Details have emerged about the closure of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts. Today, the cultural institution officially announced the date when exhibition activities at its venue on Niakrasava Street will cease. From June 22, exhibitions will no longer be held there.
“Friends! We inform you that exhibition activities of the NCCA at 3 Niakrasava Street will cease from June 22, 2026. All details will follow,” the centre’s team noted on its Facebook page.
It should be recalled that the National Centre for Contemporary Arts also has halls at 47 Nezalezhnastsi Avenue, where exhibitions and events are also held. It has not been reported when that venue will close.
As Reform.news reported as early as April 30, one of the most well-known contemporary art institutions in Belarus will be liquidated in the near future. Two sources from cultural circles told the outlet this.
Part of the institution’s premises, as well as its collections, will be transferred to the National Art Museum (referring to the above-mentioned venue at 47 Nezalezhnastsi Avenue, near Yakub Kolas Square). The premises at 3 Niakrasava Street will be taken over by the Belarusian State Academy of Arts.
The liquidation of the NCCA is linked to the figure of the new chairman of the Union of Artists, vice-rector for administrative and economic affairs at the Academy of Arts Andrei Vasileuski. There is an opinion that the almost appointed, rather than elected, chairman of the Union and his circle are interested in the NCCA’s premises. However, this would not have happened without the support of the Culture Ministry.
The National Centre for Contemporary Arts only celebrated its tenth anniversary last year. As a mixed-type cultural institution, it has existed since 2015 following the merger of the “Creative Workshops ‘Centre for Contemporary Arts’” (2011–2015) and the state institution “Museum of Contemporary Visual Arts” (1998–2015). Over the course of its work, the institution has become one of the most prominent and visible contemporary art venues in Minsk and Belarus.
The institution promoted experimental directions in various forms of art (visual, theatre, music), supported young artists and curators. It organised national pavilions of the Republic of Belarus at three Venice Biennales, held the Triennial of Contemporary Art, National Awards in the field of visual arts and other events.
There is a version that the liquidation of the NCCA is linked to the optimisation of the cultural sector, but the fact that a venue for contemporary Belarusian art is being closed speaks volumes.
