Quote your own! Wear your own! Sing your own!

On February 9 in Studio67 the presentation of “Read! Wear! Quote! The year of Belarusan thinking” projects took place.

We are quoting whomever not, except for those who were born and were living in our country. Every concise and clearly expressed thought is our common intangible legacy. The “EuroBelarus” Information Service touched upon this legacy.

Quite spacious room got full of people very quickly. The event brought together those who have been involved in the embodiment of the “Quote your own!” campaign, which was launched last year in May. Among these people are designers, writers, intellectuals, sponsors, and those who are not indifferent to the Belarusan thinking.

One of them is Andrei Hadanovich, the presenter of the event, who showed how concise and clearly expressed can quotes be by his own example.

Andrei Hadanovich

One of the first results of the “Quote your own!” initiative was the book of quotes of our thinkers, which was published this January. Tatsiana Vadalazhskaja, the project’s coordinator, told more about its creation:

"We started thinking that self-understanding of Belarusans should include the part that is least present. Images, symbols, music are already there; but the Belarusian thinking is still far from a common Belarusan."

- The main problem here is the lack of continuity. We need something that would be easily giving “food for thought” on a daily basis. So first we created tiny square magnets with quotes that are easy to share, to hand over, to hand wherever possible. And then the whole "fan club" was established. People have offered to send their favorite Belarusan quotes, which we received more than 250 in the end.

Tatsiana Vadalazhskaja

"We decided that the publication of the book of quotes should be a common cause, so we turned to Talakosht crowdfunding platform. During 30 days 81 people joined us, and we collected 23 million 300 rubles,"- Tatsiana Vadalazhskaja informed.

As a result, 550 books with quotes of 77 authors were published. "Thinker is not a profession, but an ability to express your thoughts freely, consciously, critically, and reasonably in any epoch," – said the project coordinator. That is why you can find the statements of absolutely different people in the book.

The book of quotes is divided into thematic sections. Tatsiana Vadalazhskaja noted an interesting feature: it turns out that the Belarusian thinking is most focused not on patriotism, but on the man. It is around the man that the thematic sections are organized, as well as freedom, creativity, death, and, of course, Belarus...

One can bring the thoughts of prominent Belarusians not only in the form of a book, but also wear it on him/herself in the form of T-shirts with prints. The designers have created them en plein air, which took place this summer at Vajciushki hamlet.

"When choosing a quote, we, who work with visual culture, choose not only the meaning, but also other criteria – how structured it looks. For me, Bykau is mighty in his work; his every word is like a brick, and it is important for our work," – said Michal Amnepadystau, one of the organizers of the plein-air, designer, and poet. According to him, the “Quote your own!” campaign can be continued in visual form: through "quoting" fonts, signs, and symbols...

Michal Amnepadystau

The participants of the event were able to find out how the models of T-shirts were created during the short film, which was shown during the presentation. Meanwhile, these models are already available on a special page sakolki.eurobelarus.info. The coordinator of the plein-air Maryna Shtrachava told that they can be downloaded in PDF format and can be easily brought to any printing center to be printed on a model of a T-shirt that appeals to you.

The “Quote your own!” campaign didn’t limit itself with the creation of the book of quotes of Belarusan thinking and prints for T-shirts; its organizers stepped further and announced the Year of Belarusan thinking.

"We wanted to make it so that belonging to the Belarusian didn’t end with symbolic things, but was deeper in content, was more serious and more curious about the Belarusian content, not only the form," - said Ulad Vialichka, the head of the International Consortium “EuroBelarus”. He said that the first steps for such an ambitious year have already been developed. The most significant project in progress is the "Anthology of Belarusian thinking." It will be published this spring. A series of lectures "Heritage of Ihnat Abdziralavich” has been already held in different Belarusan cities and towns within the framework of the Belarusian Year of thinking. Soon an essay competition dedicated to the intellectual heritage of Belarus for the general public will start. And the "Week of Belarusian thinking", which is scheduled to take place this September throughout Belarus, is promising to be a truly large event.

Ulad Vialichka

The evening ended with a small concert by Zmicier Vaitsiushkevich, who was hospitably receiving designers at his Vajciushki hamlet during the plein-air.

Let us recall that the “Quote your own!” campaign was launched in May 2015 by a number of civil society organizations and educational institutions (the International Consortium "EuroBelarus", the Flying University, the Belarusian Union of Designers, “Budz’ma Belarusami!” campaign, language courses “Mova Nanova”, as well as in the Belarusian Collegium). The campaign is aimed at the actualization of the best examples of the Belarusian thought, at inviting to careful reading and understanding of what has been said in our national cultural space. On the one hand, the campaign is aiming for something that empowers popularization of Belarusan thinking at a bigger level – books, lectures, discussions, and readings of intellectual legacy; on the other – it is very important to make intellectual legacy fashionable.

Zmicier Vaitsiushkevich

Oksana Shelest