In May 2021, exactly a year after the Belarusian civil revolution burst out, Jana Shostak stood in front of the European Commission Building in Warsaw and screamed for a full minute. This was the first scream for Belarus of many.

The public performance, continued in the following days, was an act of commemoration of those who had been tortured and in many cases killed in persecutions led by Belarusian dictatorship. Shostak also mildly addressed the fact that broader European society had no awareness of the bloody acts in Belarus by targeting the building of the European Commission.

Since its first public appearance, the young Belarusian artist continued her protest-performance in different locations. The past year she spent almost entirely at the Polish-Ukrainian borders, facilitating the arrival of refugees from the attacked country - often using different artistic strategies in public space. Today Shostak continues her ‘artivism’ while further supporting refugees from the Russian invasion, to build awareness of the political situation both in Belarus and Ukraine.

Screaming for Belarus will sound in the Stadsschouwburg Utrecht to mark the third anniversary of the uprising of the Belarusian society against dictatorship.

The Screaming for Belarus residency is supported by the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists – EFFEA, co-funded by the European Union. This performance is a cooperation with partnerfestivals Berliner Festspiele and Santarcangelo Festival.

Biography

Jana Shostak is a Belarusian artist and activist, currently based in Warsaw, Poland. She tries to raise awareness for political issues in an artistic way. She has received the Critics Award at the Maria Dokowicz Competition for the Best Diploma Project of the University of the Arts Poznań, and the Grand Prix of the Young Wolves festival. In 2015 she established a Polisch Guiness Record. She has participated in multiple exhibitions, including Goodbye Ai Weiwei (2018), Attention!Border (2017) and Form resistance: Non-exhibition (2017).