The Ў Gallery (Y Gallery) ( be, Галерэя Ў - ''Gallery Short U'') was an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...

located in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

, the capital of

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. The Gallery Ў consised of the exhibition space, wine bar Ў, design-shop and Literary House Logvinov.

History

The gallery was opened in October 2009. In 2010 the gallery launched the project START. The projects' aim is to promote young Belarusian artists by organizing their solo exhibitions and public discussions. Since the opening, the gallery has hosted more than 120 various exhibitions and expositions in gallery's building. Most of them are group and solo exhibitions of Belarusian artists. Also, the Ў Gallery has held 14 exhibitions abroad in such places as

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(

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), Poznan (

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(

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(

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), and

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(

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). In 2020, the co-owner and creator of the gallery, Aliaksandr Vasilievič, became a political prisoner. He and his partners sold their stakes in the gallery (and the bar associated with it), but not the Ў gallery and Ў bar brands. They new owners decided to develop the space under the name Вершы (Vieršy, literally 'poems').

Origin of the name

The gallery's name derives from the Belarusian character « Ў», which distinguishes the

Belarusian alphabet The Belarusian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic script and is derived from the alphabet of Old Church Slavonic. It has existed in its modern form since 1918 and has 32 letters. See also Belarusian Latin alphabet and Belarusian Arabic alphabet. ...

from other alphabets in the East Slavic group.

Sales of works

In the gallery, there was an opportunity to buy various types of pictures and sculptures by modern Belarusian artists.

Awards

The Y Gallery won the "Best Foreign Gallery award on the annual art fair ArtVilnius in 2011 and 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U gallery Buildings and structures in Minsk Art museums and galleries in Belarus