The Belarus Free Theatre, an exiled underground theater group, will stage its first official collateral exhibition at the 61st Venice Biennale, titled “Official. Unofficial. Belarus.” The show, held in the historic La Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista di Venezia, features site-specific paintings, a sound installation, and large-scale sculptures that aim to immerse visitors in the experience of repression under authoritarian rule. This marks only the fifth time Belarus has been present at the Biennale, and the first time it appears not as a state but as a self-governing cultural body, challenging the official narratives of nations like Russia.
This exhibition matters because it reclaims narrative space for unofficial culture on one of the world’s most visible art platforms, directly confronting the rise of authoritarianism and state-led censorship. By staging a subversive, non-state-sponsored show at the Venice Biennale, the Belarus Free Theatre highlights the power of art to resist repression and gives voice to a culture that has been forced into exile since the 2020 protests against President Alexander Lukashenko. The timing is especially resonant given the recent controversy over Russia’s return to the Biennale, making this a pointed statement about cultural legitimacy and freedom.