This year’s Showcase exhibition once again presents a selection of illustrators and comic artists from around the world who responded to our open call. LUSTR traditionally announces this call at the beginning of each new year. We are delighted that more and more authors are applying each year, allowing us to offer the public diversity not only in terms of art but also in terms of age, gender, and geography. We are pleased that our call is reaching beyond the borders of Europe. Last year, we received a record number of applications from Asia, and this year we also received applications from South America and Mexico, and even from Kenya and New Zealand.
The exhibitors in the comics and creative collectives sections were selected by a jury consisting of Františka Loubat, illustrator, comic book author, and artist; Martin Foret, researcher, visual culture theorist, and comic book historian; Jaromír99, comic book artist and pioneer of Czech comics for adults; Tereza Šiklová, illustrator and comic book artist; and Jakub Sedláček, editor-in-chief of Paseka Publishing House and comic book editor. The LUSTR festival was represented by co-founder and director Naděžda Bilinová and festival curators and dramaturges Bára Müllerová and Jana Jarošová. The Taiwanese exhibitors for LUSTR are selected by Andy Yen, curator of the Taipei Illustration Fair, and we are delighted that this international collaboration has enabled us to exchange exhibitors with one of the largest illustration festivals in Southeast Asia for the third year running.