Where is the line between us?:
Cautionary tales from now
3rd Garage international conference
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Gorky Park
9 Krymsky Val
119049 Moscow
Russia
T +7 495 645 05 20
Speakers:
Nailya Allakhverdieva, Curator and Art Director of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art (PERMM); Zdenka Badovinac, Director of Moderna galerija in Ljubljana and co-curator of Grammar of Freedom / Five Lessons; Anthony Gardner, Associate Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory at the University of Oxford; Ilya Budraitskis, historian, curator, and activist based in Moscow; Eda Čufer, dramaturge, curator, writer, and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Maine College of Art, Portland; Andrey Egorov, art historian, curator, Head of the Research Department at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art; Boris Groys, philosopher, cultural theoretician, and Global Distinguished Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University; Taus Makhacheva, artist, lives and works in Makhachkala and Moscow; Viktor Misiano, independent curator and Chief Editor of Moscow Art Magazine; Rastko Močnik, sociologist, literary theorist, and Professor of Sociology at the University of Ljubljana; Alisa Prudnikova, curator, art historian, art manager, and Director of the Ural Branch of the National Center for Contemporary Arts (NCCA); Arseny Zhilyaev, artist, lives and works in Moscow and Voronezh
“Where is the line between us?: cautionary tales from now” is bringing together practitioners and thinkers from the fields of art, history, and sociology to explore new models of cultural production and historicization that have been shaped by unique characteristics of the region. Organized in conjunction with the exhibition Grammar of Freedom / Five Lessons: Works from the Arteast 2000+ Collection, the conference is the first in Russia to take common urgencies shared by artists from Eastern Europe and Russia as its starting point.
The title is a reference to a work born out of a collaboration between Komar & Melamid and American artist Douglas Davis. A commentary on the political division between the East and West during the Cold War, the 1980 photographic series shows the artists standing on opposite side of a thick vertical line with plaques that question the purpose of the line. In the last image, they finally break through the barrier by reaching towards one another.
Examining the legacy of such divide in relation to current political polarization, the conference will convene for three sessions to explore evolving positions toward the East/West axis in a post-socialist world. Through lectures and panel discussions, speakers will revisit selected regional histories since 1989 to show how our understanding of the past can change and develop through the lens of present circumstances, and vice versa. Acknowledging the renewed need for retrospection as a progressive tool to look to the future, this day-long event critically addresses the “revisionist” approach to making history while opening up an opportunity for a fresh engagement with underrepresented world views and their transformative potential in current cultural conditions.
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.
Garage exhibitions spark engagement with art and culture while exploring issues of local and global relevance; Garage education draws audiences of all ages through pioneering programs for both families and professionals; Garage publishing makes major cultural texts available in Russian for the first time and innovates new publications related to Garage archive, exhibitions, and other activities; Garage field research invites practitioners to develop fresh perspectives on Russian art and culture; Garage grants program supports young Russian artists and spearheads a range of activities that incorporate Russian artists into the global art community—all of which contribute to the Museum’s role as a multifaceted hub for arts and culture.
Founded in 2008 by Dasha Zhukova, the institution is currently based in a temporary pavilion in Gorky Park created specifically for Garage by architect Shigeru Ban. In 2015, the Museum will move to its first permanent home—a groundbreaking renovation of the famous 1960s Vremena Goda (Seasons of the Year) pavilion in Gorky Park—designed by Rem Koolhaas.
Garage is a non-profit project of The IRIS Foundation.
Adam Abdalla
Nadine Johnson Inc.
T +1 212 228 5555 / adam [at] nadinejohnson.com
