with Christine Fischer, Olga Shparaga and Claudia Neubert, moderated by Jakob Racek
ACUD Studio
Germany has become a refuge for cultural workers from Belarus, and not just since the rigged 2020 elections. Maria Kalesnikava, who was sentenced to eleven years in prison in 2021 for "attempted seizure of power" in Belarus, previously worked as a musician and cultural manager with the Stuttgart-based ECLAT Festival / Music of the Centuries. Since her arrest, the festival has been committed to supporting Belarusian artists in exile in Germany and has become an important agent of Belarusian culture.
What role did culture play in the 2020/21 protests? How does exile influence our own cultural practices and how will it change Belarusian culture in the long term? What new forms of civil society networking and solidarity have emerged? Christine Fischer, director of the ECLAT Festival / Music of the Centuries, and philosopher and author Olga Shparaga will take part in the discussion. Moderated by Jakob Racek, former director of the Goethe-Institut in Minsk.