New building opens
June 12, 2015
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Gorky Park
9/32 Krymsky Val
119049 Moscow
Russia
Hours: Monday–Thursday 11–21h,
Friday–Sunday 11–22h
T +7 495 645 05 20
Two weeks from today, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art will open its new building to the public in Moscow’s Gorky Park. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and his OMA studio, it is a groundbreaking preservation project that has transformed the famous Vremena Goda (Seasons of the Year) Soviet Modernist restaurant, built in 1968, into a contemporary museum. OMA’s concept is pioneering in its approach to the renovation of late Soviet architecture because it makes very little visible intervention into the original concrete structure, as well as uniquely preserving of a number of Soviet-era elements—such as mosaics and brickwork—that have, until now, been accorded little architectural value or historic relevance. The 5,400 square meter building provides Garage with inventive opportunities for programming through five exhibition galleries, a double-height atrium, an auditorium, resource room, and education spaces, including a creative center for children, as well as a bookshop and café. On June 12, the Museum will celebrate the building’s completion by presenting exhibitions, performances, screenings, and events, including new projects by Erik Bulatov, Katharina Grosse, George Kiesewalter, Július Koller, Koyo Kouoh and Rasha Salti, Yayoi Kusama, Taryn Simon, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Anton Vidokle, and the Museum of American Art in Berlin.
Coinciding with the opening of its first permanent home, Garage has worked with Kuhnhardt films in New York to produce a short documentary on the history of the institution, which can be viewed here. The Museum is also announcing the development of its first Advisory Council, which will include Zdenka Badovinac, Director of Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana; Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director, LACMA, Los Angeles; Boris Groys, Global Distinguished Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University; Glenn D. Lowry, Director of The Museum of Modern Art in New York; Bartomeu Mari, President of CIMAM; Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; Beatrix Ruf, Director, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programs and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Galleries, London. The Council will steer the ongoing structural and programmatic development of the Museum over a three-year tenure.
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is a place for people, art, and ideas to create history. Through an extensive program of exhibitions, events, education, research, and publishing, the institution reflects on current developments in Russian and international culture, creating opportunities for public dialogue, as well as the production of new work and ideas in Moscow. At the center of all these activities is the Museum’s collection, which is the first archive in the country related to the development of Russian contemporary art from the 1950s through the present.
Founded in 2008 by Dasha Zhukova, Garage is the first philanthropic organization in Russia to create a comprehensive public mandate for contemporary art and culture. Open seven days a week, it was initially housed in the renowned Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage in Moscow, designed by the Constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov. In 2012, Garage relocated to a temporary pavilion in Gorky Park,specially commissioned from award-winning architect Shigeru Ban. A year later, a purpose-built Education Center was opened next to the Pavilion. In June 2015, Garage is moving to its first permanent home—a groundbreaking preservation project by Rem Koolhaas—that transforms the famous 1968 Vremena Goda (Seasons of the Year) Soviet Modernist restaurant in Gorky Park into a contemporary museum.
Garage is a non-profit project of The IRIS Foundation.
Adam Abdalla
Nadine Johnson Inc.
T +1 212 228 5555 / adam [at] nadinejohnson.com
