"linocut today" graphic design competition

Since the first linoleum factory was built in Bietigheim in 1899, industrial history and urban development have been closely linked to the production of linoleum flooring. With the founding of the Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen in 1989, the "Linocut today" competition was also launched. The aim of the competition is to support contemporary artists working in the linocut technique and to encourage others to use it. The competition is open to all professional artists; there are neither regional nor national restrictions.

Since the first linoleum factory was built in Bietigheim in 1899, industrial history and urban development have been closely linked to the production of linoleum as a floor covering. With the founding of the Bietigheim-Bissingen Municipal Gallery in 1989, the "Linocut Today" competition was launched, which has now received more than 500 applications from all over the world. The graphic design prize supports both contemporary artists who are intensively committed to linocut, as well as those who are rediscovering this traditional technique for themselves. Even though linocut is a relatively young technique - linoleum was invented in the middle of the 19th century and has been used for artistic purposes since the beginning of the 20th century - it has a respectable tradition from the Expressionists to the artists of French modernism such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, to its rediscovery in the 1980s by Georg Baselitz, Markus Lüpertz and Jörg Immendorff. The competition “Linocut today” has made a further contribution to establishing this technique as an artistic relief printing technique on an equal footing with woodcut.