The Congress-performance of cultural workers, initiated by the members and participants of the project “STATUS: The role of artists in changing society” (Belarus and Sweden), takes place in Minsk November 23, 2019.

During the one-day event, there will be discussions and conversations, workshops and performances, as well as presentations of the artworks related to the issues of working conditions and legal status of artists in Belarus and Sweden, defending rights, equality, gender and age. Congress invites professionals from the field of culture and arts, as well as anyone interested in the stated topics.

The purpose of the Congress — to discuss and draw attention to the legal status of the artists in the Belarusian and Swedish society, in order to direct the attention of state bodies to the legal aspects that require a change in the context of new forms of artistic production and precarious work.

STATUS is a collective research project that has been created by the joint coordination of Swedish and Belarusian partners: Konstepidemin in Gothenburg and KX Space gallery in Brest. The aim of the project is to bring together artists and cultural workers with a common goal to analyze the conditions of artistic practice and give visibility to the people who conduct it in today’s world. The publication ‘Artistic Positions in Changing Society. Observations from Belarus and Sweden’ that contains texts and artworks documentation in terms of STATUS project will be presented at the event.

Organizers of the project: Konstepidemin (Sweden), KX Space gallery (Brest).
Project partners: The Swedish Institute, Swedish Union of Artists.
Idea and realisation: Aleksei Borisionok, Tania Arcimovich, Inha Lindarenka, Alina Dzeravianka, Mona Wallström, Denis Romanovski.
Artwork for the poster: Masha Svyatagor.
Poster design: Maria Kirilchik.
Art intervention into the space: Sergey Shabohin.

Participants: Almira Ousmanova, Jonatan Habib Engqvist, Aleksei Borisionok, Mona Wallstrom, Sofia de la Fuente, Stsiapan Stureika, Tania Arcimovich, Uladzimir Hramovich, Alena Aharelysheva, Volha Maslouskaya, Aliaxey Talstou, Linda Tedsdotter, Lizaveta Mikhalchuk, Mikhail Gulin, Olia Maslovskaya, Sergey Shabohin.

There will be simultaneous English/Russian translation during the congress.

PROGRAM
10:00 Opening of the Congress and the presentation of the publication ‘Artistic Positions in Changing Society. Observations from Belarus and Sweden”.

10:15 – 12:00 Post Work. A panel discussion on art and labour.
Participants: Almira Ousmanova (Belarus/Lithuania), Jonatan Habib Engqvist (Sweden). Moderated by Aleksei Borisionok.

12:00 – 14:00 Legal Status of Artists. What is the future? Panel discussion.
Participants: Tania Arcimovich, Uladzimir Hramovich, Linda Tedsdotter. Moderated by Aliaxey Talstou.

14:15 ‘A Social Role’, performance by Mikhail Gulin.

15:00 – 16:30 Artistic Unions: cases of Belarus and Sweden. Panel discussion.
Participants: Sofia de la Fuente (vice head of board of Swedish Art Association and also representative of Sweden for International Artist Association) and Gleb Otchyk, First Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Union of Artists. Moderated by Mona Wallstrom.

16:30 – 18:00 Art, gender and age: support structures and invisible work. Art-talk.
Moderated by Alena Aharelysheva.

18:30 – 20:00 Session of collective reading and discussion of the Codex of Culture.
Moderated by Stsiapan Stureika.

20:30 Perfomance by Olia Maslouskaya.

21:00-23.00 Music and drinks.

Read more about the program: http://statusproject.net/the-congress-performance-of-cultural-workers/