SPECIAL EDITION TO MARK THE OPENING OF GARAGE'S NEW BUILDING REM KOOLHAAS’ FIRST BUILDING IN RUSSIA: The preserved traces of Soviet generosity in the Vremena Goda building will always generate a relevant context in any period to come /PAGE 4 George Kiesewalter photographs the inside story of Russian nonconformist art /PAGE 6 Map of Garage’s new building /PAGES 8-9 A museum like you’ve never seen: pelmeni and ping- pong at Garage /PAGE 10 Museum mile: an ideal day off /PAGE 14 Сoming soon: Louise Bourgeois /PAGE 15 Spotting Kusama: summer’s most fashionable print /PAGE 16 ERIK BULATOV’S MONUMENTAL NEW WORK FOR GAR AGE: I used to see this font everywhere around me. All political slogans , COLORED, PENCIL ON PAPER, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST would be written in this style. It’s the most primitive font possible, but it is COME TO GARAGE! 1 (SKETCH) also our heritage from the avant-garde ERIK BULATOV, /PAGE 5 www.garagemca.org 2 EDITORIAL Welcome! Dear Garage Visitor, f you are seeing this letter, then you temporary art and culture in post-Sovi- Suisse; PUMA; Adidas; Interview mag- are holding the special issue of Ga- et Moscow. I am proud to have partici- azine; and Business FM. I am delight- rage Gazette that we have produced pated in the new interpretation of this ed to work with like-minded people in to celebrate the opening of our new monument to Soviet Modernism and making history and creating a future Ibuilding in Gorky Park: thank you for collaborated with Rem Koolhaas— for our children. Dasha Zhukova, Anton Belov, Founder, Garage Museum Director, Garage Museum your interest! I’ll take this opportunity one of the most important contempo- Another great ally, without whom our of Contemporary Art of Contemporary Art to give you some background as to how rary architects of our time—on his first life would not be the same, is the Gorky it came to be that you are reading what Russian project. Park team, and I also want to thank I am writing… As you might have come to expect, GARAGE cardholders, who are our Since 2008, Garage has been continu- there are many events and activities longest-running, most devoted, and ously evolving; starting out as a plat- to suit all interests planned for this critical friends. We have grown and hen I first imagined form for international contemporary summer season at Garage, but as the changed together, and will remain loy- creating a venue for art in Moscow and developing into a daylight hours get shorter in the fall, al to each other for a long time to come. art and culture in Mos- contemporary museum, producing ex- there is even more to come. To give Finally, I am especially proud to an- cow, I could never have hibitions, education, publishing, and you a taster, September brings the nounce the inauguration of Garage Wdreamed that Garage would become research projects that resonate locally long-awaited blockbuster exhibition Advisory Council, which consists of the place that it is today. It is the fru- and internationally. In the last seven of Louise Bourgeois—world famous a group of eminent museum profes- ition of so many people’s hard work, years we have grown from a center for for making an incredible giant sculp- sionals from around the world who we energy, and interests, including those contemporary culture—a “receiving ture of a spider—then October hails have invited to contribute their exper- who have supported us every step of house”—into a production house, in our first conference exploring the leg- tise as we take our next steps toward the way by participating in our pro- which our audiences are central to the acy of Soviet Modernism, and over the becoming a world-class museum. The grams. narratives we want to generate. Now winter we will embark on our annual Council includes Zdenka Badovinac, From the beginning, the main mission we have also found a permanent home, Art Experiment extravaganza, which Director, Moderna galerija, Ljublja- of Garage has been education: we are where future stories can play out over has now become a family favorite for na; Michael Govan, CEO and Wal- interested in bringing the perspectives time and you are always welcome. our regular visitors. lis Annenberg Director, LACMA, Los of different cultures from all around the A work in progress, Garage’s new On behalf of the whole Garage team, I Angeles; Boris Groys, Global Distin- world to the city and sharing these ideas building is a unique example of how would like to thank our founders, part- guished Professor of Russian and Slav- through contemporary art. Now, at the architecture can influence what hap- ners, donors, and everyone who has ic Studies, New York University; Glenn heart of the Museum is also our Archive pens in a space. The “Soviet generosi- supported us over the last