Belarusian artists and activists draw attention to the urgent situation in their country and show the ongoing protests from a new perspective.
Although the Dutch media reports on the protests in Belarus, it is difficult to grasp the core values of the persistent daily protests. At the exhibition, you will learn the stories of resistance and see how citizens’ initiatives, self-organization, and art are forming a new grassroots democracy in Belarus.

This movement in Belarus started in the run-up stage of the 2020 Presidential Elections. With unprecedented police violence and turmoil, people started looking for new ways of resistance, avoiding direct confrontation with police and soldiers of the dictator Loekashenka. The artistic expression of opinions is one of the instruments of non-violent protests and a way to show solidarity while there is no escape from injustice.

At Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, you will see a selection of posters contributed by an online platform for visual resistance in Belarus https://cultprotest.me, paintings, video performances.

The part of the exhibition is dedicated to “Ploschad Peremen” (The Square of Change). It is now a famous Minsk backyard where people gather to talk, exchange ideas, give theater performances, and support each other. Such communities grow in number, politically active neighborhoods and local centers appear all around Minsk and in smaller Belarusian towns.

In this exhibition, you are invited to witness how a completely new society is evolving, learning democracy from its basics in order to confront the dying authoritarian regime. Belarus // Art of resistance is not just an art exhibition in its usual sense but it is a manifesto, a wake-up call, breaking the ignorance, when presence and awareness become a form of solidarity.