The exhibition of easel sculpture, which opened in Hrodna on April 29 and lasted only 4 hours, was prepared by members of the sculpture section of the Belarusian Union of Artists.

The exposition featured conceptual works by Igor Zasimovich, Vasily Timashov, Maxim Petrul, Alexander Shapo, Sergei and Dmitry Aganov, Olga Nechay, Pavel Kunitsky, Alexander Sokolov, Olga Orsik, Denis Kondratiev, Yuri Pegovich, Pauline.

The curator (and participant) of the project was Ivan Artsimovich.

The beginning of the supposed exhibition, which was closed

At a closed exhibition

At first, the exhibition was closed "for technical reasons."

The next day, pro-government activist Volha Bondarava published an appeal to the head of the culture department of the Hrodna City Executive Committee Dzyanis Charnyak in her telegram channel.

"On the artistic value, or rather its absence, this exhibition can be judged by the exhibits.

Apparently, the residents of Hrodna do not deserve other exhibitions or the department of culture for Hrodna has no other artists, but only a stubborn struggle, which creates not beauty around itself, but destructive poverty, "- wrote the activist in an address to the official.

One of the exhibits

At a closed exhibition of sculptures

Who is Olga Bondareva: engaged in cigarette smuggling, the leader of "Infospetsnaz"

Olga Bondareva is 38 years old.

She has about 2.5 thousand subscribers to the Telegram.

Motto: "Political correctness is not about us when it comes to protecting the interests of the motherland."

Its telegram channel contains mainly Russian media outlets and channels such as propaganda channels.

Pro-government media call Bondareva a “leader of the Hrodna Infospetsnaz” and present her as a member of the Anti-Vandal movement.

Here is what the pro-government "Grodno Pravda" wrote about its activity in 2020:

"For a long time now, together with friends and like-minded people, Olga Bondareva has been helping housing and communal services workers clean the city of insulting inscriptions and unregistered symbols and says she will continue to do so because she is not indifferent to the fate of her native country."

According to Viasna, Volha Bondareva was brought to administrative and criminal responsibility for cigarette smuggling to Poland.

Bondareva told the police about her classmate Tatsiana, Yarash, who decorated the window with a dwarf toy in "protest colors" for Christmas.

It was considered a picket and the woman was fined.

Bondareva was a defendant and a witness in the cases of several Grodno residents, who were accused of hooliganism for white-red-white symbols.

The woman repeatedly informed the authorities about the activities of the "Center for Urban Life" and the store "Distinctiveness".

After that, there were searches.

On March 22, 2021, Bondareva visited the Center for Urban Life, where a portrait of Yauhen Zhykhar, a member of the anti-Bolshevik post-war underground, was exhibited.

She shot videos on a smartphone, she called the exhibition "a hotbed of Nazism."

On March 26 last year, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against the author of the painting, Ales Pushkin, for "rehabilitation and justification of Nazism."

Ales Pushkin was sentenced to 5 years in prison on March 30, 2022.

"Bachelors just brazenly flew out of all the cracks like worms after the rain"

In her next letter to the head of the culture department of the Hrodna City Executive Committee Dzyanis Charnyak, Volha Bondareva wrote: punish the guilty. "

In response, Hrodna ideologists suggested shooting some works.

However, the curator of the project Ivan Artsimovich did not agree to such conditions and wrote on his Facebook page.

“Neither I nor the gallery administration were satisfied with the proposed form of further work of the exposition ... I do not think it is right to delete any of the authors or some of their works from the exposition for completely contrived reasons voiced by non-professionals.

I (I think, like many of you) would like the national art to preserve its best achievements, be filled with interesting content and new forms, so that we have our own way and our sculpture is different.

The exhibition of sculptures in Hrodna is finally closed.

According to the well-known Hrodna artist Syarhei Hrynevich, the authorities are not so afraid of artists as of “indifferent citizens” like Bondarev and others.

"In Minsk Sidarovich, in Hrodna - Bondarev.

They are calling, collecting signatures, the authorities have to react somehow, so they close so that they can unhook.

In our Union of Artists I know for sure no more than 5 artists with a pro-government position, and that’s from thousands of friends!

Therefore, these "patriots" have a vast field for action.

For them, a special buzz from the fact that you can close the whole event.

And everyone said that in our revolution a woman's face, so I must say that in the counter-revolution he is also predominantly female, "- says Sergei Grinevich.

In April 2020, the Palace of Arts hosted an exhibition by Sergei Grinevich "Demography".

At first, 7 anti-war paintings were removed from it, then closed altogether.

"Artists have always been at the mercy of the authorities"

The closure of art exhibitions has become commonplace in Belarus.

Back in 2011, two paintings by Ales Marachkin, a canvas by Viktar Nikita and three posters by Uladzimir Krukouski were removed from the art exhibition "Chase-20", which was dedicated to the events of Belarusian history, including December 19, 2010 in Independence Square, solidarity with political prisoners. .

In 2015, two anti-war works by Alexei Marochkin "Duel or Resistance to the Two-Headed Mutant" and "Mother of God of the Heavenly Hundred" were removed from the exhibition of the "Pahonia" community;

Ales Pushkin's painting "In Memory of Belarusians Who Died for Ukraine";

Ales Tsyrkunov's work on the Second World War and the participation of Belarusians in the battles near Monte Cassino in Italy;

painting by Vladimir Krukovsky "What are we people?", dedicated to the emblem "Chase".

Artist Mikola Kupava says that there are many more such examples.

“Artists have always been at the mercy of the authorities.

The authorities have always disliked the name of our community "Pahonia".

And now they have appointed new ministers, curators - even more vigilant, who firmly set the condition of the Union of Artists: "Either you shoot the works of individual artists, or close the exhibition altogether."

Twice (in 2021 and 2022) we asked the Ministry of Culture to allow an exhibition dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Khatyn in 1621.

The authorities do not like the outstanding military and statesman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Jan Chodkiewicz, because in the XVII century he went to Moscow with campaigns.

They called: "In no case!" - Lists cases of interference in the work of artists Nikolai Kupava.

The Art-Minsk festival opened on May 12 in the capital's Palace of Arts.

It was supposed that works by 240 authors would be presented there, but the works of dozens of artists were not included in the exhibition.

Among the banned are Alexander Belsky, Nadezhda Leonovich, Kirill Khlopov, Slava Novoslavsky, Anya Radko, Anna Silivonchik, Lisa Khikhlushko and others.

Ministry of Culture officials declined to comment, Nasha Niva reported.

The Palace of Arts explained that the paintings allegedly did not pass the selection.