For every creative person, their activity is often perceived either as a means of self-expression or as an opportunity to draw attention to certain issues. It reveals those things that the artist considers important and relevant to the surroundings.

It is difficult to say which category art performances belong to, but often their idea and implementation attract more attention than monumental works, posters, or sculptures by the same artists.

We believe that many readers might associate the word "performance" with foreign artists or modern Belarusian activists of recent years. However, now we would like to talk about the most unusual performances in contemporary Belarusian art. A while ago, we created a timeline of Belarusian actions, but at that time the discussion was specifically about political performances. Now, we will talk about actions of various formats and contents created during the existence of independent Belarus.

SHARE:

Lyudmila Rusava

Recently, we released a special article dedicated to the artist as a pioneer and, in a certain sense, a popularizer of performance art in Belarus. She has over 100 actions to her name, making it quite difficult to single out a few that we could categorize as major or significant in the life of Lyudmila Rusova. Unfortunately, not all of them have been documented and preserved to this day. It is probably worth mentioning her last performance, "Place of Dances," which she curated in 2003 with the assistance of photographers Sergey Zhdanovich and Alexei Velikzhanin. The uniqueness of the photomontage conveys the very theme of the action—the frame's space is divided so that on one side we see a figure dancing in a clearly defined space, while on the other, the same space is shown without her. In this way, the artist attempts to explore the theme of her presence or absence in the world from different positions and perspectives.

Ales Pushkin

Probably the most famous Belarusian performer of the last few decades, Ales Pushkin, also became the subject of a interview for Chrysalis Mag. Ales began his first performances back in the Soviet Union, always dedicated to current and historical events in Belarus. His actions were timely, both in content and form: they never had a unanimous reaction from society or the art community. The only clear reaction was from the authorities — Pushkin was repeatedly subjected to administrative and even criminal liability for his performances, and his public actions were often disrupted by local officials.

In our interview with Ales Pushkin, we primarily focused on his political actions, but now we would like to showcase some of the artist's historical and social projects. For example, Freedom Day 1988: at a time when few people in the then-BSSR knew about the 71st anniversary of the founding of the BNR, Pushkin created 12 posters dedicated to this event and, along with his friends, organized a march through the streets of Minsk. Pushkin gained fame throughout the USSR and was also sentenced to five years on probation, with two years suspended.

In 1995, Pushkin performed his historical action "In the Footsteps of Saint Josaphat," in which he organized a procession through the streets of Vitebsk, carrying a wooden cross. This action was dedicated to the Uniate bishop Josaphat Kuntsevych, an active supporter of the Union of Brest, who was nicknamed "the soul-killer" for his cruelty and was killed by local residents in Vitebsk in 1623.

Viktar Piatrou

In his time, Viktor Petrov was the main catalyst for public activity in Belarusian informal art, actively organizing communities and events within the creative underground. In the early 1980s, Petrov began hosting informal art gatherings in his home, and in 1987, he initiated the creation of the independent creative association "Forma"— one of the first in the USSR— and by 1990, the M-art community.

As a performance artist, Petrov, together with Artur Klinau, was organizing the international performance festival "Navinki" over its 15-year existence (1999-2014).

Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to find precise explanations of the ideas and goals behind Viktar Piatrou's personal performances. Nevertheless, the artist himself describes the motives of his work as follows: "The main desire or idea that has always driven me is the quest for truth. What is the Truth? The question posed by Pilate to Jesus Christ remains the most fundamental question of all time. The artist also tries to answer it, and this is the path of my creativity."

Aleksei Velikzhanin

During the short time that Alexey Velikzhanin was engaged in conceptual art, he implemented actions that were distinguished by ideological inspiration - themes of human presence/environment, paradigms of formal (pop art) and informal art.

The artist’s first action was “Clean Floor”: in 1995, as part of the international independent exhibition “In-formation”, Velikzhanin... washed the floor in the Vitebsk Art Museum, after which he hung signs with the name of the project in English on the fences, thereby opening the event.

In the subsequent “In-formation” (1996), the artist, while viewing one of the exhibition's displays, chewed Stimorol gum for a day. Afterwards, he placed the gum between two plates of black and transparent glass and sealed it with tin. The plates were then placed in a frame. This performance reveals two main lines of thought. The first is that by chewing gum while viewing the exhibition, the act of processing and perceiving the work occurs specifically through the speech-motor apparatus: the gum seemed to absorb the sensations from viewing the exhibition. The second is that the focus is on Stimorol as a peculiar element of pop art: a product previously unavailable during Soviet times, the gum gradually became commonplace. The following year, a similar action was performed—but with the participation of the audience in the absence of the artist himself.

Alexei Velikzhanin organized his last action without an audience — in the performance "In White... In Black... In Silver... In Gold..." the artist attempted to convey the idea of self-absorption in the surrounding environment by painting his body the colors of the seasons and times of the day.

