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Selected dates:
April 25, 1959
Born in Minsk (BSSR, today the Republic of Belarus).
1974 - 1978
He studied at the Minsk Art College. A.K. Glebov with Oleg Rakovsky and Leonid Lapchinsky.
Since 1984
Began to participate in exhibitions .
1987
He founded the Bismarck group, of which only he himself was a member.
September 21, 1987
A group exhibition "On Collectornaya" has opened in Minsk, one of the key exhibitions of Belarusian nonconformist art. The exhibition was not typical for Belarus at that time and was a total installation created from mixed works of the participants of the exhibition project (Aleksey Zhdanov, Todor Kopsha, Artur Klinov, Andrey Plesanov, Vitaly Kalgin), various objects and garbage. Bismarck's painting "The Red Emperor or Patriarch" aroused indignation among viewers who perceived it as "pornography", the exhibition was constantly tried to be closed. To support the exhibition, the organizers even sent a telegram to Raisa Gorbacheva.
1988
Because of the work "The Red Emperor or Patriarch" Vitaly Kalgin was diagnosed with schizophrenia . Compulsory treatment in psychiatric clinics (sometimes experimental ones) is one of the most famous methods of the Soviet government's struggle against dissidents, including avant-garde artists. The diagnosis made in Soviet times turned out to be fatal in 2011.
Since 1999
Engaged in artistic actions and performances of a personal-subjective nature.
2011
The artist was attacked by three tipsy men, but in the end, the court, due to the lack of witnesses and despite Vitaly's severe beatings, accused the artist of the conflict precisely because of his "mental disorder" (diagnosis made in 1988). In accordance with the court decision dated January 25, 2011, Vitaly Kalgin had to undergo compulsory treatment for two years in an institution for citizens who committed a crime in a state of mental disorder in the village of Gaytyunishki. The artist was illegally detained at the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Mental Health in Novinki (where he was transferred in 2013) without official explanation. At the same time, neither the artist's open letter, signed by representatives of cultural and social life, nor the lawyer's complaints about numerous violations during the investigation and trial, nor special publications helped.
End of 2015
Was released .