few years. D. Lowry, Director, The Museum of Collection, which provides the foun- ty”—which is a term that architect Rem In a short time, the Museum has estab- Modern Art, New York; Bartomeu dation from which to share with broad Koolhaas uses to describe the original lished a reputation as a reliable insti- Mari, President, CIMAM; Hans Ul- publics in Moscow and further afield the 1968 structure—has been put to a new tution, inspiring both individuals and rich Obrist, Co-Director of Exhibitions little-known histories of Russian con- use, enabling us to create a museum companies to support our programs. and Programs and Director of Interna- temporary art. that is far from the standard “white Without these partnerships and col- tional Projects, Serpentine Galleries, I am very happy to be welcoming you cube” for art. Instead it is a “place,” laborations we would not be able to London; Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director, this summer to our new home in Gorky imbued with character and history, make such a significant contribution The State Hermitage Museum, St. Pe- Park, which is the brainchild of Rem which is constructed using new tech- to the cultural life of Moscow: Thanks tersburg; and Beatrix Ruf, Director, Koolhaas, an architect and thinker from nologies and a state-of-the art façade, to Audi; Sotheby’s; Gazprombank Pri- Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. whom I have learned so much over the so that artists and curators, the Teens vate Banking; Art, Science, and Sport I am certain that we still have a lot of last three years. He, together with the Team, Garage Mediators, and count- Charity Foundation; Falcon Private discoveries and achievements ahead of artists and other specialists who have less creative people can present their Bank; Silver Rain radio; EVRAZ; Yota us, and above all, I hope that you will made this opening season of exhibitions ideas and their views on the world Devices; V confession agency; Dorn- join us in creating a beacon for contem- and events, is the reason why we can say now. What was once a restaurant—a bracht; Samsung; Microsoft; MTS; porary culture in Moscow by participat- that Garage is a place where people, art, place for people’s new found leisure Beeline; Rosatom; Strojmenedzhment ing in our programs for years to come! and ideas connect to make history. time in late-Soviet Russia—is now a Holding; MasterCard; Deutsche Bank; destination for another newfound kind Ministry of Culture of the Russian Fed- Yours sincerely, Dasha Zhukova of leisure and learning, namely con- eration; Rosbank; Sberbank; Credit Anton Belov Garage thanks the following Garage the cat: for their support: the most popular member of staff at the Museum www.garagemca.org 3 GARAGE HISTORY Piecing Together The Autumn Mosaic Autumn depicts a girl carried 1960х20=2015 away by the wind in a cloud of autumn leaves. It stands out from The Soviet Union of the 1960s is the usual Socialist Realist image- familiar to many of us through ry of the era with its romanti- music and films, but seldom cism: one would expect to see a has there been an opportunity kolkhoz woman with her harvest to see the era in all its sociopo- as a depiction of this season. But litical and cultural specificity. with the return of Modernist ar- Having found its new home in a chitecture to the Soviet Union af- 1960s modernist building, Ga- ter a 1955 decree “On liquidation rage has initiated several pro- of excesses…,” a new kind of im- jects dedicated to this decade in agery started to flourish, to deco- Soviet history. rate the “strict” style of Modern- The first—The Sixties: Points of ism. Furthermore, in the years Intersection—was developed by before perestroika, the decora- Garage Teens Team: 26 high tive arts enjoyed more freedom school seniors and first-year uni- than fine art: unlike paintings, versity students who have spent a reliefs and mosaics could deviate year studying the 1960s through from Realism because they also the literature, art, and cinema of served an aesthetic function. the time, as well as interviewing The color palette of Autumn— people who lived through the reds, oranges, and blues—was decade. At first, the Team strug- probably limited by the choice gled to find common ground of pigment available to the art- with their 1960s counterparts, ists. Despite this, they created a but on learning more about the scene in the true spirit of “Magic recent past, they became increas- Realism,” which was fashionable ingly aware of their own proxim- then. The leaves and tree branch- ity to the era, discovering more es, the dove (borrowed from and more points of intersection PHOTO: ILYA IVANOV © GARAGE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART Picasso), and the ear of grain between then and now.