"focus on belarus" in Anzenberger Gallery, Vienna

An exhibition by Andrei Liankevich starts on September 8 and lasts till October 25, 2010.

Philissage: October 7, 2010 at 7 pm

Opening hours: working days from 10 am to 6 pm
 AnzenbergerGallery
Zeinlhofergasse 7, 1050 Vienna, tel. 01/587 82 51
email: gallery@anzenberger.com

fine art portfolio:
http://www.anzenbergergallery.com/en/article/1172.html
book: http://www.anzenbergergallery.com/en/article/1131.html

Glance into no man’s land - About the work of the photographer Andrei Liankevich

There are hardly any photographers who have the ability, and the talent, to show today’s Belarus truly and free from any clichés, but still include all its historical and cultural disruption, its political apathy and difficulty, and - on the other hand - its will to change, its lurching vitality, its untamed cheeriness and screaming easiness. The young Belarusian photographer Andrei Liankevich succeeds in all of that.
He is the analyst of the creeping and hidden change that leaves the old Belarus behind – and opens the door to a new one. Through his photos you can roam and discover Belarus, the country in the east, still unknown. A country that up to now has gained inglorious fame – as a symbol of hopelessness and catastrophes. With the help of his photos we learn how to really understand today’s Belarus: Take a look at the picture and discover a piece of the country’s soul. This is why his photos should not be shown only in famous newspapers and magazines, but also in museums and exhibitions. He must be discovered and he will be discovered. Considering the relative youth of Liankevich he has already developed an immense artistic voice that distinguishes him as one of the grand photographers of his country.

Is the story over or are we still in the middle of it somewhere? Is it the country itself? Is it Belarus that makes reality and fiction seem to be layered like transparencies? The pictures of Andrei Liankevich seem to suggest that at least. For example, when a lonely Communist marches across a foggy square. Or when a soldier poses in a comfortable armchair among his trophies: the naked antlers on the wall and the no-less trophy-like twin sons held tenderly and creepily on his lap – Nestor and Pollux? Remus and Romulus? Cain and Abel? If they are supposed to stand for a dually new beginning, this might take place once again within that historical cliché that has helped give Belarus its sense of unreality. History has certainly provided plenty of signs. No other region in Europe suffered as much during the Second World War as Belarus: the bourgeois intelligentsia were practically wiped out, the number of war victims was the highest relative to the total population, and the infrastructure was destroyed. Later the country was the remotely controlled ally of the old Communist powers, and the same clique is still in power today. And yet the very fact that Liankevich can depict the somnambulistic conditions of his country the way he does is proof that there is a young generation of Belarusians whose creativity is in the service of change. Fantastic elements of an unattainable dreamland and a caricatural focus on pseudo-Soviet deco-propaganda à la Lukashenko provide a backdrop against which innovation has been going on for a long time.

text by Ingo Petz

11. August 2010 in Kultur

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