INTRODUCTION by Denis Romanovski

The third international festival of performance Navinki 2001 was held over three days in Minsk, with an extra day in the open air near the village of Strochitsy.

Even though the festival organisers were pursuing exclusively artistic interests, eight of the artists due to have participated in the festival were refused entry into Belarus in the context of political events taking place at the time (the presidential elections). Considering that various foreign political figures and journalists managed to travel to Minsk unhindered during the same period, this proves the high social significance of contemporary art, and performance art in particular. Moreover, the losses suffered by the festival not only indicated its importance, but also served to stimulate new means of expression. As a result, one of the absent participants, Martin Zet from the Czech Republic, gave his performance "Martin Zet's House" over the telephone. Three British performers, Helen Sharp, Roddy Hunter, and Lamb extended the festival out to the United Kingdom by performing their pieces in Totnes ("Object Violation : Between The Printing Press And The Presence" by Helen Sharp, "Learning Liberal Democracy (III)" by Roddy Hunter, and "Suck Ripples" by Lamb). The Su-En Butoh Company (which was giving masterclasses near Minsk at the time) presented a performance entitled "The Daughters of God Drive Chairs!" according to instructions from its authors Leif Elggren and Kent Tankred. This experiment raises questions as to whether a performance can actually be transmitted or performed by someone else. What does the physical or communicative distance really imply?

Generally, the festival went rather well. As far as the Belarusian participants are concerned, this year's festival presented some new names. This is important because performance, with its free-form, direct means of expression, is gradually becoming cluttered with conservative trends, so an influx of fresh strength is vital.