EAST Center’s analysts Olga Aleszko and Veranika Laputska organized and coordinated the exhibition «Artistic Bialowieza» on July 28 – August 07, in cooperation with the Belarusian House.
The exhibition «Artistic Bialowieza» is the culmination of the creative project Area Outside, which was initiated by an experience of 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 aimed to raise awareness of the uniqueness of the Bialowieza Forest, to bring environmental issues into public discussion, and to promote intercultural dialog. To achieve these aims, the environmental and artistic components were combined in a non-traditional framework. The exhibition demonstrated tha art in public spaces can be successfully used as a tool for raising awareness about sustainable development and biodiversity issues.
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 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 will be 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 conteporary art (Belarusian service of the Polish Radio, July 28, 2017, link, in Belarusian).
Area Outside / Artistic Bialowieza, by the Belarusian House in Warsaw, Poland.
Photo by Eduard Zholud, Radio Racyja
