🗓️November 5-16 , 2014
LUDA GALLERY
📍42, Mokhovaya St Petersburg 191028 Russia
◆Four Corners Contemporary Art From Belarus◆
The exhibition “Four Corners” presents four artists working in Belarus: Mikhail Gulin, Sergey Shabokhin, Roman Aksyonov, and Karen Karnak.
The exhibition does not aim to provide a comprehensive overview of Belarusian art—such a goal would be too grandiose. My task was to select certain artists who operate within the context of another country. Since I was born, raised, and educated in Belarus, I inevitably have some understanding of the artistic processes in Minsk and other cities of the Republic. However, I realized that I can no longer objectively assess and understand the artistic situation in Belarus.
So, I invite artists who are visible—those who make their presence known, who are active, exhibit their work, and take part in the cultural process. A key criterion in the selection was the artist’s physical presence in the Republic. Many Belarusian artists work outside of Belarus, achieve success, carry out projects, and often present their art within the framework of “Belarusian art” projects. This particular project focuses on artists who are in close proximity to the social climate of Belarus.
Each of the featured artists chooses their own strategy and path of development based on their tastes, interests, political beliefs… This exhibition is not a monolithic lineup of like-minded individuals but rather four distinct creative strategies—and their strategists: the artists themselves.
Reflecting on my own time in Belarus, I remember that in such a small country, there are always different directions for development—most often associated with leaving. Left, right, straight ahead, or staying put—like standing at a crossroads—this is a constant choice. My group from art school scattered in all directions: some went west, others east, and only a few remained in Belarus. For me, the most interesting development is that of the artists who are still in the Republic today.
In this project, I’m most interested in seeing artists who create and think, who decide for themselves what is most important to show—rather than building a project that would be easily understood by a St. Petersburg audience.
My role in this project is simply to be of service to the artists—nothing more.
Semyon Motolyants
Sergey Shabokhin presents two works from the series “Practices of Subjugation” (2011–2014) at the exhibition.
The first, “Displaced Zone of Democracy,” partially reconstructs a men’s restroom where men leave messages to one another in the gaps between tiles—a common practice that still exists in public men’s restrooms in Belarus. The space between the tiles becomes the only place where democracy can exist—the writings on the tiles are promptly erased by janitors, while the gaps remain untouched and turn into a homophobic forum, a matchmaking service, a bulletin board, and a space for anonymous memoirs all at once.
Everything is regulated by the state—both public and even private space is sterilized and meticulously cleaned. Belarus is a territory of displaced freedom, where problems are silenced and the voices of ordinary people are pushed to the margins of public life, taking on various deviant forms.
This public silence is interrupted—and the sublimated conflicts are recalled—only by the stench and rot of the pipes.