Performer’s Wording:

Hello! Thank you for being here. My name is Igor Shugaleev. I am an independent actor and performer from Belarus.

Today you will see the project "375 0908 2334. The body you are calling is currently not available". Its meaning is encrypted in this combination, similar to a phone number:

375 0908 2334, where:

375 – telephone code of the Republic of Belarus;

0908 is the date of the presidential elections, which were cynically rigged by the authorities. The spite and discontentment with the election results turned in to  protest movement, which continues to this day.

2334 is the number of the Administrative Code article “Violation of the procedure for organizing or holding mass events”, according to which more than 40 thousand Belarusians have been convicted since August 2020.

I am a citizen of a country where the same president has been in power for 29 years since 1994.

The discontentment with this irremovable dictatorship and - as a final trigger - the cynical falsification of the presidential elections led to a surge of civil protest. In turn, the authorities used unjustified aggression to suppress the growing protest movement.

From 9 to 13 of August, there was a real explosion of escalation of Police and Special forces violence towards protestants.

Without exaggeration those days were more of military operations, it was equally scary to be on the streets (but we were there) and scary to return home at night.

The internet was turned off across the whole country during the first hours of those horrifying events. We received shocking information later on, in the morning, when finally got some poor Internet connection and saw the brutal violence and shootings on the streets.

Starting the first days of the protests, eyewitnesses and independent media began to post video and photo evidence unjustified, excessive violence to disperse demonstrators and bystanders.

After been released detainees reported brutal beatings during detention and transporting in paddy wagons, also in isolation wards.

The protesters testified about serious injuries, including those from special equipment: rubber bullets, stun grenades, stun guns. Among the injuries, there were numerous from rubber bullets, fractures, concussions, injuries of internal organs, and others.

There were also few cases of death.

In addition to physical violence, the detainees were subjected to strong psychological pressure: the cases of threats of a serious prison term, threats of physical violence, threats of rape; ignorance requests for medical assistance.

The paddy wagons were overcrowded, and the detainees were often put in two layers. Then they were kept in the police department and in the "reception" isolators in one position for many hours, beaten for no reason or for every movement and for every sound.

The detainees repeatedly reported about “corridors” when newcomers to the police department or the isolation ward were chased between the ranks of the security forces, who beat everyone with truncheons.

The norms for the occupancy of the cells were many times higher: there were from 50 to 100 people in cells 5-6 meters. The detainees were kept in unsanitary conditions, they were limited in food and water needs.

During the beatings, the detainees were forced to shout “I love the riot police”, sing the Belarusian anthem and the anthem of the riot police, read prayers; asked "Who is the best president in the world?" and "Will you file a beating claim?"

Residents of houses near the isolation wards reported screaming and wailing from their cells at night.

All of this horrifying and shocking news, posts, interviews, videos that appeared at the moment the Internet was turned on, I felt a relief that I survived that night and did not become a hero of the sad news. On the other hand, I was terribly worried for those I could not reach out in the morning.

The answering machine phrase “The Party you are calling…” was frightening, because the called subscriber could be one of the detained and beat up.

On August 13th, the protest strategy got changed: the daytime WOMEN'S MARCHES began instead - the whole protest movement became totally NON-VOLIOUS AND PEACEFUL. In the following days the city became safer.

Peaceful protesters occupied all the streets. It seemed that everything would be over in a couple of days. It was a real euphoria of unity.

Many of us had such a powerful experience: a mixed joy of unity and horror of the recent news. Sometimes it seemed that we had no right to be cheerful as if our joy devalued the evidence of the inhuman treatment of the detainees.

Then I asked myself the question: how should we remember what happened yesterday?

To keep struggling me and my friends agreed on reading and review the news of the first days. Also, there was another important question: what can I do in the field of my professional activity to move the protest forward?

These questions were bothering me even more since I had to move out of the country being unsafe.

In emigration, I faced a strong feeling of guilt - as it turned out later, relevant for many Belarusians: immigrants feel guilty towards those who are in Belarus. And those Belarusians, who are in Belarus, but afraid to speak out, feel guilty towards those, who keep protesting or have been detained. Those who were detained feel guilt towards those who were beaten. Finally, those who were beaten feel guilt towards those who didn’t survive or became disabled as a result of torture.

In terms of its properties, this feeling is closest to the “survivor's guilt”. This experience was first described by psychologists in their work with survivors of the Holocaust.

All these questions and circumstances have come together in this Performance that you are witnessing today.

But I have chosen what static pose to take and for how long.

Time is one of the main characters here.

This performance will last exactly one hour today.

I started a countdown timer that is visible only to you - unlike me, it allows you to keep track of the time and understand when the performance is over.

You can freely move around the hall during the performance, communicate with me if you want, or you can join me taking the same pose at any time (and FOR any time). You can be witnesses or co-participants in my performative gesture.

I want to show you a fragment of the video recorded on August 12 in the one of Minsk Police departments. 

According to the victim, he was in the pose I chose and stood in today, for about 4 hours.

The project was also created to collect financial assistance to victims of violence and repression in Belarus - you can help as well through a charitable account we found at the HUMANOSH Foundation.

You can use the QR code on the project website to make a donation, if you want.

Violence and torture in Belarus do not stop for a single day - in prisons, in the police departments, or on the streets.

Thank you for your participation!

Project page:



marinadashuk.art/body