A curatorial team of six members of Garage Program Department traveled through the country's eight federal districts, visiting more than 40 cities and towns, crossing eleven time zones, in climates that range from the subtropical to subarctic.
Working with Garage’s regional network of specialists in each local context, the Triennial curators met with over 200 artists, ranging from 19 to 69 years of age. From this research, they identified seven vectors — Master Figure, Personal Mythologies, Fidelity to Place, Common Language, Art in Action, Street Morphology, and Local Histories of Art—through which the current art life of the country can be broadly understood.
These tendencies range from a strong identification with urban and natural environments and a drive to create elaborate mythological worlds, to the use of art practice as activism, or as a mechanism to participate in international discourse. Often isolated and working in the absence of established cultural infrastructure, what unites the widely different artists selected for the exhibition is a sense of resourcefulness and a powerful belief in art as a way of life.
Garage Triennial takes place from March 10 to May 14, 2017 in the Museum and the surrounding area of Gorky Park. For the opening of the exhibition on March 9–10, participating artists will convene in Moscow, establishing the potential for the development of a country-wide, peer-to-peer network for the first time in Russia. Responding to the lack of resources available to many artists, the Triennial will involve a number of newly-commissioned works, as well as new installations.
This website is the first iteration of a multi-phase project that will evolve into a comprehensive, nationwide resource (in both Russian and English) shedding light on the practices, interests, and concerns of artists from across Russia.
