RPT: REVIEW - Triennial Of Russian Contemporary Art Opens In Moscow At Garage Museum

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2020) The second edition of Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art by Garage Museum has opened its doors to visitors in Moscow to showcase works by 75 up-and-coming contemporary artists from all over Russia.

This time, the museum used a peculiar method in selection of artists for the triennial, titled "A Beautiful Night for All the People." The artists, who took part in the first edition of triennial, were asked to recommend their peers as well as research projects, educational organizations, and charities for a new exhibition. The museum's object labels explicitly state a relationship between a nominator and a nominee, such as friend-ally, student-teacher. This selection approach is designed to highlight the strength and diversity of personal ties in the Russian art world, which, due to the Russian historic past, sometimes is troubled by nepotism.

Misha Bury, a rising Moscow-based artist mainly working in field of biomorphic sculpture, has explained to Sputnik how he was recommended for an exhibition.

"I'm displaying a project called Clot, which I have started to create a long time ago, back to when I was a resident of the Winzavod Open Studios. After that residency, I was admitted to the Garage Studios and Artist Residencies, where I started to prepare for the triennial. The artist Kirill Kto nominated me. We as artists were free to choose the theme of our works," Bury said.

Bury has created five mid-sized sculptures for the exhibition, made of wood, hardware and aluminum sandwich panels.

"I work with various materials; many things were found at clothing production sites, ad printshops. This is a reflection of a specific moment in our current reality, of what surrounds us and the relationships in which a person is living," Bury noted.

Even though the artists were given total freedom to create showpieces on any theme, most have opted to highlight traits of society as a whole or of some particular subculture scene. Nevertheless, every piece of art sings in a different tune, sometimes making it hard for a visitor to navigate through the exhibition and leave with a condensed experience.

A monumental showpiece highlighting the patterns of Russian society is an installation ''Prayers and Heroes" by an acclaimed Russian artist Andrey Kuzkin. It took him three years to make a memorial-like giant shelf with hundreds of small boxes, each hosting a figurine made of bread covered in his blood. The use of bread refers to the Orthodox tradition of using bread in rituals.

''Prayers and Heroes" is a tribute to Russia's historic past, when the majority of people preferred to get through hard times with a prayer and silently suffer from injustice. The heroes in this work are those who decide to speak up and make a difference. Even if they face a tragic fate for their bold actions, they will remain in history as heroes. It is worth noting that Kuzkin was recommended by fellow artist Andrei Monastyrsky. Their relationship was defined as "guru-sect member."

Aside from Kuzkin, there are many peculiar solutions used by artists at the triennial. For example, a real greenhouse hosts artwork by Karina Sadreeva-Nurieva, while artist Yuri Vasiliev put a common Soviet midibus PAZ-3205 on display. This showpiece has a double meaning as this type of minibus is used both for detention of people and as a public transport in some remote Russian regions.

The triennial will run through January 17, 2021 at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, located in Moscow's Gorky Park. The museum, known as one of the trailblazers in creating a favorable space for contemporary art in Russia, was founded in 2008 by prominent Russian-Israeli businessman Roman Abramovich and patron of the arts Dasha Zhukova.