Each winter, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art transforms its galleries into an experimental laboratory for art. Visitors of all ages are invited to participate in hands-on experiences with artists, as well as innovative creative collaborations between peers. Since it launched in 2010, Art Experiment—the flagship initiative of Garage Education and Public Programs—has attracted over 35,000 students, parents, local residents, and Moscow visitors.
In 2016, Art Experiment takes audiences behind the scenes, into the magical world of the artist’s studio. Two emerging Russian artists—Irina Korina and Alexander Povzner—will make visible the “secrets” of their practices, revealing the methods and processes behind their art. What is usually hidden from the audience can uniquely be followed in every detail.
Irina Korina conceives of artworks anywhere she goes, as her practice is based on observation and sensitivity to the stories that everyday objects and materials can tell. Her ideas develop in her notebook, while the actual work is often made on the spot. Garage’s new building inspired Korina to create an ironic installation, where she brings together elements from her previous works that use typical construction materials from the street to create a space that is reminiscent of present-day Moscow’s seemingly never-ending construction projects.
Audiences are invited to explore the ever-changing, busy space of the project, where they can observe the transformation of simple everyday objects. Visitors will become artists in search of new ways to express themselves through the construction of a structure featuring colorful cardboard columns; experiencing the weight of time by wrapping messages to the future; and surprising their friends with a sculpture made while blindfolded.
In contrast, Alexander Povzner usually works on his meditative installations in a quiet studio with natural light. Trained in both traditional sculpture and conceptual art, he sees himself as working at the intersection of the two oppositional approaches. For Art Experiment, Povzner will share his current project, where for the past year he has been remaking his previous works, recalling his early impressions of getting to know materials and forms. Visitors will delve into a space of meditation and contemplation, where they will find familiar objects and games from their childhood—gum wrappers, and chairs on which they stood to read a poem or sing a song—reminding audiences of the vivid imagination of youth and the places it can take us.
To underscore the intimacy of the theme, this year’s Art Experiment will be held in Garage’s new West Gallery, which enables visitors to partake in an intimate experience, up close with the work. This proximity to artistic processes will then open up when the dreamy, meditative art of Povzner and the material studies of Korina find common ground through a specially designed, large-scale display wall, with works from all participating artists, including Garage visitors. Expanding the parameters of the show even further, for the first time Garage has partnered with the State Tretyakov Gallery to offer each “Art Experimenter” a guide to the Gallery’s 20th and 21st century collection, wherein Korina and Povzner comment on their favorite artworks. This bridge between the two institutions encourages Art Experiment’s audience to explore the potential of art—through the eyes of artists and their imaginations—even further.
Project accessible for visitors with all kinds of disabilities. Special programs for visually and hearing impaired and deafblind visitors.
For further information please send an e-mail to openmuseum@garagemca.org, call or text us on 8 903 625 86 15.
Sessions:
12:00–13:30
14:00–15:30
16:00–17:30
18:00–19:30
20:00–21:30
Curated by Anastasia Mityushina
Architecture by Ilya Voznesensky
