Not long ago something unusual happened to me: I spent an hour and a half in the central bookstore in Minsk in the section on books about Belarus. Usually, if you live in Belarus, you strenuously attempt to defend yourself from the activity of propaganda: you don't read state newspapers, you don't watch state television, you don't participate in state holidays, you don't listen to the president's speeches. We digest the news only if they have already been treated by professional journalists from the independent media. Propaganda in a pure concentrated form is very dangerous. You can be penetrated by it, like radiation, and be contaminated forever.
Departments of literature about Belarus are precisely one of those places where one tends to encounter a higher concentration of propaganda. Here you can find portraits of the president, posters, textbooks for courses on state ideology, tourist albums, various works of historical, or more often pseudohistorical, research praising the happy life of the Belarusian state in the past, present and future. While i dallied in the bookstore I was able not only to leaf through some of these works, but even to by some albums for my personal library ... as authentic examples of Be larusian propaganda art.
Yes, precisely, to look at ALL THAT as art. This peculiar approach to Belarusian reality was what the artist Marina Naprushkina taught her spectators through the grandiose project The Anti-Propaganda Bureau that she presented at the exhibi tion Opening the Door? Belarusian Art Today that it was possible to see 190 kilometres away from Minsk, in Vilnius, Lithuania. The space of a gallery produces an effect of estrangement and produces the critical distance, so necessary for protecting oneself from the propaganda that Naprushkina deftly and creatively made use of. And, thus, carrying home the heavy albums acquired in a Minsk bookshop, I thought about Marina Naprushkina: it was the first time that art had produced such a change in my life, totally upturning my relations to habitual things.
'For me, non-political art is impossible', says Naprushkina in an interview for the portal New Europe. 'Men and women artists cannot do everything, of course, but they are able through their work to provoke changes in society, they can raise burning issues and communicate their ideas to a wide circle of people, from the intelligentsia to the working class.'[1] Thus, the artist expresses precisely the sort of position that seems most appropriate for the situation in Belarus today. We need art for social change [2] as never before, and the slogan art for art has never seemed so anachronistic and out of place. In order to be relevant, contemporary Belarusian art is simply obliged to be political.This was also the perspective that the organizers of the exhibition Opening the Door? took up, not hiding the fact that what interested them was not Belarusian art in general, but Belarusian contemporary art, where by 'contemporary' they understood, firstly 'being able to use the language of contemporary art', and secondly, 'making reference to contemporary Belarusian reality' through 'critical practices that enable the reconsideration of the contemporary moment'.[3]
However, after the opening of the exhibition, in the commentaries of independent as much as those of pro-state art-critics, rang out the accusation precisely of the politicization of the presentation of Belarusian art. 'What would remain of Marina's work if, in a natural way, the object at which is directed the energy of her artistic inter pretation were to disappear . . . what remains of her work if we remove the political component?' asks the artist and art critic Pavel Voinitski.[4] Voinitski was one of those who joined the team of the state commission for the selection of artists and the preparation of the Belarusian pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2011. This is the first occasion when the state will sponsor such a large-scale show of Belarusian contemporary art abroad. Voinitski is convinced that, 'On the international arena artists present their country, and not its "regime".' (To these words we might add that Naprushkina did not make it through the selection procedure of the Belarusian state commission.)
The art critic Tatyana Fedorenko wrote a big and detailed review of the exhibition Opening the Door? where she also made critical reference to the political component: 'All the works and objects are precisely and elegantly configured to suit the general idea. This justifies a light and logical reading of the exhibition, it gives freedom to each work in the space and links it to the following and preceding work. But this is precisely what gives cause for concern: the politicization of even non-political themes and objects.'[5]
The question of politics was one of the most important in an interview with artists in the pages of the Belarusian web-journal Photoscope: 'I can not avoid asking the question of the politics of the representation of Belarusian contemporary art to spectators abroad ...' 'Did the excessive politicization of the exhibition, noted by many critics, not hinder Belarusian artists being seen and heard beyond the bounds of their country?', 'If you remove the politics, does anything remain?', 'Did you see any political subtexts at the exhibition?', 'Did the political themes get in the way?'[6]
And, indeed, when talking about Belarusian art it is two things that are heard most often. On the one hand, Belarusian artists are continually accused of isolation themselves, of being unwilling to take an interest in what is happening not only in contemporary socio-political reality, even in Belarus. On the other hand, if beyond the borders of Belarus someone succeeds in organizing an exhibition of Belarusian art (and this is rarely possible in Belarus), then such an exhibition always turns out to be politicized, as though Belarus presents an interest (and is understandable for a foreign viewer) only as one big political trouble.
