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33 Books for a another Belarus
With Sylvia Sasse, Iryna Herasimovich, and Zmicier Vishniou

21.11.2023, 19:00
Maxim Gorki Theater – Café, Am Festungsgraben 2, 10117 Berlin

The action 33 Books for a another Belarus was created as an answer to the acts of repression against the independent Belarussian arts and culture scene, which began after the violent suppression of the protests in 2020 and continue at full speed today.

 

 

 

33 Books for Another Belarus

 

 

The precarious situation affects everyone in the independent arts and culture scene, and especially the independent publishers, who had already been frequent targets of the Belarussian state. Today there is barely any freedom left for them in Belarus: many publishers were forced to liquidate, the production of books prevented. The initiators of 33 Books for a another Belarus, Sylvia Sasse, Iryna Herasimovich and Lukas Bärfuss, want to change this situation for 33 books, at least, attempting to get books out of Belarus and, for Belarus, releasing them at other European publishers. On the one hand, they want to make it possible for specific books to be published; on the other, the action is meant to inspire thinking about open spaces for culture in a different way than within national borders.

The Café at the Gorki will also turn into a safe haven for independent Belarussian arts and culture for one evening. 33 Büchern initiators Sylvia Sasse and Iryna Herasimovich will present the action, its concept, the story of its creation and its future plans. Together with the Belarussian publisher and poet Zmicier Vishniou, they will also introduce the first volume published as part of the action: a joint project between diaphanes, a Swiss publisher, and Halijafy, a Belarussian publisher which no longer exists. An anthology of poetry, dramatic texts and performance documentation from two literary associations which significantly influenced the emancipation of Belarussian literature from the Soviet tradition: the Boom-Bam-Lit movement and the society of independent authors. These nearly 600 pages gather together, for the first time, texts that never had the chance to become part of the official literary and theatrical canon in Belarus and have remained unknown even among the Belarussian readership. This volume contains something that we’re extremely short of at the moment, according to Zmicier Vishniou, and that is freedom.

 

gorki.de/en

Alena Lepishava (ed.), Zmicier Vishniou (ed.), ...: НЕТУТЭЙШЫЯ: REVERSION

Анталогія беларускай эксперыментальнай драматургіі канца ХХ –пачатку ХХI стагоддзя –унікальнае шматзадачнае выданне, якое дае яскравае ўяўленне аб развіцці асаблівага вектара беларускай драматургіі і тэатра, звязаных са смелымі эстэтычнымі пошукамі, неканвенцыйнымі стратэгіямі пісьма і сцэнічных пастановак, стварэннем адмысловых мадэляў мастацкага ўніверсуму. Асновай для кнігі сталі матэрыялы зборніка п'ес "Нетутэйшыя", які рыхтаваўся ў канцы 1990-х - пачатку 2000-х гадоў сябрамі творчага руху "Бум-Бам-Літ", але так і не пабачыў свет. Сучаснае выданне дапоўнена некаторымі іншымі п'есамі прадстаўнікоў адзначанага літаратурнага пакалення, а таксама дэталëвым літаратуразнаўчым даследаваннем беларускага тэатральна-драматургічнага працэсу ў кантэксце сусветнага, творчымі маніфестамі, хронікай культурнага жыцця, каментарамі яго актыўных ўдзельнікаў, фотаздымкамі літаратурна-мастацкіх і тэатральных акцый і іншымі дакументамі. Праект прапануецца шырокай аўдыторыі: ад спецыялістаў у галіне сучаснага мастацтва да аматараў, зацікаўленых яго арыгінальнымі версіямі.
Кніга выйшла ў межах акцыі «33 кнігі для іншай Беларусі».

 

https://www.republik.ch/2023/09/21/gegen-die-repression-buecher-belarus

 

This unique anthology of the Belarusian experimental drama of the late 20th and early 21st centuries is a multifaceted publication. It gives a vivid idea of the development of a particular field of Belarusian drama and theatre associated with bold aesthetic searching, unconventional writing strategies and stage productions, and creating peculiar models of artistic universes. The book is based on Nietuteishyia ('Non-Natives'), a collection of plays prepared for publication in the late 1990s–early 2000s by representatives of the Boom-Bam-Lit literary and artistic movement. That edition never saw the light of day. The modern one includes supplements: a thorough literary study of Belarusian theatrical and dramatic process in the global context, art manifestos, a chronicle of cultural life, its active participants' comments, photographs of literary, artistic, and theatrical actions, and other documents. The anthology is addressed to different readers, from specialists in the field of contemporary art to amateurs interested in its original versions.
The book is part of the campaign "33 Books for Another Belarus".