Catalogue of the exhibition “Opening The Door? Belarusian Art Today”
This exhibition is the first presentation of Belarusian contemporary artists in Lithuania to date. Despite the fact that Minsk, the capital city of Belarus, is situated only 170 kilometres (south) east of Vilnius, trade and cultural exchange between Lithuania and Belarus in the last twenty years has been slow, due to the current political situation in Belarus and exceptionally pro-western orientation of goals and perspectives of Lithuania. “Opening the Door? Belarusian Art Today” presents both artists living and working in Belarus as well as those residing abroad. It is not the first time that both halves of a disconnected art scene are being presented in a united project, but significantly it is being held in the closest proximity to its country of origin. Most of the Belarusian artists living in the West keep in touch with their families and make regular visits home, but seldom have an opportunity to present their work in Minsk (or Belarus, generally). This exhibition attempts to provide Belarusians with a possibility to look at their art from the outsider’s perspective, without common taboos. Most of the works in the project, in one or another way, reflect upon Belarusian society and its concerns today, but only a few dare to openly express things that “we don’t talk about”.
Artists: Anna Chkolnikova, Lena Davidovich, Oxana Gourinovitch, Artur Klinau, Aleksander Komarov, Alexander Korablev, Aleksej Lunev, Marina Naprushkina, Igor Peshehonov, Positive Actions, Igor Savchenko, Sergey Shabohin, Aleksei Shinkarenko, Philippe Tschmyr ir Belarusian Climate, Vladimir Tsesler ir Sergey Voichenko, Maxim Tyminko, Ruslan Vashkevich, Oleg Yushko
Editors: Julija Fomina, Kęstutis Kuizinas
Texts: Julija Fomina, Kęstutis Kuizinas, Lena Prents, Olga Shparaga
Graphic design: Ilya Dounar, Jura Shust
Publisher: Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, 2010
ISBN 978-9986-957-48-5
Languages: Lithuanian, English, Russian
146 pages
Hardcover, 24 x 16 cm
Colour illustrations
Price: 14.00 €