Garage takes part in ASTANA EXPO–2017

In summer 2017, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art will be presenting its exhibition and public programs at the International Specialized Exhibition Astana EXPO–2017.

This summer, Garage will take part in the world’s biggest international exhibition showcasing the achievements of nations that takes place in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana from June 10 to September 10. Garage’s space on the ground floor of the Astana Contemporary Art Center Pavilion will include an exhibition space, an open library with books on contemporary art, architecture and design, a family workshops zone, and an auditorium hosting lectures and discussions devoted to the art market, contemporary curating, and publishing, as well as screenings of contemporary art themed films united in three film programs.

‘Taking part in international and regional projects is part of Garage’s long-term development strategy and we could not miss an international event as important as the EXPO. This year’s theme is Future Energy and that’s the kind of energy we produce at Garage every day—we are delighted to be able to share it with our visitors in Astana,’ says Garage’s director Anton Belov.

Visitors can attend daily tours of the Astana Contemporary Art Center Pavilion including a visit to the exhibition Artists & Robots organized by the National Museums of France and Grand Palais in Paris along with Garage’s space.

On 22–23 July, 2017, the Astana Contemporary Art Center Pavilion will host an international conference on Kazakhstan’s modernist architecture curated by architecture historian Anna Bronovitskaya. Experts from Kazakhstan, Russia, Europe, and America will discuss general questions relating to the postwar modernism as well as the preservation of heritage buildings in Almaty. by architects from Archcode Almaty, who looked for and studied modernist buildings in the city. Their presentation of the project will be complemented with an exhibition of photographs of modernist buildings by Yury Palmin. The exhibition of photographs documenting the legacy of Soviet modernism will be on at Garage pavilion from June 10 to September 10. The research project will finish with the release of the second volume of the guidebook on modernist architecture as part of Garage’s publishing program for 2018.

All projects and events of Garage’s program at EXPO–2017 will be accessible for visitors with disabilities.

Sign language tours will be available for deaf and hard of hearing visitors. Visitors with developmental disabilities and learning difficulties will be offered extra learning materials and visual aids encouraging them to be active during the tour. Tours for blind and partially sighted visitors include audio description of works and the use of tactile models.

As part of its preparation for the EXPO, Garage organized a survey of leisure and cultural activities accessible for people with various disabilities in Kazakhstan. The survey carried out by Garage’s Department of Inclusive Programs has allowed it to build connections with charities and specialized institutions in Kazakhstan and initiate a dialogue on access to culture for the disabled in Almaty and Astana. This project will result in a series of seminars for the staff of cultural institutions designed to help them develop and promote programs for visitors with disabilities, based on an analysis of attitudes towards disability in the former Soviet countries.

Photo:
Main building of KazGU (now Al-Farabi Kazakh National University)
Architects: V. Bondarenko (head), Y. Zimin, V. Sukhomlinov, V. Zykov, G. Shevchenko, V. Sokolova, B. Kurakin, E. Chemerkyn
77 al-Farabi Avenue
1980s