Moscow's Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is opening a large-scale exhibition titled "The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030-2100," which is devoted to environmentalism and ecology and features art pieces created by 50 artists from all over the world
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th June, 2019) Moscow's Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is opening a large-scale exhibition titled "The Coming World: Ecology as the New politics 2030-2100," which is devoted to environmentalism and ecology and features art pieces created by 50 artists from all over the world.As pollution and climate change have become one of the most pressing global and social issues, the museum aims to put a spotlight on ecological imbalances sparked by human activity. The exhibition revolves around the growing threat of a global environmental disaster that is still ignored or denied by many due to ecological traumas, detachment of modern urbanized society from nature and a desire to escape rather than deal with emerging problems. The artists offer their creative ideas of what a future may look like in light of the ecological crimes committed in the present.
"We certainly understand that a visitor is unlikely to come back home and start sorting out waste in order to eliminate landfills. A person is unlikely to immediately refrain from excess purchases. But simply after seeing [the exhibition], we hope that one will start making their first steps, individually or with their family and friends, or introduce some of the ideas at work. And the discussion itself helps to migrate [the environmental agenda] from [being] a governmental task to a personal level, when it is your own responsibility for the future," Garage Museum's Director Anton Belov told Sputnik at a preview of the exhibition, asked whether the museum expects the exposition to promote sustainable development principles among Russian society.
When putting together "The Coming World," Garage aimed to reduce its environmental impact by recycling materials from previous expositions and recreating some showpieces on-the-spot in Moscow in order to avoid the air pollution that could result from transporting the art.
One of such example is the work by Indonesian artist Tita Salina titled "1001st Island The Most Sustainable Island in the Archipelago." A raft made of plastic bottles was recreated in Moscow using trash collected by the museum's staff. The showpiece, which also features a video, shines a light on the current plastic waste crisis in Indonesia, whose water resources have been adversely affected as a result, even forcing Bali authorities to ban single-use plastics on the island.
"This also relates to the megaproject by [the Indonesian] government [that] is planning to build 17 artificial islands in Jakarta. I had this idea that maybe instead of making a new land, we can utilize the trash that is already there in Jakarta," Salina said at the preview.
Another showpiece inspired by water pollution is "Environmental Triage: An Experiment in Democracy and Necropolitics" by the US-based Critical Art Ensemble. It features four cubes containing water samples from Lake Baikal, the Volga River, Moskva River and Moscow's tap water each of these sources has the potential to become affected by an environmental catastrophe. The artists invite the audience to vote which one of them should be preserved in case of a crisis. So far, Lake Baikal has received the most votes.
In this work of art, Critical Art Ensemble uses the medical concept of triage, the process of prioritizing patients' treatments depending on the severity of an injury and the resources available. If in normal practice a patient with the most severe injuries is treated first, in circumstances of war or crisis the priority is granted to those who are suffering from severe injuries but have higher chances of survival. The artists explore whether the same logic can be applied when saving water resources from pollution.
REMINDER FOR GLOBAL LEADERS OF CLIMATE CHANGE COMMITMENT
Unsurprisingly, the exhibition also touches upon the Paris Climate Agreement, which has been dominating the political and environmental agenda in recent years. Under the deal, over 190 states have committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to curb climate change. However, the future of the deal has come under threat by the United States' decision to withdraw and Australia's failure to reduce emissions.
Perhaps in an attempt to remind world leaders of their commitment, US artist Kim Abeles has designed 10 porcelain plates that are a part of her Smog Collectors series. Each plate features the portrait of a global leader and quotes in which they pledged to tackle climate change, including the ones by Russian President Vladimir Putin, French leader Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Abeles uses a unique technique to create her pieces, leaving stenciled objects in the open air for several weeks to allow dust from the polluted city air to settle and make the image visible. Specifically for "The Coming World," the artist used Moscow smog to create her art.
What may strike a chord among audiences is the presence of US President Donald Trump in the same ranks as Macron, Putin and Trudeau. The latter three have been pretty consistent on pushing forward climate change policy, whereas the US leader has been criticized for his denial of the phenomenon.
The US artist opted to use Trump's quote from June 1, 2017, which says that "the United States, under the Trump administration, will continue to be the cleanest and most environmentally country on Earth." He said this during the same speech in which he announced the US pullout from the Paris climate accord and slammed it for being "less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States."
"The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030-2100" will open to the public on June 28 and will run through December 1, 2019. The exhibition has been supported by diplomatic missions in Russia since they consider the theme to be highly important. Australia, Denmark, France and the Netherlands, among others, not only contributed funds but also helped Garage to bring artists and their works to Moscow, the museum's director told Sputnik.
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, located in Moscow's Gorky Park, is considered to be one of the trailblazers in creating a favorable space for contemporary art in Russia. The institution was founded in 2008 by prominent Russian businessman Roman Abramovich and patron of the arts Dasha Zhukova. The museum is supported by such global giants as BMW Group and Uniqlo, and Ingosstrakh, one of major Russian insurance companies.
