The Belarus State University
DEVOTED TO WORLD DAY FOR CULTURAL DIVERSITY
FOR DIALOGUE AND DEVELOPMENT
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND ART-MEDIA EXPOSITION
AVANT-GARDE AND CULTURES:
ART, DESIGN, CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
May 17-19, 2007
Minsk, the Republic of Belarus
Hosted by the Arts Department & the Center of Visual Arts and Media
at the State Institute of Management and Social Technologies of the Belarus State University
In cooperation with:
Commission of the Republic of Belarus for UNESCO
National Centre of Contemporary Arts, Moscow
Ambassade de France en Biélorussie
Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Republik Belarus
Ambasciata d ‘Italia nella Repubblica di Belarus
Supported by the UNESCO Moscow Office for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation
Mission of the conference and exposition
The Conference and Exposition “Avant-Garde and Cultures: Art, Design, Cultural Environment”
develops the ideas posed by “UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural Expressions” (2005) in the direction of actual art practices. In this context one of the key objectives
of the Conference appears to be the comprehension of Avant-Garde trends as a factor strengthening cultural
diversity and intensifying national cultural identities. The Conference and Exposition continue a cycle of
international projects of the Arts Department and the Center of Visual Arts and Media at the State Institute of
Management and Social Technologies, Belarus State University. These projects aim to promote dialogue
between cultures so as to foster modern creative vision and promote the formation of vibrant cultural
environments.
The Conference is devoted to World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development,
proclaimed in 2002 by United Nations General Assembly, following the adoption of the UNESCO Universal
Declaration on Cultural Diversity, and since then annually celebrated on 21 May. One of the UNESCO
objectives in this day is to promote public awareness of cultural diversity significance, richness and values.
The Conference and Exposition will include the following aspects: Correlating avant-garde and
national images in the 20th century; assessing the avant-garde's influence on the cultures, daily life
and environments in various European and world regions in that century; discussing how the avant-garde
became a language of national cultures; accounting for both unity and variety within the European avantgarde with he emphasis on Central Europe; Belarus on the avant-garde artistic map.
The conference also specially addresses the cultural axis Paris – Berlin - Vitebsk - Moscow. Vitebsk
and Belarus in the 1920s were home to an exceptionally brilliant flowering of avant-garde creativity and
environmental formation. Here, around Kazimir Malevich's messianic figure, was concentrated the search
for a new vision in art, that of suprematism. The conference will address the complex and multi-dimensional
analysis of the theory and practice of leading art schools of the 1920s-- at the Bauhaus in Weimar and
Dessau, at the VKHUTEMAS in Moscow, and at UNOVIS in Vitebsk. Speakers will analyze multidimensionally the strategies of art and design pedagogics and the links between art and design.
Accompanying the conference will be the special events: exhibition of art and media: "Avant-garde
Hyperspace" (created by students in Belarus, Germany, and France, devoted to the movement of avant-garde
ideas in the first half of the twentieth century, addressed through contemporary cultural space), and the
opening of the memorial exhibition on the leading figure of Ecole de Paris Chaim Soutine at his native town
of Smilovichi in the environs of Minsk.
Focus areas of the Conference:
(i) Contemporary Art in the context of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion
of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005)
(ii) Avant-Garde and national (regional) World images
(iii) Avant-Garde art and philosophy
(iv) European axis of the Avant-Garde: VHUTEMAS-INHUK (Moscow) – Bauhaus (Weimar –
Dessau) – UNOVIS (Vitebsk)
(v) Avant-Garde and Belarus in the XX century
(vi) Avant-Garde, design, environment
Program Committee:
Leonid Bazhanov, National Center of Contemporary Art, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
Jeffrey Andrew Barash, University of Hamburg and Universite de Picardie
Petr Brigadin, Belarusian State University
Michelle Campagnolo- Bouvier, European Society of Culture, Venice;
Аlexander Dobrokhotov, Department of History and Theory of World Cultures, Moscow State University
Igor Dukhan, Arts Department and Center for Visual Arts, State Institute of Management and Social
Technologies of the Belarusian State University
Avi Ganon, Anatoliy Greenberg, World ORT
Michael Levin, Faculty of Design at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Ramat Gan
Christina Lodder, Arts Department, University of Edinburgh
Catherine Millet, ART PRESS, Paris
Liubava Moreva, UNESCO Moscow Office for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Republic of Moldova, and
the Russian Federation
Hermann Simon, Berlin -Centrum Judaicum
Chana Schütz, Berlin-Centrum Judaicum
Vladimir Schasny, UNESCO Belarusian National committee
Gennadiy Vdovin, Ostankino Palace-Museum, Moscow
Working Committee:
Igor Dukhan, Arts Department, SIMST BSU
Alexandra Listopad, Arts Department, SIMST BSU
Olga Bazhenova, Arts Department, SIMST BSU
Igor Gerasimenko, Arts Department, SIMST BSU
Elena Krasovskaya, UNESCO Belarusian National committee
Natalya Rachkovskaya, Arts Department, SIMST BSU
Alexander Renansky, Arts Department, SIMST BSU
Olga Sakovetz, Arts Department, SIMST BSU
Working language of the conference: Russian (Belarusian), English
All submissions must comprise:
-title and language of the report
-name and surname of the speaker
-place of employment of the speaker
-contact information (postal address, telephone number, e-mail)
-abstract- resume of the report (volume: limited to 600 words) (in Russian/ Belarusian and English)
Entry forms must be sent before March 1, 2007 to the Arts Department and Center of visual arts and media
SIMST BSU, 220006, 96 Mayakovsky St., Minsk, Republic of Belarus,
Tel/fax 375 17 221 04 30, e-mail: artsdpt_center@mail.ru
Contacts:
Prof. Igor N. Dukhan
Head of Arts Department and Center of Visual Arts and Media, State Institute of Management and Social
Technologies of the Belarusian State University,
Tel/fax +375 17 207 79 16, 375 17 283 22 51, mobile 8 0296 99 56 88 iccac@belsonet.net
Mrs. Alexandra V. Listopad
Cultural programs coordinator, Department of Arts and Center of Visual Arts and Media, State Institute of
Management and Social Technologies of the Belarusian State University,
Tel/fax +375 17 221 04 30, mobile 8 0297 511 373 artsdpt_center@mail.ru