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Performance | 10 Treffen: Solidarity Treffen

375 0908 2334. The body you are calling is currently not available

By Igor Shugaleev, Sergey Shabohin

World premiere 24 July 2021

Three people are on a stage with their hands behind their backs, not facing the audience. A screen above them shows a close-up of a man’s face.

375 0908 2334 © Alexandra Kononchenko

Performer and choreographer Igor Shugaleev identifies himself on stage with Belarusian detainees who have been imprisoned as a result of protests against the presidential election.

This event is part of the Solidarity Treffen.

The idea for this performance arose from the state of protesting against violence, resisting prolonged stress, fear and overcoming feelings of guilt in which Belarusians live nowadays – consciously or not. It is a kind of invitation to conceive being detained in Belarus, to go physically through the violence which tens of thousands of civilians went through – violence that continues to this day.

Igor Shugaleev builds a fairly simple way of communicating with the audience: identifying himself with the detainee, he simulates the situation of bodily experience at a certain stage of torture, and thus brings a faceless person out of the information field into a physical one, transforms a conditional victim from news into a living person.

Igor Shugaleev is an independent artist and actor from Belarus who creates work at the intersection of dance, theatre and endurance art. Sergey Shabohin is an аrtist, curator, director, critic and co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Belarusian contemporary art research platform KALEKTAR.
 

“I was looking for a way to express the horror of the events that befell us – how to talk about numbness, fear and at the same time contempt for violence, about the feeling of guilt for the mass emigration of Belarusians and my own – being just an actor, how can I support the protest? And this performance was the answer: it is important to stay in context, active, conscious, not indifferent, not desparate.” – Igor Shugaleev
 

375 0908 2334:

375 – telephone code of the Republic of Belarus

0908 – is the date of the presidential elections. The spite and discontentment with the election results lead to a revolutionary protest movement which continues to this day.

2334 – is the number of the Administrative Code article “Violation of the procedure for organizing or holding mass events”, according to which more than 40 thousand Belarusians have been convicted since August 2020.

Artistic Team

Igor Shugaleev – Idea, Performer
Sergey Shabohin – Idea, Director, Artist
Aleksandra Kononchenko – Video Artist, Photographer
Marina Dashuk – Producer

  • Three people are on a stage with their hands behind their backs, not facing the audience. Next to them sits a woman with a mask in front of her mouth. A clock on a screen shows 17:50.

    375 0908 2334

    © Maurycy Stankiewicz

  • Three people rise from the floor. A clock on a screen shows 00:00.

    375 0908 2334

    © Maurycy Stankiewicz

The project was also created to collect financial assistance to victims of violence and repression in Belarus. Find more information on the project’s website.The event is funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb.