<dienstag abend> No.89 followed an invitation from Belarusian artist Ales Pushkin to participate in Kupala celebrations in his home village Bobr in Belarus. The project became a performative implementation of instructions, which Ales Pushkin prepared for <dienstag abend> within this framework of designed positions. In view of the unknown cultural environment and the rapid classification of an act of political provocation by Belarusian authorities, <dienstag abend> assumed the role assigned by Pushkin rather than autonomously deciding on any project, finding additional value of learning through this informal cultural exchange.
Ales Pushkin’s artistic output consists mainly of monumental paintings and performance art, therefore he invited <dienstag abend> to jointly paint several objects – remains of a post-soviet holiday resort in the Belarusian countryside. Obliterating their former function, the objects were treated as white canvas on which several monumental paintings were created which will remain for the view of the animals and the plants in this now uninhabited area.
<dienstag abend> was then invited to participate in the celebration of Kupala Night which stems from Slavic pagan tradition and celebration of the sun and fertility. Ales Puskin considers celebration of pagan customs as a permissible form of protest in the hostile political environment of current dictatorship in Belarus.
30 June – 10 July 2017