aRT MaSTeR CLaSS
The Vulica Brasil team has launched the Vulica Academy project - a series of workshops led by prominent contemporary artists from Belarus. By attending, not only is it possible to experience the role of the creator, but also to discover what inspires the artists. Let's talk about Vulica Academy and the video workshop trilogy.
WHaT IS VuLICa aCaDEMY?
Vulica Academy is an educational project that begins with a trilogy of workshops led by contemporary Belarusian artists: Karolina Poliakowa, Doctor Oy, and Bazinato. The main idea and objective of each video is to allow the viewer to think like an artist for an hour, contemplating the process of imagining a work, how something is created from nothing, and how that something fits into the socio-cultural or urban context.
MILa kOTka
Artist and producer of Vulica Academy.
The first prototype of the project was created back in 2019 - during the last edition of the Vulica Brasil festival in Minsk. Even then, I understood that after seven years of working with Vulica, so to speak, I also graduated from Vulica Academy because I was able to work with more than 50 artists from Belarus and other countries. Over time, Vulica Brasil began to execute projects without a specific territory, which can reach the viewer regardless of whether they stroll down Kastrychnitskaya Street in Minsk, live in Warsaw, Brazil, or anywhere else in the world. Thus, online workshops were born.
The format is as if the viewer were visiting the artist at their home - and he or she shares their techniques and practices. Each film starts with an introduction from the host, proceeds with theory, and ends with practice, carried out in collaboration with another creator, so the viewer can more easily identify with someone and learn from another person's example.
The artist is somewhat egocentric, let's say, they know best. But when we see two artists collaborating, how do they communicate and one of them 'gives in,' this means that anyone else with artistic skills can join the process equally. Our films do not deal with how a great artist teaches the less experienced to do something. They address the position of equality.
The workshops can be shared even with friends who don't speak Russian or Belarusian. All videos are subtitled in English and also aimed at the international community, which may not be familiar with the Belarusian context.
WHaT TO WaTCH?
Collages, Clips, and Gender Equality by Karolina Poliakowa
The first in the Vulica Academy trilogy is the animated workshop by Karolina Poliakowa. In the video, the founder of the bsmrtna design brand shares methods for creating collages and clips, and then joins another Belarusian artist, Doctor Oy, to create new works. Additionally, in her film, Karolina addresses gender equality issues and discusses them with her colleague.
Photo: Karolina Poliakowa
STReeT aRT & CuLTuRaL HERITaGE BY DOCTOR OY
The second participant of Vulica Academy was the Belarusian urban artist Doctor Oy. Dmitry is known among enthusiasts of the genre for his vibrant works in the neo-pop art style or for his bold narratives, such as those related to urban art at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, where the artist was detained by the police and fined 1,500 euros. In the Vulica Academy video, Doctor Oy addresses the theme of combining and reinterpreting cultural heritage with contemporaneity and creates a new plaster artwork. The artist was inspired by his grandmother's embroidered towels and traditional Belarusian embroidery, worked with new materials for him, and, together with photographer Katsiaryna Ignashevich, pasted his urban art on the walls of Warsaw.
Photo: Doctor Oy
FOREST aRT aND daRK ECOLOgY BY BaZINaTO
Experience the most meditative film of the series - the workshop by Belarusian artist Bazinato that invites the viewer to create art alongside the forest. The artist, like an audiovisual hypnotist, works with materials found in nature. Building on the concept of dark ecology, he creates art for the forest itself, highlighting the possibility of making art not only for humans but also for nature - birds, rivers, or ants - thus moving away from an anthropocentric view of the world. In the episode, together with Mila Kotka, he discusses sustainable development and ecology, creating a floating artwork on a river.
Photo: Bazinato
By: Palina Jurgenson, 34mag.net. Original article in Belarusian: Vulica Brasil released artistic masterclasses on YouTube (34mag.net).