Garage’s project Open Systems. Self-Organized Art Initiatives in Russia. 2000–2017, continues with an exhibition at IMHO Gallery at Saratov Oblast House of Artists.
The project explores art initiatives that “produce events to bring together artists connected through friendship, the similarity of their aesthetic, social or political views, or simply belonging to the same generation.”
The archive section of the exhibition, which contains materials on seventy-three self-organized initiatives from eighteen Russian cities, will be presented alongside projects from Saratov—Factory Festival of Contemporary Art, Mixed Forest Festival of Visual Arts, and IMHO Gallery itself.
Each project reflects the local art community’s intention to form an environment for active communication, collaboration, and interaction beyond institutions. Factory Festival of Contemporary Art facilitates the development of the local art scene by offering young artists working in a variety of media to show their works in industrial spaces. Mixed Forest Festival of Visual Arts creates a free and easy creative environment through trips to Sokolova Gora, which has enabled the introduction of a new kind of connection to the community and the building of an informal relationship between the artist and spectator. IMHO Gallery stands out among other self-organised initiatives as a well-structured project that aims to work with artists from other cities as well as Saratov.
The public program for the exhibition will include lectures by Antonina Trubitsyna and Elena Ishenko as well as a program of screenings for “Mediatheque”- M48.