The project introduces viewers to the work of three authors: Alexander Uglyanitsa, Viktor Kalenik and Alexei Trufanov, who in 1983 in Minsk united in the META group.

The history of the group cannot be separated from the historical processes that have taken place in the USSR since the second half of the 1970s. An important role here was played by the emergence of youth communities that use creativity: music, photography, literature and fine arts in order to expand their view of the world and search for new images and meanings outside the official culture. At this time, creatively active youth goes on trips around the country. Life is in full swing not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg: student communities of higher educational institutions of the capitals of the Union republics are becoming new centers of artistic activity.

In such a situation, the authors of the future META group meet. In 1983, Stavropol resident Alexander Uglyanitsa and Minsk resident Viktor Kalenik, fifth-year students of the Belarusian State Theater and Art Institute, met the future freshman of the design faculty Alexei Trufanov.

One of the main reasons young artists and designers turned to photography in the 1980s was the acute shortage of visual images. Any new visual information aroused interest and stimulated work on its discovery and extraction. Thus, photography was understood by the authors as a tool that provides endless possibilities for creating images.

Alexander Uglyanitsa from the very beginning was perceived by the members of the group as the undisputed leader. When Alexey Trufanov got acquainted with the photographs of Uglyanitsa for the first time, he was struck by their plot unusualness, vivid style and dissimilarity with the standards of images of official culture. Describing the creative method of Alexander Uglyanitsa, Aleksey Trufanov notes: “He was attracted by unexpected things that were symbols of public “designer” everyday life: urban sculpture, signboards, visual street propaganda, new buildings.”

The years 1983-1984 became a time of active creative communication for the members of the group: daily shooting, photo viewing, heated discussions and shooting again, processing of photographic material and printing new photographs. At the same time, the group made the first attempts to demonstrate their works to a wide audience. One of the first street actions was held at the city festival, where META demonstrated an unapproved fast-paced exhibition, integrating it into the official exhibition-sale of the Minsk Union of Artists. Later, the group successfully held an exhibition at the Pioneer cinema, which finally secured the status of a creative group.

The topics of conversation within the group were not limited to photography; cinema and literature were discussed. During this period of time, the underground all over the country was drawn to philosophy, esotericism, Zen Buddhism. Probably, the name "META", coined by Alexander Uglyanitsa, was a reflection of the general interest in the study of the suddenly discovered metarealism - "the realism of many realities connected by the continuity of internal transitions and mutual transformations." The term was proposed in 1982 by the writer Mikhail Epshtein to denote a new stylistic trend in literature and ideally suited for the new Soviet photography that was actively developing at that time.

Having mastered the method of super-artistic generalization, each member of the group completes the pictures of reality in their own way. The monumentality inherent in the works of Viktor Kalenik makes each fragment captured by him significant. Things in his photographs become as alive as possible - hyper-realistic. This blurs the boundaries of realism. So, a plastic plane becomes real, and a moment snatched from life tends to become a frame from, perhaps, a movie once seen.

In the mid-1980s, the members of the META group were integrated into the Belarusian photographic community. In 1985, following Alexander Uglyanitsa and Viktor Kalenik, Aleksey Trufanov joined the Studio-3 creative photography studio, which was led by the outstanding teacher Valery Lobko on the basis of the Minsk national photo club. The influence of studies in the studio is especially noticeable at the exhibition in the Uglyanitsa series. Early individual black-and-white photographs are replaced by a series of multi-layered, intricately calibrated prints, referring to the experience of a dramatic visual experience of the rapidly changing realities of a new life.

Classes in the studio allow members of the META group to get to know many representatives of the “New Wave” in Belarusian photography of the 1980-1990s, take part in exhibitions of the association of creative photography “Province”, and then, since 1988, become members of a number of significant for Belarusian photography at international exhibitions. In the early 1990s, due to the collapse of the USSR and the difficult social situation associated with this, the group ceased creative activity.

The photographs presented in the project demonstrate the full power of the author's extended and in-depth contemplation, which makes it possible to realize the full complexity of the non-staged reality that is unfolding before our eyes every second.

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Interview with Igor Savchenko

Igor Savchenko is a well-known Belarusian photographer with a worldwide reputation. His works are kept in private and public collections in Belarus, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Finland, USA, Denmark, Switzerland and other countries.

In an interview, he reflects on the authors of the exhibition - Alexander Uglyanits, Viktor Kalenik and Aleksey Trufanov, the special path of photo clubs in Belarus, the influence of the META group on the development of Belarusian photography, and also emphasizes the importance of Valery Lobko, a teacher who played an important role in the development of many Belarusian photographers.

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• Tour of the exhibition “Transformation. Metarealism in Belarusian Photography in the 1980s–1990s”

  Discover the hidden meanings of the exhibition “Transformation. Metarealism in Belarusian photography of the 1980s–1990s” on a video tour with its curator.

  Join a video tour with Igor Lebedev and explore the unique approach of the META group. You will learn about how and why the group was formed, why not all works may seem aesthetic and how the authors managed to show a new reality through familiar objects. The tour will also help you discover new interpretations of the stories of legendary Belarusian photographers and see the world of photography from a completely different point of view.

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Tour of the exhibition “Transformation. Metarealism in Belarusian Photography in the 1980s–1990s”

Discover the hidden meanings of the exhibition “Transformation. Metarealism in Belarusian photography of the 1980s–1990s” on a video tour with its curator.

Join a video tour with Igor Lebedev and explore the unique approach of the META group. You will learn about how and why the group was formed, why not all works may seem aesthetic and how the authors managed to show a new reality through familiar objects. The tour will also help you discover new interpretations of the stories of legendary Belarusian photographers and see the world of photography from a completely different point of view.