating in BIB – Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava has been a long-standing dream and a prestigious goal. Generations of children have visited BIB with their parents, grandparents, or school classes – it was not only a major social event for visitors, but also a celebration of illustration, and not only Slovak illustration.”

Currently, boycott participants are making the following requests publicly:

that the hiring process for the management of BIBIANA, the International House of Art for Children, be open and transparent and not take place behind closed doors. This also applies to all professional positions;

that the position of the general commissioner of the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava be hired through a selection process, that this position be limited to a maximum of two BIB editions, and that the person who holds it be chosen by consensus among the professional illustration community and on the basis of the best project;

that the selection of illustrations that the public will see at the nomination exhibitions, one of the highlights of the event, be carried out fairly by a professional jury, which should be changed regularly and should refrain from competing in the given year, and that clear criteria be established for membership in selection committees;

To improve the quality of presentation materials and the exhibition design itself during BIB – Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava, as well as other exhibitions and stands at major international events that represent Slovak book culture, so that Slovak illustrators do not lag behind in international competition;

that the originals of book illustrations, which illustrators have donated or symbolically provided to the International House of Art for Children BIBIANA for a fraction of their actual value, be digitized and made available to the public on the BIBIANA website, and that they be regularly presented at exhibitions, with dignity; and

that countries accused of war crimes be excluded from the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava competition, without compromise. At the same time, however, boycott participants want artists who represent these countries and who often oppose their own governments to have the opportunity to participate “under a white flag.”

“We often heard from different sides that by openly criticizing BIB we actually want to destroy it. That is not true,” wrote the boycott participants. “Our goal has been and still is for BIB’s leadership to be open to discussion and able to respond to the changes happening around us. We don’t want it to become a museum of nostalgia.”

“We don’t want it to be run by people who either lack understanding of the field or have turned it into a lifelong tool of self-promotion,” said Miloš Kopták, illustrator, artist, co-founder of ASIL – Slovak Illustrators Association, and co-founder of TOTO! je galéria.

In addition, the website calls for people to sign a petition setting out all the demands; it has currently been supported by over 300 people.

In January 2025, the Slovak Literary Centre issued a statement expressing concern about the dismissal of Pavol Sibila from his position as director of the Slovak Literary Centre and demanding his reinstatement.

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn