At the
opening of the Belarus Festival, welcoming words will be spoken by Johannes Ebert, Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut, Dr Tobias Lindner, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office and Member of the German Bundestag (Bündnis90/Die Grünen) and Michelle Müntefering, Member of the German Bundestag (SPD) and Chair of the Subcommittee on Foreign Cultural and Educational Policy. Vera Dziadok, curator of the country focus Belarus, will then give an introduction to the festival's programme of events.
Afterwards, we look forward to a discursive reading with contemporary author Sasha Filipenko, who will be in dialogue with art historian and curator Lena Prents.
The Swiss-based author
Sasha Filipenko gained prominence with his book
Der ehemalige Sohn, in which he addresses young people’s frustration at the stagnation in Belarus’ seeming stability.
In his last novels
Rote Kreuze and
Kremulator, he explores the abysses and normality of Soviet repression, which have recently become again more and more evident in post-Soviet countries. With the insider perspective of a long-time employee of Russian TV stations, Sasha Filipenko also criticizes the role of the media in the dumbing down and manipulation of society.
Together with moderator Lena Prents, Filipenko discusses the relevance of his work and the role of contemporary literature in the current Belarusian context.
© Masha Kushnir
Sasha Filipenko, born in Minsk in 1984, is a Belarusian author who writes in Russian. After leaving classical music training, he studied literature in St. Petersburg and worked as a journalist, screenwriter, writer for a satirical show and as a television presenter. His novel
The Hunt was a Spiegel bestseller. Sasha Filipenko is a passionate football fan and lived in St. Petersburg until 2020. He had to leave Russia with his family and lives in Switzerland.
Moderation
© The Kala Collective
Lena Prents is an art historian and curator. After her studies in German philology in Minsk and art history and German studies at Freie Universität Berlin, Prents worked in the international cultural sector. She is currently in charge of the municipal Prater Gallery and the visual arts department of the Pankow district office. In her work, Prents focuses on the interweaving of contemporary art and exhibition practice with socio-political discourses, art and culture in Eastern Europe during state socialism, and architectural history.
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