Main Collection

Garage Museum of Contemporary Art archive

This video work by the young video artist and director Dasha Likhaya has been put together from recordings from her personal archive, shoots made for this film, and found recordings. It is constructed as a new artistic world which is close to the genre of autofiction. The main character in the film talks on the phone to her ex, reading out the text of her film application and sharing everyday news. She experiences discomfort and poeticness during this intimate dialogue, even to the extent of a physical feeling of her own powerlessness. 

The artist creates a situation in which the viewer is an accidental witness to private conversations. Documentary and found materials are transformed into artifacts of the artistic world of the film, as if they were part of its reality. The extreme zoom, which makes the images abstract, the superimposition of screens, and the materiality of the screen space support this delicate construction.

Everyday life becomes a field in which deep sensual experiences unfold: the registers of the everyday and the highly emotional alternate and encourage each other. 

At Garage the work is presented as an installation: the slight vibrations of the parachute fabric on which it is projected match the film's plot and create a special tactility of perception, changing the geometry and color of the video, but simultaneously saturating them with the randomness of movement.

This video work by the young video artist and director Dasha Likhaya has been put together from recordings from her personal archive, shoots made for this film, and found recordings. It is constructed as a new artistic world which is close to the genre of autofiction. The main character in the film talks on the phone to her ex, reading out the text of her film application and sharing everyday news. She experiences discomfort and poeticness during this intimate dialogue, even to the extent of a physical feeling of her own powerlessness. 

The artist creates a situation in which the viewer is an accidental witness to private conversations. Documentary and found materials are transformed into artifacts of the artistic world of the film, as if they were part of its reality. The extreme zoom, which makes the images abstract, the superimposition of screens, and the materiality of the screen space support this delicate construction.

Everyday life becomes a field in which deep sensual experiences unfold: the registers of the everyday and the highly emotional alternate and encourage each other. 

At Garage the work is presented as an installation: the slight vibrations of the parachute fabric on which it is projected match the film's plot and create a special tactility of perception, changing the geometry and color of the video, but simultaneously saturating them with the randomness of movement.

A Text for a Film Application

Artist and CGI specialist Sara Culmann often works with digital drawing, creating scenes in a game engine and matching her lines of research with machinima poetics. Agency of Nowhen is an online platform with short videos imitating the logic of paid content services. The project describes diverse aspects of the phenomenon of bias‑cognitive distortion of the perception of information that creates an imbalance in collective knowledge.

These episodes combine into a series of video essays exploring individual incidences of the deformation of data and the problems of measuring systems. A number of the subjects are based on a careful study of digital environments, for example the one about the production of a consensus of knowledge in Wikipedia, which is narrated by an anonymous Wiki editor who handles arguments about universality and systems for selecting and checking information. Others offer a poetic and experimental exploration of the experience of the subject’s existence in the extremely heterogeneous and randomly technogenic present day. The artist pays particular attention to failed historical lines, experiences not taken into account by society, and elements that have avoided scientific analysis.

By using a type of streaming interface and splitting the work into short episodes, the artist plays with how knowledge is distributed and how the image is circulated today: in ways that are illusory, accessible, universal, and ephemeral.

Artist and CGI specialist Sara Culmann often works with digital drawing, creating scenes in a game engine and matching her lines of research with machinima poetics. Agency of Nowhen is an online platform with short videos imitating the logic of paid content services. The project describes diverse aspects of the phenomenon of bias‑cognitive distortion of the perception of information that creates an imbalance in collective knowledge.

These episodes combine into a series of video essays exploring individual incidences of the deformation of data and the problems of measuring systems. A number of the subjects are based on a careful study of digital environments, for example the one about the production of a consensus of knowledge in Wikipedia, which is narrated by an anonymous Wiki editor who handles arguments about universality and systems for selecting and checking information. Others offer a poetic and experimental exploration of the experience of the subject’s existence in the extremely heterogeneous and randomly technogenic present day. The artist pays particular attention to failed historical lines, experiences not taken into account by society, and elements that have avoided scientific analysis.

