Garage Museum of Contemporary Art launches the long-term collaboration with National Research University Higher School of Economics

In 2018, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art expands its program of educational projects and announces the launch of a collaboration with the Higher School of Economics in the field of contemporary art and art practices.

Educational programs at Garage are one of the priorities of the institution and are aimed at both professionals and beginners. In the past ten years, the Museum has held more than 150 exhibitions, 6000 educational events, including international scientific conferences, training courses and seminars, published more than 200 books and catalogues in Russian and English, became the founder of the world's largest archive on the history of Russian contemporary art, and opened the first public library in Russia on contemporary art. Now Garage aims to integrate this accumulated knowledge and professional experience into the academic environment.

National Research University Higher School of Economics is one of the leading universities in Russia with highly strong scientific and educational approach. It is a internationally top-ranked university, having long-term priorities and values shared by Garage. Higher School of Economics became the first state university in Russia to select a renowned foreign faculty: today the university employs more than 100 international scholars from 25 countries. At the same time, the university faces the task of integrating educational and scientific projects into the international context.

On March 2, 2018, the Academic Council of Higher School of Economics (HSE) approved the establishment of the general Department for Garage Museum of Contemporary Art at the university. The scientific and educational platform of HSE will provide opportunities for research in the field of contemporary art and the training of qualified professionals, an urgent need for which is felt in Russia today. The decision to create a general department within the university is the best way to involve researchers and students from all departments into Garage projects

Experts from Garage will begin with the students of the HSE Lyceum and deliver a number of career-oriented lectures. The course participants will learn about the structure, challenges, and needs of the contemporary museum, what kind of requirements are imposed on museum workers, and what kind of specialists are needed currently.

This March, Garage’s minor program Contemporary Art: An Introduction to History and Museum and Exhibition Practices opens for enrollment for all bachelors of the first year. Classes will begin this fall.

Developed by Garage’s experts, the minor program offers participants the opportunity to study contemporary art with professionals in the field and attend modules on up-to-date art processes. In addition to the basics of the history of art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, students will learn about the profession of the curator, the peculiarities of the legal system of the art market, and technologies used in art management. The Museum intends to combine theoretical knowledge with practical skills striving for an interdisciplinary approach. Practical parts of the program will be held in Moscow museums and galleries, where students may get the opportunity to analyze precise cases.

Garage aims to launch the master's program Practices of Contemporary Art and Curatorship next year. The basis of the program was created by analyzing the most successful international and domestic experiences of the academic programs in the field of Culture and Art Studies. The purpose of the master's program is to train specialists with interdisciplinary professional competences in the field of contemporary art, who possess theoretical knowledge and practical skills of curatorial, exhibition, and project activities. The first set of students is scheduled for 2019. It is also planned to expand training to the field of various artistic practices.

Garage department will be a place for research projects, therefore the list of joint projects with HSE will be expanded. The first lecturers from the department will be employees of Garage, including director Anton Belov, deputy director for reconstruction and development Anna Trapkova, senior curator Ekaterina Inozemtseva, curator of the Archive Sasha Obukhova, curator of public programs Anastasia Mityushina, head of the Education Department Ekaterina Vladimirtseva, head of the IT department of Alexander Vasilyev, and many others.

National Research University Higher School of Economics is the largest center of socio-economic studies and one of the top-ranked higher education institutions in Eastern Europe. The University efficiently carries out fundamental and applied research projects in such fields as management, sociology, political science, philosophy, international relations, mathematics, physics, computer science, Eastern studies, and journalism, which all come together through the basic principles of modern economics. HSE operates more than 100 research institutes and centers, with more than thirty international laboratories led by foreign scholars, including Nobel laureate Eric Maskin and Fields Medal laureate Andrey Okunkov.