The ABC of Exclamations
by Vera Burlak and Kastuś Žybul
Photo: Kunzi
Duration: 40 min
Villa Elisabeth
Invalidenstraße 3, 10115
Comic drawings: Kastuś Žhybul
Poetry: Vera Burlak
Composition: Georgia Koumará
Animated film: Monika Nuber
The ABC of Exclamations ("Das ABC der Ausrufe") is an artistic interpretation of the Belarusian alphabet by poet Vera Burlak and her son Kastuś Žybul, who lives with autism. Together, they’ve found an emotional exclamation for each of the 34 letters and transformed these exclamations into 34 stories — featuring Kastuś’s fantastical comic drawings and Vera’s whimsical, funny, and enigmatic poems.
Stuttgart-based animation filmmaker Monika Nuber brings the comics to life in collaboration with Kastuś, while Georgia Koumará embeds the walk-in installation in a 40-minute sound narrative. The result is an impressive plea for imagination, freedom and mutual attention.
The ABC of Exclamations is therefore not just about emotional interjections. It is linked to considerations about the emotional sphere and its manifestations, about traditions of family upbringing, about communication between the generations and about how emotions manifest themselves in them. It is about the value system–one’s own and the public one.