Culture and Art Holding website archive blocked for users
The website of the state editorial and publishing organization Culture and Art has been unavailable in the last few days. The kimpress.by visitors are greeted with the following message: “Account blocked by the server administrator.”
A photo from the Kultura newspaper published on the blocked kimpress.by website
Since 2002, the Culture and Art holding has combined two thematic publications. These are the weekly Kultura newspaper which has been published since October 1991 and the monthly Mastatstva magazine established in January 1983.
The site contained all the archives of the Kultura and Mastatstva publications from the 2000s. The site stopped being updated in 2021, when the editorial and publishing institution decided to move to a new platform, but it remained accessible to visitors.
A photo from the Kultura newspaper published on the blocked kimpress.by website
The site contained the entire history of Belarusian art from the beginning of the 21st century. In addition to artists loyal to the regime, it also featured works that challenged the status quo. This is according to one of the employees of the holding, who worked there until 2020. Many of the artists featured in the editions are currently facing legal challenges or are in exile. Their work no longer aligns with the current system.
“We also covered the philanthropic endeavors of Viktar Babaryka, the Anzhalika Krasheuskaya festival, independent theaters, and the former Yanka Kupala theater group, who have recently faced challenges. Additionally, approximately half of the journalists from Kultura and Mastatstva have transitioned to independent media,” the interlocutor stated.
Some kimpress.by materials are accessible through web.archive.org.
Since the summer of 2022, the holding’s new website (kultura-info.by) has only published ideologically consistent content on Belarusian culture.
@bajmedia
