With:
Tanya Haurylchyk
Siarhei Hudzilin
Julia Leydik-Kanapleva
Eugene Kanaplev-Leydik
Pavel Kirpikau
Alexander Kladov
Mikhail Leschenko
Andrei Liankevich
Aleksey Naumchik
Paulina Palynskaya
Aleksei Shinkarenko
Maxim Shumilin
Volga Sasnouskaya
Alexandra Soldatova
Alexander Sayenko
Aleksander Veledzimovich
The exhibition “BY NOW – Contemporary photography in Belarus”, curated by Matthias Harder, is focused on new developments in photography in Belarus, a region which seems to be a blank spot on the map nowadays. However, in the historic fabric of the Soviet Union, located between the Baltic States, Poland, Russia and Ukraine and even after 1989, it was not an unknown area which it has become since then. Outside of the country there exists a vague and chlichéd image of Belarus as an autocratically governed state. Nevertheless, the younger generation seems not be affected by the attemps of intimidation by the government. And the young creative, among them also photographers, comment visually on the current situation in their country with a new way of seeing, humour and in some cases challenging impudence or portray contemporaries in different situations of their everyday life. They realize topics chosen by themselves with individual photographic style and intuition, ranging from classic black and white portrait to photoshop experiments with garish colours.
Already in 1994 in the exhibition “Photography in Minsk”, the ifa-gallery Berlin presented some of the artistic positions of the scene of photographers working at the time in Minsk. 20 years later it is apparent that even though there is a seclusion and isolation, a new, young scene of photographers has emerged, who deal creatively with their everyday life and who receive information regarding the current situation as well as the past from the internet.
Curated by: Matthias Harder
Programme
Friday, 17 October 2014, 15:00
Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus
documentary film by Madeleine Sackler, BY/USA/GB 2013, 76′, original version with English subtitles
Introduction by Peter Mares, ifa aid programme “zivik” (Civil conflict management)
For independent theatre work in authoritarian states, there is hardly any room for development and it involves personal risks. In her film, Madeleine Sackler accompanies the artists’ group “Belarus Free Theatre” for a period of one year after the presidential elections of 2010.
Friday, 17 October 2014, 17:00
Guided tour of the exhibition BY NOW with Dr. Matthias Harder and Andrei Liankevich
These events take place in the frame of the Day of Culture of the European Cultural Institutions in Berlin, “EUNIC Berlin – Bunt gemischt”.
expansion II – City excursions with Elfi Müller
Sunday, 12 October 2014, 12:00
Saturday, 1 November 2014, 12:00
Sunday, 7 December 2014, 12:00
Sunday, 18 January 2015, 16:00