In 2019, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow’s leading contemporary art institution, will begin its second decade with some changes.
Anton Belov, the head of Garage, told The Moscow Times that, “We've changed the exhibition strategy, taking into account our experience with visitors, the importance of the themes we’ll be exploring next year and our desire to ensure that as many people as possible see our projects. Exhibitions will run longer, have more works, and be larger in scale. All exhibitions, of course, will be accompanied by public programs and online content.”
The main theme next year is the environment. Belov said that “the concept of sustainable development has always been part of Garage Museum’s strategy. We define it as an integrated and balanced approach to all aspects of museum life. In 2017, the Garage Museum reduced paper consumption by 30 percent, introduced recycling, and solar panels have been installed on the roof of the museum. But this is only the beginning.”
Rasheed Araeen: A Retrospective
March 8 — May 26
In the spring, Garage Museum will host another major retrospective, this time of Rasheed Araeen, one of the most prominent artists living today. Born in Pakistan in 1935, Araeen first studied to be an engineer but then moved to the U.K. and became an artist in the 1960s. The exhibition at the Garage Museum will aim to show different aspects of Araeen’s oeuvre, an artist whose career spans over six decades, from early experiments in painting and minimalist sculptures to his trademark political pieces that brought him fame in the 1970s and 1980s. The retrospective will also feature some of his new geometric paintings and wall structures, previously shown at Documenta and the Venice Biennale, and an installation in the museum’s atrium: a sculpture that he first conceived in the late 1960s.
Pavel Pepperstein: The Human as a Frame for the Landscape
Feb. 21 — June 2
Garage will present a large scale solo exhibition by one of the most prolific contemporary painters in Russia: Pavel Pepperstein. The son of one of the leading Moscow conceptualists, Viktor Pivovarov, Pepperstein has been a part of the art scene since his childhood. His exhibition at the Garage Museum will feature about 80 works from different periods in the artist’s career, both from public and private collections. The retrospective will cover all of Pepperstein’s favorite themes: “supremas”— multi-colored geometric forms borrowed from various suprematist painters, like Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky; utopian and dystopian visions of the future; invented countries; and parallel universes.
Bureau des Transmissions
March 8 — May 15
Bureau des Transmissions is a result of collaboration between Garage Museum’s curators and its educational team. The project is devoted to the themes of the production and circulation of knowledge in a museum setting, and it is meant to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the launch of educational programs at Garage. Bureau des Transmissions might be best described as a discussion space and forum with artistic interventions. The topics of discussion include, but are not limited to, artistic research, art therapy, community engagement and institutional critique.
Allora & Calzadilla
May 26 — Dec. 1
The artistic duo of Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla from Puerto Rico will create an installation on Garage Square in front of the museum. Allora and Calzadilla are known for working in such diverse media as sculpture, photography, performance art, sound and video. Their works usually have some sort of social, political or cultural subtext and come out of research ranging from sonic studies to warfare and biophysics. Their upcoming Garage Square commission will align with the theme of the multi-artist exhibition “The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100,” which will open in June 2019.
The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100
June 28 — Dec. 1
Garage Museum will organize the first and largest exhibition in Russia devoted to the issues of environmental protection. The title is inspired by the theory that some time in the future all the deposits of oil and water on Earth will be used up and humanity will have to turn to other planets for resources. “The Coming World” will consist of both existing works and new commissions from over 50 artists and visionaries from around the world. The first part is called “Purple”: an immersive, six-channel video installation by John Akomfrahthat will open on June 15. Huang Yong Ping will also present a new installation produced especially for the atrium of the Garage Museum. Garage Live will present a series of events as part of “The Coming World.”
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. 9 Krymsky Val, Metro Oktyabrskaya. garagemca.org
A version of this article appeared in our special "Russia in 2019" print issue. For more in the series, click here.
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