Franak Viačorka

is a Belarusian opposition activist, journalist, researcher, and media expert
He works as part of the team led by the leader of the Belarusian democratic opposition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. He serves as the Vice President of the non-profit association Digital Communication Network and is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He previously worked as a media analyst for the US Agency for Global Media, studying the digital markets of Eurasia, including Russia and China’s attempts to control the global media space, internet, and disseminate disinformation. He has also served as the Creative Director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Belarusian service and as a consultant for Freedom House.

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Yaryna is a visual artist, performer, co-curator, and lecturer. She works across various mediums including performance art, painting, graphics, and installation, exploring the concept of presence through the body and its visual expressions.Having graduated from the Lviv National Academy of Arts, Yaryna was a grant recipient of the Gaude Polonia scholarship program by the Polish Minister of Culture and was shortlisted for the Young Ukrainian Artists Competition MYXi (2015) and the II Youth Biennale of Contemporary Art of Ukraine (2019). Yaryna has showcased her work in solo exhibitions and art projects across Ukraine, Poland, and Spain. She has participated in numerous exhibitions, performance art festivals, and conferences worldwide, spanning countries like Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Norway, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Israel, Japan, Thailand, Canada, and the USA.An active organizer and curator, Yaryna co-organized the School of Performance (2019) as part of the International festival “Days of Art Performance in Lviv”, as well as online residencies like “At the place” and “Performance Archive. Ukraine” (2020). She also shares her expertise as a teacher at the Department of Contemporary Art Practices at the Lviv National Academy of Arts.Yaryna’s recent works have been featured at А231 Federação (Salvador, Brazil), JDMooney Foundation and FLOW / Out of Site Chicago (USA), Ukraine!UNMUTED (Kaunas, Lithuania), and BIFPA’23 (Belfast, Northern Ireland/UK).
Yaryna Shumska
Visual artist, performer, co-curator, and lecturer