‘The standard media selection — 'Chernobyl', 'The square'[7], 'Lukashenko' turns out to be a reliable key to the hearts of foreign viewers. They read us like a comic — so what's the point of crying, 'We're not like that!' The most widely circulated symbols of a quiet country with a gung-ho commander simply have to be present in any collection that aims at completeness — like the Rolling Stones condemned at every concert to hammer out the insatiable 'Satisfaction', writes the cultural analyst Maxim Zhbankov.[8]
Now, for example, in Kyiv is scheduled to take place the festival of culture, Belarusian Spring, which this year aims to bring attention to the repressions in Belarus. In the festival programme are Marina Naprushkina's political comics, Yuri Novitski's prison drawings, Nikita Kadan's post ers, Andrei Bilzho's postcards to political prisoners, Vadim Zamirovski's photographs of the dispersal of the demonstrations, and also a workshop (!) on 'Art in prison'. The reaction to such a programme is ambiguous: to not speak about what is going on in Belarus is impossible. To be silent about the realities of Belarus is to stand on the side of state propaganda. But, on the other hand, to speak only and exclusively about this is to reduce the diversity of art into politics.
Above and beyond being another example of the politicisation of Belarusian art abroad, the festival also demonstrates another tendency: that of the artist losing the right to represent, as it is the voice of real participants in events who are able to directly share their authentic experiences that it is deemed most important to hear. In this competition between authenticity and interpretation, Belarusian art is inevitably the loser, not just because authenticity is always more intense, but also because interpretation can turn out to be very weak.
Belarusian artists defend their right to think broadly, to deal with global themes, not linked to the specific here and now. This cleavage between the intentions of artists and that of curators also appeared at the exhibition Opening the Door?. Some authors were reluctant for their works to be linked to political interpretations, preferring to defend the 'neutral' character of their works. For example, Alexei Shinkarenko exhibited a series of Polaroid photographs under the title Belarusian Factography claiming that they 'explore the relations of Belarusians to time, space and the place of the human within them'. Igor Peshekhonov showed a photograph from the series Ironconcrete: Substance of Memory revealing in his words 'a large-scale photographic exploration of Belarusian culture, and of its historical and visual landscape'. Artur Klinau once again showed his famous The Sun City of Dream devoted to the theme of the past: 'of a great communist utopia'. Igor Savchenko's project, in its turn, showed 'unedited documentary fragments of the everyday'.
On the other hand, the Lithuanian curators employed maximum efforts to give the works of Belarusian authors a more concrete socio-political interpretation: in their words, before us is 'an exploration of public space', 'a vision of the contemporary history of the country', 'a snapshot of changes', 'a critique of the official path of written history'. In an interview for the Lithuanian press, curator Kestutis Kuizinas said: 'It is also very important to be able to show Belarusians their art without constraints, without both the external and the internal taboos which Belarusians experience a lot - I mean the self-censorship which dictates thai it may not make sense to show something or that something cannot be done.'[9]
This is also underlined by Sergei Shabohin, an artist, curator and participant in the exhibition Opening the Door?: 'It seems to me that this project is a peculiar kind of present for us, for Belarusian contemporary art is often accused of being "toothless" and apolitical, and for the moment, according to many, their can be no talk of such an extensive presentation of art about which there can be no doubt that it is "sharpening its teeth" in our country. Artists could publicly express themselves about the themes that concern them, and to some extent, rid themselves of their "metaphysical" complex. For me personally, this project has made me reflect on the political responsibility of the artist.'[10]
'The lack of sensitivity of Belarusian artists to the social context and political themes depresses me. It seems to me that if art today is going to lay any claim to the right to call itself art, then it must react to or in another form articulate some of the really very painful social problems, trauma and conflicts,' says Professor Almira Ousmanova who last year was responsible for the presentation of Belarusian art in the European project Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe, openly admitting in that interview that from amongst the Belarusian artists there was 'nobody to exhibit'.[11]
Belarusian artists living in Belarus undergo the same crazy doses of propaganda radiation as other citizens of the country. And perhaps it is this that produces the certainty that, since we are always and continually surrounded only by politics, art also is already drenched in it and therefore in order to become genuinely free, interesting and creative, art needs to be outside politics. However, as paradoxical as it may seem, Belarusian art still has to strive very hard to attain the political. And in order to become not only free, but also relevant, there is no way that Belarusian art can abandon the political and run away to the ancient monasteries of the sublime in which it had willingly imprisoned itself.
