The 1990s were one of the most striking yet understudied periods in Belarusian art. This was a time of radical social transformation—a time of both great hopes and great disappointments. In Belarusian culture, this period is characterized by a search for new paths of development, self-awareness in a suddenly opened world, and the formation of a new identity. At that time, there was a demarcation between two versions of Belarusian culture: One, post-Soviet, received state support and continued the Soviet cultural tradition. The other, unofficial, became a field of artistic experiments and search, building on the traditions of non-conformism, but with adjustments to Belarusian specifics and the new reality of open borders. As a result, the foundation for the so-called “partisan” model of culture was laid. Left without support from the state and private sponsors, independent authors choose partisan tactics and strategies. Thanks to this, they not only survived but also created the so-called “partisan” culture, as well as the phenomenon of the “cultural hero.”
Artur Klinau was an active participant of the Belarusian non-conformist movement in the 1980s. In 1998, he founded the Belarusian Association of Contemporary Art. Since 2002, he has been the publisher and editor-in-chief of the pARTisan magazine of contemporary Belarusian culture. Klinau also founded the art village Kaptaruny in 2013. He participated in more than 100 collective and personal exhibitions in Belarus and abroad, representing his country at the 54th International Biennale in Venice. He is the author of several books, among others Minsk. Sonnenstadt der Träume, Shalom. War Romance (Suhrkamp, 2006), Partisanen. Kultur_Macht_Belarus, and The Belarusian Avant-Garde of the 1980s.
Clemena Antonova, IWM Research Director of The World in Pieces, will moderate the discussion.
