Garage Live

Garage Live is a program of dance, performance, music, and physical theater that permeates all spaces of the Museum and its surroundings.

It was initiated in 2012 to acknowledge the value of the live experience and present the Museum as a public space which feeds upon the ethics of empathy. Conceived to challenge visitors’ expectations of duration and spontaneity, and to encourage knowledge through experience, the program is multidisciplinary, erasing traditional genre boundaries.

Since its inception, Garage Live has presented more than fifty projects, many of which were commissioned specifically for the Museum, showcasing pivotal Russian and international historical works from the twentieth century and introducing audiences to the most recent developments in the field. Working closely with Garage Inclusive department to think through live arts as process based communication, a number of initiatives have embraced artistic dialogue between different communities, engaging people with disabilities and examining questions of disability.

Fostering experimentation in the local art scene, Garage Live has also set a precedent for supporting local, mid-career artists in the development of new projects, as well as providing training and education forums—studio workshops, portfolio reviews, and public performance festivals—to build a new generation of practitioners and audiences who engage with performance.

Additionally, expanding the reach of programming, Mosaic Music (launched in 2016) is a series of live performances by Russian and international musicians who have changed our understanding of contemporaneity through sound.