Ideological Control and Repression
Bloodletting in the Belarusian Art Scene
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In June 2020, Viktar Babaryka was arrested in Belarus. The head of Belgaz-prombank had wanted to run in the presidential elections against longtime dictator Lukashenka. Then an art collection from the bank was confiscated. The collection, which primarily included artists from the “Paris School”, featured a painting that became a symbol of the protests against electoral fraud and arbitrary rule: Chaim Soutine’s “Eva”. What has happened to the collection since the liberation movement was crushed? And what’s happening in the art scene in Belarus now? The collection’s former curator, Aleksandr Zimenko, who had to flee the country in March 2023, provides information.
(Osteuropa 5-6/2023, pp. 143–150)