A number of Belarus-related events are going on right now, with more to
come through Friday, October 21. Please see below for details.
*"The Arts, National Identity and Cultural Politics in **Belarus**"*
*A Symposium at Harvard University, October 14-15, 2005*
Harvard University's Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures is
pleased to announce a symposium on "The Arts, National Identity and
Cultural Politics
in Belarus" to be held at Harvard on October 14-15, 2005, in conjunction
with
the first North American performances by the Jakub Kolas Academic Theatre at
the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, Massachusetts (please see
announcement below for further information about the performances). The
symposium will focus on the role of literature and the arts in the
construction
of competing visions of Belarusian national and cultural identity, and
the ways
in which the Lukashenka regime has sought to shape post-Soviet Belarusian
society through state intervention in the cultural sphere. Presentations are
planned on contemporary Belarusian literature, theatre, music, visual
arts and
film, as well as cultural and educational policy in Belarus under
Lukashenka.
In addition, there will be a screening and discussion of the recent,
critically
acclaimed film "Occupation: Mysterium" (2004) by the Belarusian director A.
Kudzinenka (banned in Belarus for its unflattering portrayal of Soviet
partisans during WWII), a reading of contemporary Belarusian poetry, and an
exhibit of Belarusian visual arts and photography.
A preliminary schedule of the symposium and related events is appended
below.
For further information, please contact Dr. Curt Woolhiser (Department of
Slavic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University) by e-mail at
cwoolhis(a)fas.harvard.edu.
*
The Arts, National Identity and Cultural Politics in **Belarus*
Co-sponsored by the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
(Harvard),
The Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, The Davis Center for Russian and
Eurasian Studies, the Orsa-Romano Cultural and Educational Foundation,
and the
North American Association for Belarusian Studies.
Wednesday, October 12-Friday October 21
*Exhibits of contemporary Belarusian visual arts and photography*
(Ticknor Lounge,
Boylston Hall (Harvard) and Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown)
*Thursday, October 13*
2:30-3:30* Meeting with members of the Jakub Kolas Theatre* at Harvard
(Humanities
Room, Barker Center 133)
4:00-7:00* Screening of "Mysterium: Occupation"* (Belarus/Netherlands 2003)
followed by discussion (Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall, Harvard University)
8:00* Performances of "Chagall...Chagall..." and "The Arrest"* by the
Jakub Kolas
Theatre, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown
*Friday, October 14*
*Session I* (Humanities Room, 133 Barker Center, Harvard University)
3:30-3:40 Opening remarks
3:40-4:20 Arnold McMillin (University of London) "Aspects of Belarusian
Literature since 1994"
4:20-5:00 Zina Gimpelevich (Waterloo U, Ontario) "Vasil Bykau: My
Biography is
in My Books"
5:00-5:40 Paula Survilla (Wartburg College, Iowa) "Back in the BSSR, or
And the
Beat Goes On: Adaptations in Sound and Vision in the Belarusan Rock
Movement,
1989-2005"
5:40-6:00 Thomas Bird (CUNY-Queens College) -- discussant
6:00-6:30 presenters' responses, questions and discussion
8:00* Performances of "Chagall...Chagall..." and "The Arrest"* by the
Jakub Kolas
Theatre, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown
*Saturday, October 15*
*Session II* (Humanities Room, 133 Barker Center, Harvard University)
10:00-10:40 Grigory Ioffe (Radford U, Virginia) "Cultural Wars,
Soul-Searching
and Belarusian Identity"
10:40-11:20 Iryna Vidanava (Johns Hopkins) "The State vs. the Nation:
Lukashenka and Educational Policy"
11:20-12:00 Elena Gapova (European Humanities University,
Minsk/Vilnius) "The
Cultural as the Political in Belarusian Intellectual Journals"
12:00-12:20 Timothy Snyder (Yale) -- discussant
12:20-12:40 Vital Zajka (YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York) --
discussant
12:40-1:30 presenters' responses, questions and discussion
2:00* Performances of "Chagall...Chagall..." and "The Arrest"* by the
Jakub Kolas
Theatre, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown
4:30-5:30 Poetry reading in Belarusian and English translation by
Valzhyna Mort
(Humanities Room, 133 Barker Center)
5:30-6:30 Business meeting of the North American Association for Belarusian
Studies
(Humanities Room, 133 Barker Center)
8:00 Performances of "Chagall...Chagall..." and "The Arrest" by the
Jakub Kolas
Theatre, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown
*Performances by the Jakub Kolas Academic Theatre (Viciebsk, Belarus) at the
Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown, Massachusetts, October 13-15, 2005*
The Jakub Kolas Academic Theatre is the second-largest theatre company in
Belarus and the country's premiere touring company. With funding from
the Trust
for Mutual Understanding (New York), Harvard University, and the Orsa-Romano
Cultural and Educational Foundation, on its first North American tour
the Jakub
Kolas Theatre will be performing two of their most popular pieces, Uladzimir
Drazdou's "Chagall... Chagall..." and Sakrat Janovich's "The
Arrest", at the
Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, Massachusetts, October 13-15,
2005.
Both plays will be performed in the original Belarusian with projected
English
supertitles.
"Chagall" is the theatre's most internationally acclaimed and recognized
production, having been performed at the East Goes West Festival in
London; at
the Edinburgh Festival Fringe where it was awarded the "Fringe First"
award by
the Scotsman; at the Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris at the behest of Mr.
Cardin
himself; at Mittelfest in Cividale del Friule, Italy; at the International
Festival "Contact" in Toruº, Poland; and at the Baltic Home Festival in St.
Petersburg, Russia. The Scotsman writes: "'Chagall, Chagall...', from
Vitebsk
in Belarus, is a staggeringly beautiful show about the early life of the
artist
Marc Chagall, as he remembers it in his dying moments. Born in Vitebsk
in 1887,
Chagall was entirely shaped as an artist by the life of the city's Jewish
community and by his love for the little city he never left in his
imagination....Here, nine magnificent actors from the Jakub Kolas Academic
Theatre recreate that life in a series of ten exquisite, tableau-like scenes
that shimmer with respect for the world Chagall knew, and with sorrow
for the
horrors that were to sweep it away."
The second production, "The Arrest," a unique example of the theatrical
mastery
of Artistic Director Vital Barkouski, is an exploration of Belarusian
identity and the modern Belarusian experience based on episodes from the
life of
the Belarusian scholar, educator and political activist Branislau
Tarashkevich
(imprisoned by the Poles in the 1920s as a "Soviet agent," and later
executed
by the Soviets as a "Polish spy"). As in Drazdou's "Chagall," in
Janovich's
"The Arrest" the viewer is made acutely aware of Belarus's historical
role as a
contested cultural and political borderland -- a role that was to have
particularly tragic consequences over the course of the 20th century.
For more information about the Jakub Kolas Theatre's performances at the
Arsenal Center, as well as about possible performances in other cities
during
the theatre's first North American tour, please contact the theatre's
international manager, Mr. James Mallinson, at james(a)mallinsonarts.com.