The exhibition draws on a set of specimens from the Historical Cartography Collection of the University of Porto to reconstruct, re-enact, and recreate the principles of lithographic production in the 19th century.

In the 21st century, the stone and paper of lithography are once again placed at the centre of action and serve as a starting point for dialogue between artistic research and archives. The exhibition highlights the gestures of reconstruction, from obtaining raw materials to studying design applied to cartography, including the processes of stone engraving and subsequent printing. Through production stages, work tools, and lithographic expeditions across national territory, it documents and re-enacts how the technique communicates an era, its participants, spaces, and ideas, and how a collection can inspire artistic creation and stimulate reflection on contemporaneity.

The title “Pedra, Papel, Guerra” alludes to the classic game “rock, paper, scissors”, introduced to Europe from Japan in the 19th century, and evokes the historical contexts of intense dispute and globalisation in which lithography served as a political tool, both in Europe and in Portugal.

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