Vojtěch Šavel Architecture
of Punishment

The Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art, University of West Bohemia, is entering into a partnership with the Josef Kajetán Tyl Theatre in Pilsen. Its first output is a pilot exhibition project at the Malá scéna stage, showcasing work by faculty students. The exhibitions will rotate approximately four times a year and will be accessible before each performance.

Architecture of Punishment
Vojtěch Šavel

Malá scéna, Josef Kajetán Tyl Theatre in Pilsen

Palackého náměstí 30, Pilsen

22 April – 26 June 2026

The series of drawings is based on records from juvenile detention facilities. Šavel works with a combined technique of charcoal, pigments, and sand coatings. The material is not neutral — its roughness carries meaning, echoing the environment of cells and entering directly into the image.

The motifs depict the tension between childhood experience and institutional violence. They do not operate through linear narrative but through fragments. Figures are often only partially present, embedded in the structure of the image, bearing the weight of the environment in which they appear.

Contrast is the defining principle of the series: the fragility of child figures against the rawness of the material. Innocence here is not a given but a question — as are punishment, guilt, and the possibility of redemption. The series offers no clear answers; instead, it creates a space for confronting these concepts.

About the Artist
Vojtěch Šavel has long focused on figurative motifs, exploring physical and psychological tension and the way it registers in the body. He completed his bachelor's studies at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art in Pilsen, in the Graphic Art studio, and is currently pursuing his master's degree there, developing his artistic voice and deepening his themes of corporeality, vulnerability, and physicality.

Opening: 21 April at 16:00
On view: 22 April – 26 June 2026
Malá scéna, DJKT, Palackého náměstí 30, Pilsen