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The Arnošt Lustig Foundation, established as an artistic-educational institution, works to cultivate humanism and justice by stewarding the timeless legacy of the renowned Czech author and Holocaust survivor Arnošt Lustig around the world.

ILLUSTRATIVE PROJECTS

International Touring Exhibition
I WANT TO BE HUMAN:
Arnošt Lustig’s Message to the Stars and to All of Us

The exhibition “I Want To Be Human – Arnošt Lustig’s Message to the Stars and to All of Us” is a call to self-reflection for young and old about a better, fairer world. This exhibition sends out into the universe the humanism and universal values embedded in Arnošt Lustig’s life and work.

It unconventionally depicts not only how humans can survive unimaginable things and retain their humanity, but also the gap between the progress humanity has made in science and its lack of progress in how to be human.
In the words of Arnošt Lustig: “The problem with civilisation is that it grows slowly, millimeter by millimeter, yet its thin crust can be peeled off in a week, a month… It’s easier to destroy civilisation than to enhance it, just as it’s easier to find an enemy than a friend.”

In 2024, after Prague, the exhibition will remain in the Czech Republic but travel to Ostrava. There, in the Ostrava Planetarium, the exhibition will be open to the general public from October 10 to December 31, 2024. The project is co-financed by the Moravian-Silesian Region and Municipality of the Statutory City of Ostrava.

I WANT TO BE HUMAN

IN CONGRESS CENTRE PRAGUE

I WANT TO BE HUMAN

past events

I WANT TO BE HUMAN:

in the media

Reflex, May 2024
mujRozhlas.cz, January 23 2024
Česká Televize, (starting at 9:21), June 16 2023
Radiožurnál, May 23, 2023
Czech Centre Brussels, May 23, 2023

Arnošt´s Journey:

a graphic novel by Markéta Pilátová,

illustrated by Eliška Podzimková

Take a look inside the book!
In conversation with Marketa Pilatova at the Czech Center in New York, USA
Photo Gallery from the Book Launch at Luxor, Prague, Czech Republic
Photo Gallery from the Book Launch in Brno, Czech Republic
Arnošt’s Journey at Charles University, Prague (flyer in French | flyer in English)

Young HUMAN-ists

The mission of the International Literary Contest The Young HUMAN-ists is to develop creative talent among young people while simultaneously strengthening humanist and democratic values. This contest was a key initiative of the Foundation, in many ways, symbolising Arnošt Lustig’s remarkable literary legacy and capticating life story.

The Foundation also wishes to inspire young people to learn to love to read and embed it a life-long habit.

The Foundation has been established as an artistic-educational institution, with the objective of cultivating humanism and justice around the world. In Lustig’s own words: „Social ailments such as racism, nationalism and fanaticism should not be underestimated. The danger has increased. I fear for my children.“

In the Media