Hanna Samarskaya

Participation in the conference gave me a broader view on the activities of the project I represent, but also problematized my position as a professional within global network of CIMAM. What can be my role in the global network of curators? What is the place for the representative of an Eastern part of Europe in the map of worldwide art-scene today? These are the questions that bothered me a lot during my home trip from Singapore to Minsk, Belarus.

The benefits for taking part in global networking are obvious. It gives courage, ideas, the feeling of community and knowledge (as in the aspect of close look on what is happening today in the art fields of distant geo positions, as well as in the terms of learning from the "older" brother, who is more experienced and who’s system of life relationships are settled more than yours). But on the other hand, how or what would the community of professionals gain from my participation in the network? Or on a wider scale, how does globalized community see me? How does Belarusian art could be interesting for worldwide art-community today? And more accurately: how do we want the art-world to see us? In the early 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Soros Foundation came to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus and generously distributed grants to artists and curators for several years. But as soon as the fund was deactivated together with it a whole generation of artists and curators ceased their activity not knowing how to find resources for their projects independently. Nevertheless, the success of such an enterprise can be determined through the question of personal involvement and the experience gained from the collaboration.

Referring to Nikos’ Papastergiadis talk – and question, how naturally collaboration can be grown? I would like to say that despite the cascade of common questions and personal skepticism, I place a great hope on a productive participation in the CIMAM network. Since already at the conference in Singapore it showed an inspirational example of ‘collaboration as a confederation’, rich in cultural diversity community enreached the principles of openness by searching ‘common in diverse’.