The New International
1 August–21 September 2014
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Gorky Park
9 Krymsky Val
119049 Moscow
Russia
Hours: Monday–Thursday
11–21h, Friday–Sunday 11–22h
T+7 495 645 05 20
Featured artists: Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Johan Grimonprez, IRWIN, Paul Khera, Makiko Kudo, Goshka Macuga, Shirin Neshat, Santiago Sierra, Danh Vō, and a project about Alexander Brener with the involvement of Michael Benson, Malevich from Belgrade, Judith Schoneveld, Alexander Sokolov, Olga Stolpovskaya, Dmitry Troitsky, Harmen Verbrugge, Kamiel Verschuren, and others
Curated by Kate Fowle
Drawing on two generations of artists—those who rose to international attention and those who came of age during the 1990s—The New International is the latest in a series of projects at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art to focus on the decade post-1989 as a significant cultural turning point around the world.
Each artist presented in the exhibition has developed a singular approach to making work that provides a new understanding of what “international” can mean. With experiences that span divergent geographies, all their practices resist location through mono-cultural association. Fusing activist and aesthetic languages, they favor discourse over polemics, creating works that contribute subtle nuances to topics such as gender, nationalism, class, economics, capital, the media, and institutional critique. Through juxtaposing plural temporalities and perspectives to visually, physically, and psychologically engage their audiences, each artist presents nuanced world views that resist simple categorization.
While the term “international” is now frequently used interchangeably with “foreign,” it also implies an understanding of the self in relation to a larger viewpoint. As opposed to the expanding unilateral nationalism of today, the new—or perhaps last—international slows down the onset of a fully globalized world. In other words, it is a way to describe how individuals share, understand, or experience, context-specific situations without universalizing the outcomes.
A 48-page brochure, providing further elaboration on the exhibition concept, as well as the artists and works in the show, will be produced to coincide with the opening of The New International. In September, a reader will be published that charts the defining events and exhibitions through which an international dialogue emerged from, and with, practitioners in Moscow.
Past projects in the Garage Program related to the 1990s include Reconstruction 1: 1990-1995 and Reconstruction 2: 1996-2000, developed in collaboration with the Ekaterina Foundation. These are the first exhibitions and publications to provide a comprehensive survey of Moscow art life through the decade. Forthcoming is 89plus RUSSIA, developed in collaboration with curatorsHans Ulrich Obrist and Simon Castets, as part of the Garage Field Research program. Launched during The New International, it will involve a yearlong search for the newest generation of creative minds in Russia, all born in 1989 or later.
About Garage
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 by Dasha Zhukova in 2008, Garage is a non-profit project of The IRIS Foundation.
