Garage Teens Team is the Museum’s eighteen-month-long project designed for teenagers from fourteen to eighteen years old. Launched in 2013, it expands Garage’s activity aimed at the involvement of diverse audiences in art processes and the life of a contemporary museum. An open call to take part in Teens Team’s third iteration was announced in February 2020. During the first half of the year, the participants immersed themselves in the exploration of the puzzling field of contemporary art, acquiring useful skills that will allow them to work in this area. The courses and workshops of the first six months of 2020 were conducted by graduates of the previous Garage Teens Team editions, who transferred their knowledge and experience to younger colleagues.
During the second half of the year, under the guidance of theater director Polina Struzhkova, the group started preparing their own projects, thematically echoing the ongoing 2nd Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art. The young people were invited to reflect on the current Triennial’s conception and develop a sound piece that would analyze the impact of relationships of various types in the art world. How can friendships, interactions within various communities, and relevant social agendas affect artistic expression? The participants did not limit themselves to the audio format alone, supplementing their projects with video footage, objects, and performance practices.
The title of the presentation—The Elephant and the Butterfly—alludes to the changes that arose during the preparation process, namely the forced transition from offline to online. During a class of the same name, Teens Team members discussed how the initial idea of a project often transforms during the preparation period, with the final version not resembling the original one at all. In this case, current circumstances and limitations imposed by the pandemic have made their own adjustments to the projects proposed by the Garage Teens Team participants, eventually turning the elephant into a butterfly.
The presentation will be held online. The projects will be available as part of thematic playlists on SoundCloud and YouTube.
