Oleg Yushko, Whitetrashland, 2021

digital print, paper, 33 x 20 cm, ed. 2/10

"The work "Whitetrashland" is an intervention into the space and context of the exhibition "Everyday. Art. Solidarity. Against," which showed the Belarusian protest in Kiev. Between the actual installations shown there, a virtual big red box - an urban flower bed - appeared in places, like a weed, in which potatoes were planted instead of flowers. The idea for this work comes from stereotypes familiar to every Belarusian. Belarusians in Soviet and post-Soviet space are called "Bulbasch" - meaning potato lovers - while red and green are the colors of the BSSR state flag, which was restored under the Lukashenko regime. The title of the work is based on playing with the way the country's name is translated into other languages, such as "Weissrussland." The work "Whitetrashland" is thus a symbol of the country's reactionary and stereotypical image. By placing this work in an exhibition space dedicated to political protests and the role artists play in them, Oleg Yushko visualizes the environment in which artists are forced to live and work in Belarus, where attempts at political and artistic expression are criminalized and where reactionary and progressive sentiments must coexist." Oleg Yushko

BIOGRAM: Oleg Yushko
Born in Minsk, Belarus, 1974
Live and work in Dusseldorf

Education:
1996 - Graduated from the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, Minsk, Belarus.
1998 - Graduated from the course New Technologies in Photographic and Digital Art, AMOS, St. Petersburg, Russia.
2008 - Laureate of the Higher Institute of Fine Arts (HISK), Gent, Belgium.

Selected exhibitions:

2021 - "digital jokes," Weltkunstzimmer, Düsseldorf, Germany.
2021 - "CULTPROTEST.ME: Künstler:innen für Demokratie in Belarus," Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany.
2021 - "Everyday / Art Solidarity. Resistance" Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine.
2020 - "düsseldorf photo +", Düsseldorf, Germany.
2020 - "Touchable distance. Ў Gallery. Minsk, Belarus
2020 - "düsseldorf photo +", Düsseldorf, Germany.
2019 - "TRANSPARENT MUSEUM," Gasthof Worringer Platz, Düsseldorf, Germany.
2018 - "PRA___BEL", Krynki Gallery, Krynki, Poland.
2018 - "TRANSLOKALE - Abschied der Objekte," Düsseldorf, Germany.
2017 - "WELT.LABOR," Bedburg-Hau, Germany.
2017 - "III II I" Ў Gallery, Belarus.
2017 - "Diffusion space" Tbilisi History Museum. Tbilisi, Georgia.
2016 - "Shining_Gap Festival," Botanical Garden, Osnabrück, Germany.
2016 - "Object in the Field of Vision," gallery "Ў". Minsk, Belarus.
2016 - "ZBOR. the Belarusian art movement," Izolyatsia Foundation. Kyiv, Ukraine.
2016 - "ZBIÓR(ZBOR). Constructing the archive", Arsenal Gallery. Bialystok, Poland.
2015 - "Diffusion space", NCCA (National Center for Contemporary Art). Kaliningrad, Russia.
2015 - "Visions of Sensory Space," Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, Germany.
2014 - "Ostrale´014," Dresden, Germany.
2013 - "Minsk: (Re)construction," TSÉKH Gallery, Minsk, Belarus.
2012 - "ABIOGENEZA," D-52nd Space for Contemporary Art, Düsseldorf, Germany.
2012 - "SENSOR PANOPTIKUM," Beck & Eggeling Contemporary, Düsseldorf, Germany.
2012 - "PALACE COMPLEX," Homel Palace and Park Complex, Homel, Belarus.
2012 - "Sound of Silence: Art Against Dictatorship," EFA Project Space, New York, USA.
2011 - "Proximity," Docks on the Seine, Paris, France.
2011 - "Journey to the East," Art Kyiv Contemporary, Kiev, Ukraine.
2011 - "LICHT SPIEL ORTE," ArToll Kunstlabor, Bedburg-Hau, Germany.
2010 - "Opening Doors? Belarusian art today," Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2010 - "Mediations Biennale Poznań 2010," Zamek Cultural Center, Poznań, Poland.
2010 - "Flat Character," University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
2010 - "Hoeherweg," Düsseldorf, Germany. (Solo)
2009 - "SUMU," Turku, Finland. (Solo)
2009 - "M'ARTIAN FIELDS - COLLABORATION," Moscow, Russia.
2009 - "CONTOURLIGHT" , Mechelen, Belgium.
2008 - "La conquête du monde par l' image", M'ATUVU, Brussels, Belgium.
2007 - "Gery Christmas Show," Maes & Matthys Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium.
2007 - "WELCOME," Installation at Handelsbeurs art center, Gent, Belgium.
2007 - "Asia - European Mediation," IF Museum "Inner Spaces," Poznan, Poland.
2006 - "Bruno Museum," Podzemka Gallery, Minsk, Belarus. (Solo)
2005 - "Inner Spaces festival XIV: Contact-Context," Arsenal Gallery, Poznań, Poland.