The Postmodernism art

The notion of ‘postmodernism’ in European art culture emerged in the 1960s and designated a new outlook which had replaced the Modern movement in the culture of the 20th century. That was primarily a departure from extremism and nihilism of avant-garde trends in the early 20th century, and a partial return to traditions, citations, irony and play with universally recognized notions and meanings.

In the 1960s, Socialist Realism dominated Belarusian art, however, new, ‘recognizable’ artists were emerging with their own ‘universe’, which was interesting and topical for contemporary viewers. In the 1970s and 1980s, themes and images were emerging in Belarusian art which had their roots in folk traditional art. The inclination to ‘ethnographism’, to the images of the historical past in search of new aesthetic systems can be compared with the notion of the ‘reconsideration of traditions’ in the philosophy of postmodernism. The search for independent self-expression became the main task of art. The system of organizing exhibitions changed. Along with large-scale Republic’s and All-Union exhibitions, there were organized independent auctions, kvartirniks (viewings in private apartments), exhibitions in cinemas, libraries and other cultural institutions. New art associations with their manifestos ad programmes emerged. The period of the 1990s was characterized primarily by the new status of the country, since in 1991, the Republic of Belarus, a newly independent state, emerged. This inspired artists to the creation of something really new and unique. One of the primary tasks of Belarusian culture in the late 1980s and the early 1990s was the search for a new national idea. The change of historical pattern, the period of ‘perestroika’ (disambiguation), glasnost, democracy, and pluralism had a strong influence on artists. In the 1990s, abstract philosophy became widely used in Belarusian culture. There emerged many authors who were adhering to abstract thinking, and to the conventionality of art generalization. The ideas of K. Malevich, V. Kandinsky, P. Mondrian and other abstract theories found their adherents in Belarusian art.

The current situation in Belarusian culture is characterized by the inclination towards freedom of expression and freedom of choice, when an artist has a right to chose a method and a way of thinking. However, we can see more and more often that artists themselves decide what should be called art and what viewer’s attention should be directed to. Breaking all existing rules, a work of art becomes all-consuming, eliminating borders between types, genres, methods, and techniques.