APPROPRIATING PHOTOGRAPHY: IN SEARCH FOR THE AUTHOR
The history of the appropriation strategy in art and literature dates back to more than a century, but its use in the field of photography has not become everyday practice yet and from time to time opens up new debates. Artists appropriate or, in other words, borrow any artifacts of the real world: from objects […]
BELARUSIAN PHOTOGRAPHY IS ALL RIGHT!
On October 15, 2015 as a part of the second «Month of Photography in Minsk» a round table was held dedicated to the issues of photographic field economy. The photographers from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Poland took part in the discussion which turned out to be rather versatile: the problems touched upon ranged from the […]
20 YEARS LATER, or ОN CONTINUITY IN PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Exploring photography and establishing continuity trends are closely associated with the topic of cultural identity – the issue which still remains painful for us. Photography has always been characteristic of such main functions as reality registration and the photographer’s existential search, and in this aspect it provides researchers with rich data for analysis. In regard to these questions «BY NOW» is a project of a particular interest. It was the result of the ambitious contest held in 2013 by the German curators Matthias Harder and Hans Pieler
WHAT RUSLAN VAŠKIEVIČ DOES NOT REGARD
pARTisan #27’2015 In the novel «What I Loved» which attempts to give interpretation to a contemporary artist’s creativity, the American writer Siri Hustvedt comes to the conclusion that any painting starts to exist only when observed by the viewer. «Any time including a viewer’s shadow into the composition, the artist emphasizes the space between the viewer and the painting, because it is there where a real action […]
«ANATOMIA. PERFECT BODY»: FINDING ANSWERS WHEN SEARCHING
Just a couple of days ago at Ў Gallery of Contemporary Art the group exhibition «The Dimension of Emptiness» opened, being another example of «АRТ-SOC-LAB» project activities. Maksim Bahdanovič Literary Museum positively surprises with its courageous cooperation with contemporary art. And the Center of Contemporary Art not for the first time welcomes in its halls Dzina Daniłovič’s long-term project «Anatomia».
FREEDOMS AND MYTHS OF «BELARUSIAN CLIMATE»
«Why do people create myths? Well, people do not exist in this reality, in principle!» — Philip Chmyr concludes, giving me a cunning look across the table in a busy café. Next to him there is one more protagonist of the Belarussian art-irreality sitting — Ihar Korzun, for more than an hour braiding an infinitely intricate and controversial story of the rise and dissolution of the art group «Belarusian climate»
ZHANNA GLADKO: THE RIGHT OVER ONE’S OWN BODY
Identity and its numerous manifestations became an object of attention of curators and participants of the art project «XXY», which opened in early September 2014 in the Minsk gallery «Ў». Not for the first time within this gallery’s space we can find the works of a contemporary Belarusian artist Zhanna Gladko
SIARHEI HUDZILIN: BELARUS IS A MULTICULTURAL CHAOS
It is not for the first time that among the winners of «Belarus Press Photo» we find the name of Siarhei Hudzilin — a photographer from «the first Belarusian newspaper», a man who truly loves his job and goes on documenting our routine, asking himself and the audience questions that deal with a very sensitive and yet necessary issue — the Belarusian national identity
PRESENT CONTINUOUS, or PHOTOGRAPHY in ‘PROCESS’
Having learnt that a new photo-exhibition at ‘CECH’ art-space is named ‘Process’, the first thing that comes to one’s mind is certainly Franz Kafka. The story which starts with the absurd of nothing and ends up with the death of nothing, despair and foolishness of bureaucratic pitfalls as well as the painful omnipresence of Big Brother seem to be more than relevant