Marina Naprushkina

Marina Naprushkina (born 1981) is the Minsk-born, Berlin-based political artist and activist.[1] She is an advocate of democratization in Belarus.[2][3]

Life

Early years

Naprushkina attended Minsk State Arts College (aka Glebovka), before moving abroad, to enroll in the Fine Arts Academy in Karlsruhe.[4] Permanently staying in Germany, she continued her art education at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, where she studied under the US artist Martha Rosler.

Focus

Naprushkina's own work most successfully focuses on installation art.

She is concerned with the political impact of her art,[5] devoting herself to the harsh satire of the established governmental institutions in Belarus through the prism of her art. She sees Belarus, where she was born, as an example of a contemporary dictatorship, and she is a strong proponent of Western-European style democracy enabling easy change of governing political powers.[5]

Projects

Büro für Anti-Propaganda

Naprushkina created the "Büro für Anti-Propaganda" in 2007. This is a research and documentation project which investigates means used to retain governing powers.[5] The Büro für Anti-Propaganda also involves itself in political activity, launching in 2011 "Self # governing", a news journal in Russian and English. Work included in the Seventh Berlin Biennale (2012). Despite initially positive responses, journal ceased existence by 2015.

The President's Platform

"The President's Platform" (2007) is an installation, mimicking large red podium used on important state occasions by the Soviet and incumbent Belarusian government. Work was shown at the 2009 edition of Istanbul Biennial.

Recognition

Bursaries and scholarships

The artist's work has been supported by scholarships and bursaries domestically and overseas. Most importantly, in 2013 her work was rewarded with the visual arts stipend from the Senate of Berlin,.[6]

Reactions in Minsk

Naprushkina's art considered controversial in Belarus. Her politically-charged art activism earned her a ban on exhibitions at the official government-funded spaces since 2012.[5]

Refugee support

In August 2013, after visiting a refugee hostel in Berlin-Moabit, Naprushkina founded the Moabit New Neighbourhoods initiative ("Initiative Neue Nachbarschaft Moabit").[7] The support organisation offers language tuition, childcare and sports courses for refugees.[7]

The company "Gierso Boardinghaus" whom initially worked with the initiative dropped out at the end of 2013 after the series of the scandals related to abuse.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Marina Naprushkina". Remarks of President Alexander Lukashenko at Independence Day military parade in Minsk. basis voor actuele kunst. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "Zuhause ist woanders – Flüchtlinge in Deutschland" (PDF). Europa Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin. 2015. p. 12. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Lena Prents. "Biographic information about the Belarusian artist Marina Naprushkina". Europe (to the power of) n. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Marina Naprushkina". Office for Anti-Propaganda. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Lena Prents: Marina Naprushkina. Wealth for All, 2011, in: Barbara Steiner, Peio Aguirre (Hrsg.): The scenario book. thinking Europe, Jovis Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-868-59188-0, p. 55.
  6. ↑ "Arbeitsstipendien für Bildende Kunst 2013 vergeben". Der Regierende Bürgermeister von Berlin. 11 June 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Neue Nachbarschaft". Das Berlin Campusradio. Institut für Musikwissenschaft und Medienwissenschaft, Berlin. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Oliver Soos; Wolf Siebert (5 March 2015). "Geschäfte machen mit Flüchtlingen Täglich kommen mehr Asylbewerber nach Berlin. Jeder Zweite landet in einer privaten Unterkunft. Die Zustände sind oft schlecht, doch die Betreiber verdienen gut". Die Zeit Online.
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