MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2019) The V-A-C Foundation will open a major cultural center titled GES-2 in Moscow in September of 2020 at the site of a decommissioned power station near the Moscow Kremlin, V-A-C's founder and CEO of Russian energy giant Novatek Leonid Mikhelson said on Tuesday.
"We plan to complete this 'petite' construction in a year, move in the summer and the opening of this space [will take place] somewhere by the end of September. I have no doubt that it will be in demand," Mikhelson said at a press conference titled Discovering the GES-2, held in Moscow.
The complex is being built at the site of a disused power station and the surrounding area, which the foundation acquired in 2014. V-A-C has commissioned the Renzo Piano Building Workshop to redesign the area. The developers had to lift the old building of the power station using house jacks in order to lay a new foundation, Mikhelson noted.
The 430,000-square feet cultural center will include an exhibition area, a playhouse for hosting concerts and film screenings, a library, a shop and cafes, among other facilities, according to the Russian businessman. Moreover, the building itself will be energy efficient due to the use of solar panels and rainwater harvesting.
Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjarjansson will inaugurate the GES-2 by unveiling a six-month project featuring various exhibitions, film screenings and other events. The project will occupy the whole building and will revolve around Santa Barbara, the first US soap opera broadcast on Russian tv.
"The popularity of Santa Barbara in Russia coincided with the period following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the country's transition to a different economic, social and cultural framework. It has been suggested that the country's immersion in Santa Barbara played an important role in shaping the first generation of post-Soviet Russians," the foundation said in a statement.
The GES-2 will join the ranks of other contemporary art institutions in Moscow housed in former industrial sites such as the Contemporary Art Center Winzavod, and the ones using remarkable architectural solutions such as the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, the building of which was designed by Rem Koolhaas.
Just like GES-2, the institutions mentioned were also founded by prominent Russian businesspeople. Billionaire Roman Abramovich and patron of the arts Dasha Zhukova are behind Garage, while billionaire Roman Trostensko founded Winzavod.
However, the emergence of a new contemporary art space of such scale will not lead to competition, with Moscow's museums and arts centers instead complementing each other and contributing to Moscow's image as a destination for cultural tourism, head of Moscow's Department of Culture Alexander Kibovsky noted at the press conference.
