Series
to

PRACTISING REVOLUTION

Film programme and discussions with a focus on Belarus

Curated by Marina Naprushkina and Agnieszka Kilian

more
PRACTISING REVOLUTION

in cooperation with RAZAM e.V.

A year ago, people in Belarus took to the streets to protest the rigged election. These protests grew into one of the largest democracy movements in recent European history. Philosopher Olga Shparaga describes this as a post-national movement and speaks of the “female face of the revolution.” What forms can contentious politics against authoritarian state structures take on today? And what processes are necessary to maintain the protest over a longer period of time? How can we grasp these processes and reinvent new forms of resistance? What role does the unifying politics of care play and how do solidarity communities come into being?

The video works of the Belarusian artists shed light on different perspectives on the events over the course of the protest movement and the situations in which the artists find themselves: from a critical examination of state propaganda in Belarus, to a juxtaposition of “language and aesthetics”, to intimate gestures and private recordings. 

During the panel discussions, we would like to draw inspiration from philosopher Olga Shparaga and her book Belarus: The Female Face of the Revolution and talk about new forms and possibilities of solidarity-based communities.

The project takes place within the framework of the "institutions extended" program (2019-2022). The program "institutions extended" is financed by the "Netzwerkfonds - Zukunftsinitiative Stadtteil II (ZI II)", program "Sozialer Zusammenhalt".

Funded by the Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa

Agnieszka Kilian is a curator, author and researcher with a background in law. She initiates and curates projects aimed at the increasing role of art in addressing current challenges. Projects she curated and co-curated: „Controlled Image“ (Mamuta Art Center Jerusalem 2010), “Dreams&Dramas. Law as Literature” (Ngbk Berlin 2017), “We,the People” (Central Slovakian Gallery 2018).

Marina Naprushkina is an artist, activist and writer. In 2013 Naprushkina founded the initiative "Neue Nachbarschaft / Moabit". Naprushkina participated in biennials, including Kyiv International - Kyiv Biennale (2017), the 7th Berlin Biennale (2011) and 11th International Istanbul Biennale (2009). She teaches at Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin.

To the events

to

Stories, continued

Films with absent protagonists, after the GDR, after 1990

Curated by Anna Zett and Philipp Goll

more
to

Critical Conditions

Fields of action in the environmental crisis

Curated by Sarnt Utamachote, Malve Lippmann, Rosalia Namsai Engchuan and Pia Chakraverti-Würthwein & Eirini Fountedaki

more
to

Curated by Eirini Fountedaki, Cornelia Lund & Holger Lund (fluctuating images), Philip Rizk and Shohreh Shakoory

more
to

Curated by Popo Fan, Tobias Hering, Malve Lippmann, Branka Pavlovic, Can Sungu, Sarnt Utamachote and Florian Wüst

more

Director Aylin Kuryel and Fırat Yücel Turkey 2019

57 min, OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Aylin Kuryel and Fırat Yücel

Director Furqan Faridi, Ashfaque EJ, Shaheen Ahmed and Vishu Sejwal India 2019

43, OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Shivramkrishna Patil and Susanne Gupta

to

KuirFest Berlin 2019

Queer Feminist Rebels

Curated by Pembe Hayat KuirFest / Pink Life QueerFest, Esma Akyel and Esra Özban

more

Skin

#95

Director Afraa Batous Syria, Lebanon 2015

82 min., OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Lisa Jöris and Afraa Batous

to

BITTER THINGS

Narratives and Memories of Transnational Families

Curated by Malve Lippmann and Can Sungu

more
to

Beyond the War

Syrian Society and Politics before and after 2011

By Amer Katbeh

more
Films

OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Agnieszka Kilian and Alexey Bratochkin

Practicing Revolution: Short Film Programme

The F-Word
Olia Sosnovskaya / a.z.h., Belarus 2021, 12 min.
The video is part of the “Armed and Dangerous” project platform: www.ozbroeni.in.ua 

Scratches
Lesia Pcholka / Uladzimir Hramovich, Belarus 2021, 7 min.

Pose. Position. Ways
Ala Savashevich, Poland 2019, 5 min.

Giving away a frame for free
Ala Savashevich, Poland 2020, 2 min.

Palipaduazennije
Aleksander Komarov, Netherlands 2012, 20 min.