By using a type of streaming interface and splitting the work into short episodes, the artist plays with how knowledge is distributed and how the image is circulated today: in ways that are illusory, accessible, universal, and ephemeral.

Agency of Nowhen

Acquired from the artist

Acquired from Alexey Veselovsky

Tatiana Efrussi is an artist and researcher who graduated from Rodchenko Art School (Moscow) and the Académie des Beaux‑Arts (Paris) and has a doctorate in architectural history from the University of Kassel. In her practice she employs historical narratives and the theme of memory, analyzing the past and its place in the present. Working at the intersection of the artistic and the documentary, fiction and reality, Efrussi reconsiders the experience of various communities and the fates of her characters using a range of media, from performance, video, and installation to painting. Her attention is focused on researching various narrative means and their roles in constructing history.

In 2020, the artist created a ten‑page album made from pieces of Belle France plastic bags. On each spread there is an ideally retouched image of food products on one page and acrylic drawings of weeds (mauvaises herbes) that grow in the Île‑de‑France region on the other. With this ironic contrast between the sterile symbolism of “Beautiful France” and the chaotic, undesirable nature of “ugly weeds,” Efrussi explores the determinism of society, mechanisms of segregation, and the boundaries of social equality.

Tatiana Efrussi is an artist and researcher who graduated from Rodchenko Art School (Moscow) and the Académie des Beaux‑Arts (Paris) and has a doctorate in architectural history from the University of Kassel. In her practice she employs historical narratives and the theme of memory, analyzing the past and its place in the present. Working at the intersection of the artistic and the documentary, fiction and reality, Efrussi reconsiders the experience of various communities and the fates of her characters using a range of media, from performance, video, and installation to painting. Her attention is focused on researching various narrative means and their roles in constructing history.

In 2020, the artist created a ten‑page album made from pieces of Belle France plastic bags. On each spread there is an ideally retouched image of food products on one page and acrylic drawings of weeds (mauvaises herbes) that grow in the Île‑de‑France region on the other. With this ironic contrast between the sterile symbolism of “Beautiful France” and the chaotic, undesirable nature of “ugly weeds,” Efrussi explores the determinism of society, mechanisms of segregation, and the boundaries of social equality.

Mauvaises herbes

According to the artist this book is based on observations of the movements and forms of clouds. The sketches and texts describe the diversity of the sky and also the feelings and reflections of the artist. As Marakulina notes, “Clouds are a universal educational substance, visual information that can be perceived differently depending on the condition of the observer. Cloud Student is a notebook of observations or a textbook written by a student.” 

 The book was created as part of the Garage Library project Single Copy.

 According to the artist this book is based on observations of the movements and forms of clouds. The sketches and texts describe the diversity of the sky and also the feelings and reflections of the artist. As Marakulina notes, “Clouds are a universal educational substance, visual information that can be perceived differently depending on the condition of the observer. Cloud Student is a notebook of observations or a textbook written by a student.” 

 The book was created as part of the Garage Library project Single Copy. 

Cloud Student

From the early 1970s Nikita Alexeev, one of the key artists of Moscow Conceptualism, created drawing series, artist’s books, and comic albums, investigating the interaction between text and image. His ABC Your first book, published on the initiative of printing studio Piranesi LAB, continues this tradition by combining intellectual play and artistic experiment.

The publication is a set of separate, screenprinted pages, on each of which are depicted two objects that begin with the same letter of the English alphabet. The preface by Nikita Alexeev and Irina Gorlova is included separately. Five books of the edition of 35 were hand colored by the artist. The other 30 books each contain two randomly selected colored pages that are not repeated in the others. Alexeev suggests that future owners color the rest of the letters.

Inspired by Alexandre Benois’ Alphabet in Pictures (1904), Alexeev creates his version of absurd, unexpected “surrealist pairs” that contrast in terms of scale and meaning. This is not simply an alphabet book but a hedonistic game of associations in which the sun that migrates from page to page is an immutable leitmotif.

From the early 1970s Nikita Alexeev, one of the key artists of Moscow Conceptualism, created drawing series, artist’s books, and comic albums, investigating the interaction between text and image. His ABC Your first book, published on the initiative of printing studio Piranesi LAB, continues this tradition by combining intellectual play and artistic experiment.

The publication is a set of separate, screenprinted pages, on each of which are depicted two objects that begin with the same letter of the English alphabet. The preface by Nikita Alexeev and Irina Gorlova is included separately. Five books of the edition of 35 were hand colored by the artist. The other 30 books each contain two randomly selected colored pages that are not repeated in the others. Alexeev suggests that future owners color the rest of the letters.

Inspired by Alexandre Benois’ Alphabet in Pictures (1904), Alexeev creates his version of absurd, unexpected “surrealist pairs” that contrast in terms of scale and meaning. This is not simply an alphabet book but a hedonistic game of associations in which the sun that migrates from page to page is an immutable leitmotif.

Your first book

This 26-meter‑long scroll comprises an uninterrupted abstract drawing of interwoven lines symbolizing the movement of time and history and also social movements associated with the countries of Southeast Asia in the second half of the twentieth century, which is the subject of many of Novikov’s projects. 

 The scroll is made on rice and bamboo paper using Chinese ink and Japanese acrylic and is kept in a handmade tube. The publication also includes several A4 sheets imitating bureaucratic documents written in an imaginary language. 

 The book was created as part of the Garage Library project Single Copy.

 This 26-meter‑long scroll comprises an uninterrupted abstract drawing of interwoven lines symbolizing the movement of time and history and also social movements associated with the countries of Southeast Asia in the second half of the twentieth century, which is the subject of many of Novikov’s projects. 

 The scroll is made on rice and bamboo paper using Chinese ink and Japanese acrylic and is kept in a handmade tube. The publication also includes several A4 sheets imitating bureaucratic documents written in an imaginary language. 

 The book was created as part of the Garage Library project Single Copy. 

Weapons of the Weak

Kristina Pashkova explores the complex interactions between ancient crafts, such as weaving and embroidery, and advanced computer technologies. In her practice handwork and cybervisuality intertwine, creating a space for reexamining the role of art in the digital era. Untitled is an experiment in the “materialization” of digital culture. The fabric pages are embroidered and printed with hyperlinks to a range of sources: philosophical texts, Wikipedia, social media, weather forecasts, recipes. However, the hyperlinks cannot be used. The embroidery turns them into a chaotic, endless pattern that completely neutralizes their utilitarian communicative function, leaving only a graphic and decorative shell. 

 This project is a consideration of the nature of information, its accessibility and ephemerality. The artist investigates the mechanisms of passing on information, transforming familiar digital markers into an alogical and absurd physical format in which technologies and the archaic collide paradoxically, creating a destructive artistic statement devoid of functionality and meaning.

 Kristina Pashkova explores the complex interactions between ancient crafts, such as weaving and embroidery, and advanced computer technologies. In her practice handwork and cybervisuality intertwine, creating a space for reexamining the role of art in the digital era. Untitled is an experiment in the “materialization” of digital culture. The fabric pages are embroidered and printed with hyperlinks to a range of sources: philosophical texts, Wikipedia, social media, weather forecasts, recipes. However, the hyperlinks cannot be used. The embroidery turns them into a chaotic, endless pattern that completely neutralizes their utilitarian communicative function, leaving only a graphic and decorative shell. 

 This project is a consideration of the nature of information, its accessibility and ephemerality. The artist investigates the mechanisms of passing on information, transforming familiar digital markers into an alogical and absurd physical format in which technologies and the archaic collide paradoxically, creating a destructive artistic statement devoid of functionality and meaning. 

