A week of events in Cambridge and Somerville: Open Studios and festivals of science and Fluff. Belarusian art historian and fiction writer Victor Martinovich on “How to Let Paintings Talk” from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Harvard University’s Center for Government and International Studies, South Concourse, S354, 1730 Cambridge St., Harvard Square. Free. In light of how the news media can so easily create emotional distance about recent traumatic developments in Belarus, Martinovich ponders new ways of talking about Belarus’ traumas that employ oral histories, creative nonfiction, paintings – or all three at once. Information is here.