The video works of the short film programme shed light on different perspectives on the events of the protest movement and the situations in which artists find themselves:  from a critical examination of state propaganda in Belarus, a juxtaposition of language and aesthetics, to intimate gestures and private recordings.

Please note: Free admission. Limited seating. The 3G (vaccinated, recovered, tested) rule applies.

Agnieszka Kilian is a curator, author and researcher with a background in law. She initiates and curates projects aimed at the increasing role of art in addressing current challenges. Projects she curated and co-curated: „Controlled Image“ (Mamuta Art Center Jerusalem 2010), “Dreams&Dramas. Law as Literature” (Ngbk Berlin 2017), “We,the People” (Central Slovakian Gallery 2018).

Alexey Bratochkin is a Belarusian historian and independent researcher. He deals with issues of national identity and cultures of remembrance in Belarus as well as in the post-Soviet region. He is co-author of scholarly anthologies such as After Soviet Marxism: History, Philosophy, Sociology, and Psychoanalysis in National Contexts (Belarus, Ukraine). Since April 2021 he has been a guest lecturer at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder).

RAZAM e.V.

Director Ala Savashevich Poland 2020

38 Min., OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Valentina Kiselyova, Anna Chistoserdova and Anna Limantava

Voices

In the summer of 2020, Ala Savashevich asked artists and activists from Belarus to write her a letter. This gave rise to a story that is as well private and collective: a both quiet and loud resistance. The letters were then read aloud by Polish artists and activists. One might ask: How can solidarity be established? What do we achieve through art? These questions are the starting point for a conversation with Ana Christoserdova and Valentina Kisleyova.

The event will take place at Razam e.V. (“joint”), a Belarussian community and association which emerged from the transnational solidarity movement of the summer of 2020.

Please note: Free admission. Limited seating. The 3G (vaccinated, recovered, tested) rule applies.

Valentina Kiselyova was born in Uzbekistan in 1966.  Since 1979 she has lived and worked in Minsk, Belarus. She graduated in “Theory and Practice of Modern Art” at European Humanities in University in Vilnius (Lithuania). Together with Ana Chistoserdova, she founded galleries of modern art Podzemka and Gallery Ў. Currently resident of the Air Berlin Alexanderplatz program. 

Anna Chistoserdova (born 1982 in Minsk, Belarus) she works as an art manager and curator of international art projects and educational programs. The co-founder of galleries of modern art “Podzemka” and Gallery Ў (together with Valentina Kiselyova). Currently resident of the Air Berlin Alexanderplatz program.

Anna Limantava (b.1977 in  Novolukoml, Belarus) she is a photographer, medical interpreter and an activist. Anna has taken part in numerous exhibitions. Her photographic portfolio ranges from concert photography to portraits to advertising photography. She also organises and curates art and cultural events.

Director Kristina Savutsina Belarus/Germany 2021

57 Min., OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Agnieszka Kilian, Kristina Savutsina and Georg Kussmann

Khan´s Flesh

The film Khan’s Flesh shows the choreography of everyday life in a small town in Belarus. 

As documentary film critic Emmanuel Chicon puts it: “the camera captures a series of gestures, micro non-events and simultaneous rituals, like so many daily choreographies to which the inhabitants of this Belarusian village, from every generation, devote or submit themselves. […] Khan‘s Flesh reveals existences that seem stuck in an unending present.” Khan’s Flesh premiered at Visions du Réel Festival in Nyon.

Please note: Free admission. Limited seating. The 3G (vaccinated, recovered, tested) rule applies.

Agnieszka Kilian is a curator, author and researcher with a background in law. She initiates and curates projects aimed at the increasing role of art in addressing current challenges. Projects she curated and co-curated: „Controlled Image“ (Mamuta Art Center Jerusalem 2010), “Dreams&Dramas. Law as Literature” (Ngbk Berlin 2017), “We,the People” (Central Slovakian Gallery 2018).

Kristina Savutsina was born in 1989 in Riga, Latvia into a Belarusian family. From 1993 to 2014, she lived in Belarus. In 2011, she graduated with a diploma in cultural studies in Minsk. Since 2015, she has been studying film and fine arts at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg. In her work, Kristina deals with regulatory politics and its concrete manifestations in Belarus. She lives and works in Hamburg.

Georg Kussmann was born and grew up in Halle/Saale, East Germany in 1989. He studied photography and film at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg. Currently, he lives in Berlin and works from there as an artist, filmmaker and cinematographer.