The EAST Center organized and coordinated the exhibition «Artistic Bialowieza» aimed to raise awareness of the uniqueness of the Bialowieza Forest, to bring environmental issues into public discussion, and to promote intercultural dialog.
The exhibition «Artistic Bialowieza» was hosted by the Belarusian House in Warsaw on July 28 – August 07, 2017. This was the culmination of the creative project Area Outside, which had started with an immersion in the Bialowieza forest over a period of three weeks. Based along the Polish-Belarusian border, this UNESCO World Heritage Site and Europe’s last primary forest became the place of investigation for seven visual artists from France, Canada, Poland and Belarus.
The exhibition was a part of a Polish-Belarusian-French joint project based on the idea «The Bialowieza Forest, a Europe’s natural heritage» presented by EAST Center’s Olga Aleszko and Veranika Laputska at the Nantes Creative Generation Forum in October 2016 in Nantes, France. The project won the 2016-2017 NCG Cooperation Award and received support by the Nantes Métropole as well as by the Academy of Fine Arts of Nantes, the Regional Delegation of Loire-Atlantique (France), and LOGIQ in Canada. The event was followed by printed catalogues in English, French, Polish and Belarusian.
See the news about the project and the exhibition in the media:
Area Outside is hosted by the Belarusian House in Warsaw (Radio Racyja, July 27, 2017, link, in Belarusian).
French and Canadian artists promote the Bielaviezha forest (Belsat, July 27, 2017, link, in Belarusian).
Artists from France, Canada and Poland seek inspiration from the Belaviezha forest (Belarusian service of the Polish Radio, July 15, 2017, link, in Belarusian).
The Belaviezha forest as seen by contemporary art (Belarusian service of the Polish Radio, July 28, 2017, link, in Belarusian).
Area Outside / Artistic Bialowieza, by the Belarusian House in Warsaw, Poland.