For the umpteenth day in a row I open the book Belarus - the Land of Your Future and before sleep read no more than 2-3 minutes, in other words as long as I can keep perceiving it as an art object.
1 Marina Naprushkina, Марина Напрушкина: "Для меня искусство невозможно вне политики" [For Me Non-political Art is Impossible], http://www.n-europe.eu/print/52865, accessed 8 May 2011.
2 Translator's note: Italics indicate English In the original.
3 Julia Fomina, 'The Particularities of Contemporary Belarusian Art Language', in Opening the Door? Belarusian Art Today, exh. cat., Vilnius: Contemporary Art Center, Sapnu Sala, 2010, pp. 65-72.
4 The discussion around the article by Marina Naprushkina (For Me Non-political Ait is Impossible) took place on the social network facebook. Those who took part in it included Pavel Volnltskl, Marina Naprushkina, Irina Solomatina and Natalia Klinova.
5. Tatyana Fedorenko, '"Двери открываются: свободу белорусским талантам [The Doors are Opening: Freedom for the Talanted], http://www.znyata.com/o-foto/doors.html, accessed 8 May 2011.
6 ‘Двери открываются - вопросы остаются. Четыре интервью с участниками проекта’ [The Doors are Opening - the Questions Remain. Four Interviews with Participants in the Project], http:// www.photoscope.by/comments/view/891.titml, accessed 8 May.
7 Translator's note: here the author is referring to the protests after the last two presidential elections focused on 'Independence Square' in Minsk.
8 Maksim Zhbankov. 'Дверь открыта? Включим свет!’ [The Doors are Open? Turn out the Lights!], http://naviny.by/rubrics/opinion/2010/11/25/ic_articles_410_171392/, accessed 8 May 2011.
9 ‘Минск - не за горами. Интервью с Кястутисом Куйзинасом’ [Minsk is Not so Far Away. Interview with Kestutis Kuizinas], http://www.n-europe.eu/article/2010/11/17/minsk_%E2%80%93_ne_za_g?rami, accessed 8 May 2011. Original version: 'Minskas - ne uz kalnu', http://www.artnews.lt/minskas-%E2%80%93-ne-uz-kalnu-poka-Ibis-su-siuolaikinio-baltarusiu-meno-parodos-%E2%80%9Edurys-atsidaro-baltarusiu-menas-siandien%E2%80%9C-kuratoriumi-kestuciu-kuizinu-7708, accessed 8 May 2011.
10 'Осторожно, двери открываются: белорусское современное искусство в Литве. [Be Careful, the Doors are Opening: Belarusian Contemporary Art in Lithuania], http://www.relax.by/575210/, accessed 8 May 2011.
11. ‘Сосед и Другой". Интервью с Альмирой Усмановой, Лаймой Крейвите и Еленой Пренц ['Neighbour and Other' Interview with Almira Ousmanova, Laima Kreivyte and Lena Prents], http:// www.n-europe.eu/tables/2011/01/13/sosedj_ drugoi, accessed 8 May 2011.
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