Subsequently, Velikzhanin moved away from conceptual art, transitioning to monumental and easel painting, which he continues to work on to this day.

Mihail Gulin

Starting in 2008, Mihail Gulin has been performing actions that can be summarized as an attempt to analyze stigmatization in society and the presence of certain stereotypes. For instance, the artist would wear a sign that says "I am not…" while simultaneously dressing in a way that directly contradicts the sign. These actions took place at a time when video documentation of such events became widely accessible.

One such action in 2012, titled "Personal Monument," ended with the detention of Gulin and his associates by OMON officers and subsequent court proceedings. Gulin had installed a sculpture made of three pink cubes and a yellow parallelepiped in various squares of the city. The authorities perceived a political context in this, and the participants were harshly detained (one was beaten). However, the actions of the performer group led by Gulin were eventually justified in court.

In addition to Gulin as a performer, it is also worth noting him as a painter— we have published some of his works before. Mikhail has repeatedly participated in Belarusian and international exhibitions and has curated shows both in Belarus and abroad.

Bergamot Group

The artistic duo of Olga Maslovskaya and Roman Tratsiuk existed from 1998 to 2014. During this time, the group was involved in curating art projects, installations, and video art, but they are primarily associated with their performances. Their works mainly address themes of communication between people, both in the content of the actions and in the public's reaction to them. Over time, the conceptual framework of their performances expanded to include themes of social stereotyping, self-identification, and discrimination in society.

A distinctive aspect of the group's performances is that they could involve not only the artists themselves but also other people, sometimes completely random ones, according to the duo's concept. Conversely, outsiders could come up with the performance, but it would be carried out by "Bergamot."

One of the group's early actions is the performance from the cycle "Organic Life." In it, the artists sit in a café for 10 minutes, eating and slapping each other. These actions are filmed with a hidden camera, documenting both the artists and the public's reaction to these actions. The audience, of course, doesn't know it's a performance and tries to intervene to stop the aggression.

In another performance, the artists attempt to convey the overcoming of stereotypes about true men and women through their actions. For instance, Olga Maslovskaya saws off the heels of her shoes, while Roman Tratsiuk glues together the soles of his shoes directly on his feet with the super glue. Olga, limping in her heel-less shoes, then leaves the room, dragging the immobile Roman behind her.

In a subsequent group of performances, the duo involved other people instead of themselves. The artists decided to repeat their earlier performance with glass, but this time they engaged random people — a homeless person and a housewife agreed to participate. They held a 70x70 cm piece of glass, pressing it between their palms. The goal was to hold it as long as possible, and after 20 minutes, as it became impossible to hold any longer, the glass fell and shattered.

Another action of a similar format was created for the opening of the Vogue exhibition. "Bergamot" devised an action dedicated to the theme of male sexuality. For this, they hired a stripper who performed his "James Bond" striptease act in front of a large mirror.

The third group of works consists of "Bergamot" performances made by other people. To achieve this, they organized a contest in 2011 for the best idea for a performance.

The winning idea was to create an imitation of a Belarusian Television (BT) program about the situation of sexual minorities in Belarus, with the artists themselves acting as the hosts. The plot was to reflect the most interesting events, activists, and actions.

Iryna Anufryeva

Choreographer and artist Irina Anufrieva combines these two aspects of her life in her work, which is reflected in her performances.

Although Anufrieva does not consider herself a performer, the integration of the visual and the corporeal in her work is innovative in the history of Belarusian performance art—no one has done this before. Irina puts an emphasis on the concept of the body as a form of creative expression, philosophical ideas, and space in relation to other objects in the environment.

The most notable performance by the artist is the butoh performance "In Emptiness." Butoh is a dance that originated in Japan, focusing not on form but on methods of movement; the dancer tries to detach from the social aspect of their personality. In Irina's words: "In this work, I explore the vulnerability of any living being placed on the edge of its existence, encountering reality and manifesting itself in an extreme situation".

Another performance, "Instead of Dances," was held in 2018 at the "Ў" gallery. It was inspired by the work of Lyudmila Rusova, who had a significant influence on Irina Anufrieva; the work was dedicated to her and is essentially an echo of Rusova's last performance "Place of Dances".

In her performance, Anufrieva lay motionless for five hours in the center of a black square, her head wrapped in black fabric. The main themes of the performance were: longing, the emptiness that remains after experiencing despair, and the preservation of oneself before physical death occurs.

The article was prepared with the support of Syarhei Shabokhin and the Belarusian contemporary art research platform KALEKTAR.

The translation of the text from Belarusian appeared thanks to the volunteer support of our readers

Translation: Maryia Virshych

Reprinting of the material or fragments of the material is possible only with the written permission of the editors.

If you notice an error or would like to suggest an addition to the published materials, please let us know.

SHARE:

Similar texts