For the period of self-isolation which keeps both visitors and the staff from getting into the Museum, Garage transforms art mediation online.
Deprived of the opportunity to visit the Museum in today’s circumstances, we nevertheless maintain our desire to keep on getting acquainted with art, hence the idea of Garage’s mediators employed for the show Sekretiki to switch to the online communication format and divide all mediation topics into two parts: Soviet unofficial art—and how it echoes in the current situation.
Why did Soviet artists of the 1960s exhibit mainly in apartments and how can we employ their experience in order to diversify our leisure pastimes during self-isolation? Whereas previously, artists who sought freedom traveled to the country, today we feel free when we go shopping or take the dog out for a walk.
Online mediation will take the form of Zoom-conference sessions accessible to up to six persons. Duration will vary from twenty to sixty minutes. Participants can leave the session at any time. Before the conference begins, we suggest preparing a mug of hot tea and fine-tune for a stream of kitchen chit-chat, equally popular during the Soviet era and in our time.
Self-isolation is a necessary measure. However, it does not oblige us to keep social distance. By staying active and maintaining interaction with each other, we keep faith in the early restoration of our regular, pre-isolation lifestyle.