Art festival "DACH-9" starts off in Minsk, Belarus

The opening of the International Art Festival “Dach-9” took place at the Palace of Art in Minsk on August 25, 2009. The organizers, curators and authors of its conception are Belarusian artists and performers Alexander Rodin and Zmitser Yurkevich (Mitrich). The pivotal event of the festival is their art project “Victims of Art”.

It’s the ninth “Dach” (“the roof” in German and Belarusian) festival since 2001. Most of the events were held at Kunsthaus “Tacheles” in Berlin, since Alexander Rodin is its permanent exhibitor.

 

Current exposition fills up the entire 3 floors of the Minsk Palace of Art – the biggest venue of the Belarusian capital. During the exposition numerous paintings, installations, sculptures and photography by 150 artists from 11 countries will be represented (Alexander Rodin is one of the exhibitors). One of the ideas of the art show is to change and update the exposition every week.

 

Along with the “Victims of Art” project, the festival’s agenda includes everyday music concerts, performances, poetry readings, video art shows, lectures, seminars and master classes.

 

The concept of the show is based on the idea that artists, musicians, poets and everyone else who goes creative road are victims of their trade. Rodin and Mitrich perceive this concept as a broad, philosophical, multi-aspect and multi-time phenomenon.

“All great masters made sacrifices”, comments Alexander Rodin. “Each masterpiece, each achievement conceals an enormous work. Vincent Van Gogh was so emotionally charged that cut his ear, Robert Schumann damaged his fingers trying to make them more flexible…” Alexander also adds that “consumers of art also become its victims. It happens when they feel that they can’t live without art any more”.

“For me the art is the Trojan horse in the pocket of the humankind”, Mitrich says. “It’s because the art is a superpower everyone possesses. It stays dormant but suddenly it finds its way out and starts manipulating a person. And such a power can manifest itself in various spheres and became the art of politics, the art of philosophy and so on. Though people, the masses, those who consume the stuff politics, artists and such feed them might get fed up with it and won’t tolerate. Not everyone does…”

 

Overall, this art festival is a huge event in Belarusian art life. The unusual content of the show has helped not only to reveal Alexander Rodin’s non-traditional painting but to strip away the prejudices and hypocrisy of the modern society.

It should also be mentioned that based on the results of this art project the possibility of similar exhibition showcasing works of Belarusian artists at Berlin’s Kunsthaus Tacheles can be discussed.

The festival and the art show will continue through September 20, 2009. The ticket costs 1€ from 11 am through 5 pm and the entrance is free after 5 pm.

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos: Belapan, Tut.by