We are publishing the main text of the exhibition "ZBOR. Constructing an Archive", which is a brief overview of Belarusian contemporary art with a mention of 40 selected works.
In 2015, the KALEKTAR platform team prepared a scientific and exhibition project "ZBOR. Constructing an Archive " in Arsenal Gallery in Belastok , which presented the first results of the activities of the KALEKTAR platform and its ZBOR project. This large-scale scientific and exhibition project presented 40 selected works of Belarusian artists, artists and groups created between the 1980s and 2014. All selected works are one of the key statements that have determined, to one degree or another, the development of various areas of Belarusian contemporary art.
The main explication of the exhibition:
The style and content of many works of the exhibition refer to the avant-garde experiments of the 1920s Vitebsk Folk Art School Marc Chagall and Kazimir Malevich UNOVIS created on its basis. The key figure for the Belarusian artists of the BSSR period, who doubted that there was no alternative to socialist ideological clichés and the necessary realism in art, was Israel Basov . Until the end of the 1980s, his modernist works were practically not exhibited in the BSSR.
The end of the 1980s was marked by euphoria: art left apartments, workshops and "fled out of the city" into public spaces, mastering new exhibition venues. One of the memorable events of that time was the scandalous group exhibition "On Collector Street " in 1987, in which Vital Razhkou (Bismarck / Kalgin) took part. His painting at the exhibition was branded as pornographic, because of which the artist was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which played a fatal role in his current fate.
The turning point in the history of the collapse of the USSR is recorded in their photo collages duet Galina Moskaleva and Vladimir Shakhlevich . At this time, an independent culture became active: numerous self-organizing events took place, performative practices were tested (for example, among the "Belarusian Climate " group), private galleries were opened, and new institutions began their activities. The opening of borders allowed the artists to travel abroad, where the first international contacts began.
In the early 1990s, conceptual art began to develop. Among the works of that time, the exhibition presents an experimental photo series Igor Savchenko "Invisible ", as well as works with text Olga Sazykina and sculptures from poor materials by the Vitebsk artist Vasiliy Vasilev .
The environment of contemporary art in Vitebsk became more active: with the support of Belarus Soros Foundation , which began its short work in Belarus, the Center for Contemporary Art, the gallery "U Pushkina " of the artist Ales Pushkin developed, festivals and exhibitions were held. The festival In Formation became the most important platform for the presentation of the new conceptual art of Belarus. The Alexey Velikjanin conceptual actions within the framework of this festival clearly demonstrate the themes and strategies of the artists of this period. In Vitebsk Art Museum , which opened in 1995, the monumental painting was done by Leon Tarasewicz .
With Alexander Lukashenko coming to power in 1994, fundamental changes took place in the independent culture of Belarus. The galleries were closed one after another (during the closing days of the gallery "6th Line " it hosted an alarming performance Ludmila Rusova ), the activities of independent cultural institutions were stopped, as well as the creation of new ones. let. At this turning point, the exhibited (left unfinished) project Igor Tishin "Quiet guerrilla movement " was created. It became a marker of the upcoming passive-crisis period of the second half of the 1990s - early 2000s. In 2002, Artur Klinov began publishing an almanac about modern Belarusian culture pARTisan , which for many years remained the only publication that recorded the events and names of Belarusian contemporary art.
In the second half of the 1990s, a wave of emigration from the environment of culture and art began, which was clearly demonstrated by the drawings-diagrams Oxana Gourinovitch . Students also left the country, who were massively expelled from art educational institutions (this, among other things, is the topic of work Andrei Dureika ).
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, various artistic strategies were developed. So, Tamara Sokolova created post-minimalist sculptures. Artur Klinov has developed quasi-nostalgic designs. At the end of 1999, action Ales Pushkin thundered, criticizing the activities and arbitrariness of Alexander Lukashenko.
Many artists in this period hoped for the emergence of an art market in Belarus, for which they began to work in the aesthetics of commercial art, and many went into design. With all the pathos at the turn of the century, the gloss "The Project of The Century. 12 of XX " was created by a duet of artists-designers: Vladimir Tsesler and Sergey Voichenko . In its objects, Siarhiej Babareka criticizes consumerism and the strengthening of capitalist relations in culture.
The 2000s were marked by the creation of a number of major spectacular works created in teams of artists who left Belarus. Among the most notable are: Revision (Your Favorites) project, digital opera Maxim Tyminko , Gleb Choutov and Maija Ilic, Alexej Koschkarow happening. A wide range of expressions of contemporary art can be traced in the work of the artist_ts-emigrant_k: interdisciplinarity (in works at the intersection of science and art Evelina Domnich and Dmitry Gelfand or ceramic installations Vika Mitrichenko ), performativity and rejection of authorship (in the group "Bergamot "), post-minimalist experiments with form and technique (in works by Anna Sokolova and interactive sculptures by Janna Grak ), work with concept videos (in films by Oleg Tcherny ), artistic research (by Aleksander Komarov ), site-specific installations (in Anna Chkolnikova ), narrative (in religious works Lena Davidovich ) or absurdist approaches (as in projects Oleg Yushko and Kirill Lubenec ).
In the works of their fellow artists in Belarus, the connection with the local context was more pronounced. So, Sergey Kiryuschenko in his multi-year multimedia project worked with the architecture of a dying Belarusian village. Photographer Andrei Liankevich began to explore the contradictions in the construction of the local history of the Second World War. Nevertheless, the "zero" years were felt by many representatives of the artistic environment as stagnant, crisis years. For them, Alexey Lunev found the perfect expression in the formula "Нічога няма ".
2009 was a turning point. On the eve of the presidential elections in 2010, a course was set for political liberalization. Then the gallery of contemporary art "Ў " was opened and the processes of activation of the art community began.
However, the 2010 elections shocked Belarus with a violent crackdown on protests, repression, and the economic and political crisis that followed. In 2011, a bloody terrorist attack took place in the Minsk metro. Many situationist actions of the "Lipavy Cviet " group are devoted to these events. At the same time, the contemporary art portal Art Aktivist was launched, demonstrating the need to move from hidden partisan strategies to open activism (this transition was demonstrated in his work by the founder of the portal and artist Sergey Shabohin ). Political context and open criticism are key elements of Marina Naprushkina 's writings.
In recent years, against the backdrop of the politicization of art and the revitalization of the community in Belarus, new spaces and resources, curatorial and educational projects have begun to appear. Interest in feminist and gender topics (projects Zhanna Gladko and Antonina Slobodchikova ) and issues of public expression (actions Mikhail Gulin ) has increased.