Japanisches Palais: Café Belarus

Café Belarus II: Kassandra Komplex

The presentation of the Belarusian artist duo 1+1=1, consisting of Antanina Slabodchykava and Mikhail Gulin, is a rapid response to the current political situation in Belarus. "Café Belarus" was already created in 2021 in the context of the exhibition "Wordless — Falling Silent Loudly" and also sees itself as a meeting and discourse place for exiles and cultural workers from Belarus and the whole world.

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Exhibition Site Japanisches Palais

DATES 08/09/2023—23/11/2023

Cafe Belarus II im Japanischen Palais — **Exhibition view "Café Belarus II: Kassandra Komplex", 2023**

"Café Belarus II: Kassandra Complex" presents the duo‘s current artistic work, spotlighting the ongoing fight for artistic freedom and thereby highlighting the current socio-political situation in Belarus. In 2020, even before the elections in Belarus, Antanina Slabodchykava designed the pictogram that became the ubiquitous symbol of the independent opponents to Lukashenko’s autocratic regime: a heart combined with a fist and a victory sign.

Portrait zweier Menschen — **Mikhail Gulin und Antanina Slabodchykava**

In their solo exhibition in Dresden, Slabodchykava and Gulin explore the inner mechanisms of the relationship between myth and politics, which serve an important function in authoritarian and repressive systems. What role does mythology play and how are so-called signs of fate interpreted in terms of power? And what is the significance of a subconsciously traditional belief in the power of the leader as a prophet or heroic figure? Who is actually a hero or heroine in such circumstances?

The exposition features some 26 works, including films, performances, drawings, and installations created after 2020. Moreover, new graphic and multimedia works developed especially for the exhibition at the Japanesisches Palais.