Untitled

Pavla Markova works with the themes of vitality and mortality, ironically exploring the delicate balance of power in nature. The book Der Erlkönig references Goethe’s eponymous poem, a tragic ballad about a terrible meeting between a father and son and a mystical being. Markov examines the nature of dreams and delirium, death and primeval terror, using the dark esthetic of expressionism. The illustrations in the book are generated by a neural network based on the artist’s drawings and photographs. The black‑and‑white palette and tense, sometimes deliberately casual way of making create the irrational sense of a nightmare. Some of the compositions are reminiscent of oval portraits on gravestones and others of otherworldly, mystical totems. As in Goethe’s poem, the book is constructed around a growing anxiety. Here there are juxtaposed images of lost souls, buried memories, and an unstable world where fear and humor coexist at the edge of worlds.

 Pavla Markova works with the themes of vitality and mortality, ironically exploring the delicate balance of power in nature. The book Der Erlkönig references Goethe’s eponymous poem, a tragic ballad about a terrible meeting between a father and son and a mystical being. Markov examines the nature of dreams and delirium, death and primeval terror, using the dark esthetic of expressionism. The illustrations in the book are generated by a neural network based on the artist’s drawings and photographs. The black‑and‑white palette and tense, sometimes deliberately casual way of making create the irrational sense of a nightmare. Some of the compositions are reminiscent of oval portraits on gravestones and others of otherworldly, mystical totems. As in Goethe’s poem, the book is constructed around a growing anxiety. Here there are juxtaposed images of lost souls, buried memories, and an unstable world where fear and humor coexist at the edge of worlds. 

Der Erlkönig

The book was a result of the artist’s idea to create sculptures from stars that have shed their outer layers and to give planetary nebulae a form reminiscent of a hare’s silhouette (a nice‑looking animal that is recognisable even from afar). This enterprise does not contradict the laws of physics, but it cannot be achieved at the current stage of technological development. 

 The book is based on a series of drawings and paintings by Rostan Tavasiev made in 2020 and 2021. They are reproduced in  the Catalogue of Art Projects using digital printing and are adjacent to scientific descriptions of nebulae could be created based on existing binary star systems. 

 The book was created as part of the Garage Library project Single Copy.

 The book was a result of the artist’s idea to create sculptures from stars that have shed their outer layers and to give planetary nebulae a form reminiscent of a hare’s silhouette (a nice‑looking animal that is recognisable even from afar). This enterprise does not contradict the laws of physics, but it cannot be achieved at the current stage of technological development. 

 The book is based on a series of drawings and paintings by Rostan Tavasiev made in 2020 and 2021. They are reproduced in  the Catalogue of Art Projects  using digital printing and are adjacent to scientific descriptions of nebulae could be created based on existing binary star systems. 

 The book was created as part of the Garage Library project Single Copy. 

Catalogue of Art Projects in Outer Space. Planetary Nebulae

1. Открытый доступ

Мастер

Ivan Novikov was born in Moscow. He graduated in easel painting from Moscow State Surikov Academy of Fine Arts and from the program Contemporary Art and Criticism at BAZA Institute (Moscow). He also has a Master’s degree from Manchester University (UK). Since 2015 he has been a member if the editorial board of Moscow Art Magazine. He is the co‑founder of the independent space Krasny Center (Moscow). He has had solo exhibitions at Moscow Museum of Modern Art, pop/off/art Gallery (Moscow), Zarya Center for Contemporary Art (Vladivostok), and other venues.

