SUBVERSIVE PRACTICES OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN BELARUS

To counter the dominance of ideology in the public consciousness, the Belarusian independent community more and more often articulates the idea of having a public platform where agonistic competition among different discourses would be possible. The rivalry among them would thus generate new meanings. Contemporary art becomes one of such platforms. This kind of intervention can be seen if one looks at three events in Belarusian contemporary art: the art of the painter called A.R.Ch (A.R.Č)., the project by Marina Naprushkina (Maryna Napruškina) «Anti-propaganda Bureau», and the exhibition of Zhanna Gladko (Žanna Hładko) works «Inciting Force»

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

MARINA NAPRUSHKINA: IT IS A PARALLEL WORLD

A year ago Marina Naprushkina, a Belarusian artist and author of the project Office for Anti-Propaganda who has been living and working in Berlin for a few years, launched a campaign Neue Nachbarschaft//Moabit. This is a volunteer initiative which works with refugees and protects their rights. Marina Naprushkina dwells on the campaign’s history, activities, outcomes and prospects

#SEX #GENDER #ART: «MY RIGHT FOR PORNO»

On September 2014 the discussion «#Sex #Gender #Art in the Post-Soviet Space» was held. It’s a part of XXY art project about gender and sexuality. The participants: A.Belov (UA), Zhanna Gladko (BY), Michaił Hulin (BY), Sergey Shabohin (BY)

MANIFESTA 10: IN FACT THEY’RE COLONIZED

On June 28, 2014 The European Biennial of Contemporary Art Manifesta10 was launched in St. Petersburg, according to some opinions — the biggest and most controversial art event of the year (according Russian media). St. Petersburg was selected as the venue for this year’s Biennale, partly due to the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage. Tania Arcimovič (critic, «pARTisan» media project editor,), Alaksiej Barysionak (critic, «ArtAktivist» editor) and Volha Šparaha(philosopher, «New Europe» editor) share their impressions about the Biennale, about the strategy of (non) participation (if we can use such tactics speaking about Belarus?), also trying to reflect on the reasons why Belarus is not present in Manifesta

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

8TH BERLIN BIENNALE: FOR CONNECTING TO HISTORY AND FUTURE

This year, the 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art welcomes visitors to the different areas of the city, the cartography of which brings everyone to rich history of Berlin. After spending some time in Berlin, the curator admitted the importance of architecture for connecting the city both to its history and its future

REPLIKA: BELARUSSIAN ART-GENERATION Z

While the narrative of the contemporary Belarusian art of the 1990s and the 2000s is only recently being written (names are regained, facts and phenomena recalled, a struggle with state institutions against the monopolization of history and the spheres of influence is pursued), a number of exhibition-events have been held in Minsk. What are they like? What distinguishes them from one another and from their predecessors?

«CONSTRUCTION SIDE BOARD»: SPACE TESTING

During the night between May, 7th and 8th a part of the multimedia installation «Construction Side Board» by Anton Sarokin and Alaksiej Navumčyk presented within the project «OFFSIDE» became a victim of vandalism

THE EXPOSITION OF «OFFSIDE» ART PROJECT

Artists: Paulina Vituščanka, Siarhei Hudzilin, Michaił Hulin, Valancina Kisialova, Alaksiej Łunioŭ , Alaksiej Navumčyk, Anton Sarokin, Antanina Słabodčykava, Maxim Tyminko, Jura Shust and art-group Bouillon (Georgia).
The curators’ group: Таnia Arcimovič, Alaksiej Barysionak, Valancina Kisialova, Inha Lindarenka.

MAY 1-27, 2014 — ART PROJECT «OFFSIDE»

Which place does sport take in the cultural space of Belarus — in its artistic, ideological and urban dimensions? How does sport «mega-events» transform the city’s economy, its infrastructure and the daily practices of its citizens? Is sport a form of exploitation and discipline of the body? Can energy of collective experience be used beyond ideological goals?

PROCRUSTEAN BED OF BELARUSIAN ART: 10 CENTURIES?

The exhibition «Ten Centuries of in Belarus Art », which opened at the National Art Museum in March, was immediately named as «unique» by critics, visitors and mass media. Nevertheless, despite all the advantages, the importance of such a project in the country’s culture and its historical role, what can such a form of presentation warn us about? What things already dealing with our present days does it speak about? What is it that we are losing now and in what way are we becoming witnesses of the history formation?

THE SPACE OF ONE’S PRIVATE FOREST

In March 2014 the project «Angulum Ligno» was exhibited in the Contemporary Art Gallery «Ў». The installation bearing the same name was created by the artist Alena Haiduk in the framework of the gallery’s program «START» aimed at supporting the creative youth

Michail Hulin: A Right not to live in underground

About difficulty to speak out publicly in Belarus, about his personal experience, and that is why he is not engaged in political art, says Belarusian artist Michaił Hulin

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

Uladzimir Parfianok: Life with Photography

There are more than 20 project series in the portfolio of famous Belarusian photographer Uladzimir Parfianok — there has been a photo a day. Piles of these photos have actually formed a diary of the epoch, or the edge of epochs, the new reality where only author’s lifestyle remains unchanged. This lifestyle is photography.

Aleś Puškin. The Lionhearted

Who is Aleś Puškin, famous Belarusian artist, which is known by his actions against modern Belarusian State (especially “A Gift to President” in 1999). He is a realist, perpetual nationalist, troublemaker or all these mixed together? This is the question Juraś Barysievič provides an answer to in the artist’s profile presented under the title The Lionhearted

Aleksander Komarov: the soul of work weighing 35 grams

Aleksander Komarov is a Belarusian artist, who now lives in Berlin. He works with various forms of media, primarily, with video. He took part in numerous international projects in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Japan, the Czech Republic, Turkey and other countries. In 2012, within the framework of the Belarusian part of the project “Europe (to the power of) n” at Lena Prenz’s curators’ exhibition “To West of the East” held at Y Gallery, his two films Palipaducienne and Language Lessons were shown

Archeology of collective memory

Igor Tishyn is one of the most significant contemporary Belarusian artists. He has been living and working in Belgium for more than 10 years. However, all material, images, scenes and objects for his paintings, installations and photographs remain Belarusian by nature. They are directly related to the post-Soviet realism of 1990s, and to the political and historical aspects of modern time. Not surprisingly that in Belarus Igor Tishyn is to some extent mythologized. He is called “grandfather of the partisan movement”…

Moskaleva and Shachlevich. Dialogues – 2

Photo artists Galina Moskoleva and Vladimir Shachlevich are at the origins of the modern Belarusian photography. In the mid-1980s, they got to the studio of Valera Lobko, though each in their own way. Later on, the phenomenon of this studio was marked as Minsk School of Photography. Their lives have come different ways. Galina and Vladimir live and work in Moscow, but occasionally they visit Minsk and remind their colleagues of those recent and at the same time already distant times.

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