15/2 – 15/4 2020
Curator | Maya Katznelson, Yekaterina Izofatova
National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus | Minsk | Belarus
The National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus presents the first-ever retrospective exhibition of the works of art by outstanding avant-garde artist, the world’s first Suprematism architect Lazar Khidekel ‘We will be understood in 100 years’, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of UNOVIS art association (New Art Promoters). As part of #UNOVIS100 project, the exhibition will be in cooperation with the Center for Belarusian-Jewish Cultural Heritage and with the support of A1.
The artist’s words ‘we will be understood in 100 years’ capture the concept of the project – Khidekel’s groundbreaking ideas which were in advance of the time. It is no coincidence that his ‘Crossing Lines’ (1920) was used for the poster. The master’s Suprematism lattice or a well-known ‘hashtag’ is an element that Khidekel derived from Malevich’s black square as a result of his creative process. The hashtag is also referred to IT, which Belarus is famous for today.
About 100 works from the collection of Lazar Khidekel’s family (New York), unique UNOVIS documents, technologies of AR from Feeling Digital Company and Level 80 studio architects who made the VR project, thanks to which Khidekel’s flying city ‘came to life’, as well as the artist’s grandson Roman Khidekel’s animations and fantasies on Suprematism and space will present the life and art of the ‘revolutionary follower of Suprematism’. The exhibition will display various periods of Lazar Khidekel’s art – from early compositions performed by a 15-year-old boy to Suprematism cycles of the early 1920s, to architectural and eco-futuristic projects of the late 1920–1930s – Garden city, Aerocities and Space dwellings.
The project will show the Belarusian viewer round the outstanding architect’s unique heritage, and will continue exhibition projects revealing ‘famous and unknown’ names in the Belarusian art culture.
The exhibition programme includes a weekly tour from curators, a lecture cycle, master classes for children of different ages from the School of Architectural Thinking, as well as a number of other events. The exhibition catalogue has been prepared under the editorship of Regina Khidekel, the President of Lazar Khidekel Association, Doctor of Art History.