Novikov Ivan

Likhaia Dasha

Asya Marakulina was born in Perm. She graduated from Professional Lycee No. 1 as a computer graphics artist (Perm, 2006), the Faculty of Arts of St. Petersburg State University as an animation artist (2015), and studied at the PRO ARTE Foundation’s Young Artists’ School (St. Petersburg, 2015). She has taken part in group exhibitions, including Not a Museum. Laboratory of Aesthetic Suspicions (Novaya Industriya Art Space, St. Petersburg, 2014), Form of the Invisible (PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art, Perm, 2015; Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2016), Prospekt Nepokorennykh (Moscow Museum of Modern Art), 2017), and the 2nd Garage Triennial of Contemporary Russian Art (Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020). She is the recipient of the Credit Suisse and Cosmoscow Prize for Young Artists (2018) and a special prize of the Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award (2019). She is a member of the association of Viennese artists IG Bildende Kunst.

Marakulina Asya

Nikita Alexeev was born in Moscow. From 1964 to 1967, he studied at Moscow Middle Art School of the Moscow Surikov State Art Institute and then at 1905 Moscow State Academic Art College in the Department of Industrial Graphics and Advertising. From 1973 to 1976, he studied at Moscow Printing Institute in the Faculty of Artistic and Technical Design of Print Products (he did not graduate). From 1976 to 1983, he was a member of the group Collective Actions. He took part in the Biennale of Dissent (Venice, 1977). He was one of the organizers of MANI (Moscow Archive of New Art). From 1982 to 1984, he was co‑founder and director of APTART Gallery, which was located in his studio apartment in Moscow.

Alexeev Nikita

Pavla Markova was born in Omsk. She is a professionally qualified photographer and videographer. Group exhibitions include: Good. New Art from Omsk (Luda Gallery, St. Petersburg, 2014), Texts (Levaya Noga Gallery, Omsk, 2016), On Work (Egorka Communal Gallery, St. Petersburg, 2018), The Cap. A Chamber Stereo Opera about St. Petersburg Art (Chaliapin House Museum, St. Petersburg, 2019), the 2nd Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art (Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2020), and Assuming Distance: Speculations, Fakes, and Predictions in the Age of the Coronacene (Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2021). She is a member of the artist‑run space Intimate Place (St. Petersburg).

Markova Pavla

Rostan Tavasiev was born in Moscow. He graduated as a jeweler from Karl Fabergé Professional College of Decorative and Applied Arts No. 332 (Moscow, 1998) and from the Graphic Design Department of Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry (2007). In 2002, he completed the course New Artistic Strategies at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (Moscow). He has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including the 4th Krasnoyarsk Biennale (2011), Generation XXI. The Gift of Vladimir Smirnov and Konstantin Sorokin (State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, 2020), and others.

Tavasiev Rostan

Born in Novomoskovsk. She graduated from the Free Studios at Moscow Museum of Modern
Art (2021) and the Joseph Backstein Institute of Contemporary Art (2022). She took part in
WHW Akademija (Zagreb, 2022), an independent project by the curatorial group WHW, and
a residency at Baltic Art Center (Gotland, Sweden, 2023). She is a resident of the program
ColLab, where she weaves on a TS2 semi‑automatic Jacquard loom. She is the author of the
Telegram channel Shvami narushu, which covers textile artists.

Pashkova Kristina

Tatiana Efrussi was born in Moscow. She graduated from Moscow State University (2011) and Rodchenko Art School (Moscow, 2015). She received her PhD from the University of Kassel (2020). She is a member of the artistic and economic association Flying Cooperation. She was curator of the photographic workshop The Bauhaus in Russia. Ghosts (with Yuri Palmin) as part of the exhibition bauhaus imaginista. Moving Away: The Internationalist Architect (Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2018). She is the author of academic papers on the history of architecture.

Efrussi Tatjana

Born in Kirovsk. Sara Culmann is a media artist. She studied at Stroganov Moscow State University of Arts and Industry and Rodchenko Art School, and in 2012 completed a video art course taught by Provmyza Group from Nizhny Novgorod. She works with time‑based media—found footage, 3D animation and computer games—as well as graphics and objects. Her work has been featured at the Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (2014) and in exhibitions at ISSMAG Gallery, Skolkovo Gallery and Studio, MMOMA, and Electromuseum.

Catalogue of the Collection

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