Make noise for freedom
You can land in Belarusian prison for a myriad of reasons. Some are highly political – sabotaging the infrastructure crucial for the Russian invasion into Ukraine for example -, yet others highly trivial – a social media post maybe, a donation, or the fact that a family member was arrested before you. All of these political prisoners need our solidarity and the knowledge that, almost six years since the mass protests against the stolen elections of 2020, the world has not forgotten. A powerful art performance in Amsterdam in September 2026 will do exactly that.
Maxim Tyminko, the artist who conceptualised the performance, has a very clear idea in mind. His aim: to give participants in this performance a chance to empathise with one of the hundreds of people behind bars in Belarus. Participants, who are named co-creators of the artwork, will all be given a mask of one individual in Belarusian prison, with some information about their lives and the reason they are imprisoned. They are invited to wear the mask, creating a sea of masked people, who all have an individual fate to ponder while making noise together, drumming on pots, pans and cans brought from home. Maxim wants to share his own feeling of connectedness that he experienced while editing a video with photos of political prisoners for a Music for Belarus performance. Looking every single person in the eyes, even if only on screen, made a huge impression on him – and this is the experience he wants to give those who join in the performance. A reminder of all the regular people who pay a high price just for wanting freedom.
A team of art and human rights organisations, artists and activists, have gathered together to try to make Maxim’s vision a reality. As the Dutch representative for Libereco, I talked with him early on in the process and we made Libereco one of the founding partner organisations in the project. I myself gradually got deeper and deeper involved and now am part of the core team of Belarusians, Ukrainians and Dutch who are on a daily basis trying to collect the money, form partnerships and arrange the formalities needed for an ambitious project like this to see the light. Having made Libereco’s biweekly social media collages of Belarusian political prisoners with upcoming birthdays for two years in a row, I know the feeling Maxim wants to share: the connectedness you feel for looking at so many people who are in prison. I might not be an artist, but the feeling of solidarity and empathy I arrive at as a human rights campaigner is the same.
When we present our vision, we encounter raised eyebrows with some people, especially when they hear about the scale of the project, but we also meet a lot of enhusiasm. The NDSM wharf in the north of Amsterdam was immediately excited to host the performance. The old industrial area, with artist edges and the old city centre of Amsterdam in the background is a perfect stage for this performance. We are reaching out to debate centres, book stores, human rights organisations and arts institutions who want to get on board to make this possible. And also among former Belarusian political prisoners we meet people who want to join our performance in order to, through art, show solidarity with those stil in prison.
The work of art created consists of the performance in the moment – the noise, empathy, solidarity and, hopefully, connectedness that participants and onlookers will see, feel and hear – but has a second component as well: the video registration that will be created and montaged into an audio visual installation afterwards. This will allow new moments of reflection and debate to spark off in galeries and art institutions around the world where this will be shown.
This is how art can strengthen our fight for human rights: by reaching the heart instead of the mind, eliciting feelings rather than just ratio. Yet we tell the same story: people are still behind bars in Belarus, depite the news about mass releases people might have heard, despite the fact that the events of 2020 have been obscured by layers of political events and war and repression elsewhere. Now, more than ever it is important to remind people that maybe some of the most well known names have left Belarusian prison, but that hundreds are still there and that arrests are also still happening.
Everyone who is near Amsterdam on 19 September is welcome to become part of this experience: we’re looking for participants, volunteers and people to spread the word. Find out more on makenoise.art.