Buy tickets

Rasheed Araeen. A Retrospective

Date

Hours

11:00–22:00

This spring, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art presents the first solo exhibition in Russia of Rasheed Araeen (b. 1935, Karachi, Pakistan), presenting six decades of work by the seminal practitioner who has had a profound influence on generations of artists, writers, and thinkers around the world.  

Known for his strident critique of the ideological and political assumptions of Western modernism, Araeen trained as an engineer in Karachi, before moving to London in 1964 in pursuit of an artistic career. There, he first became known as a pioneering sculptor and installation artist in the (then) emerging field of minimalism, receiving the prestigious John Moores Prize for sculpture in 1969.

" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"> Rasheed Araeen. A Retrospective

Public program
Covering minimalism, postcolonialism and the search of identity by non-European artists working in the Western culture, the public program for Rasheed Araeen. A Retrospective offers an opportunity to get a better understanding of Rasheed Araeen’s art and the socio-cultural situation the artist has criticized in his work.

The program of lectures, workshops, reading groups, and performances explores the social and cultural contexts that have informed Rasheed Araeen’s work, and their evolution in time.

A series of lectures will be devoted to a detailed analysis of Araeen’s minimalism and his critique of the political foundations of Western modernism.

Speakers invited to take part in talks and discussions on the crisis of colonialism and the search for new identities by migrant artists and authors include one of the key figures in postcolonial studies, Gayatri Spivak.

In a workshop on the theory and practice of minimalism in music developed in collaboration with Playtronica, participants will look into the phenomenon of synesthesia, and in particular sensory experiences evoked by color perception—and compose their own musical pieces.

Co-curators of the exhibition Valentin Diaconov and Iaroslav Volovod will lead a reading group focused on the issues explored in Third Text, a journal published by Rasheed Araeen.

In May, Gorky Park visitors will have an opportunity to see Disco Sailing, a performance conceived in 1968, in which nine performers will balance on minimalist circles designed by Araeen and floating in Pionersky Pond.

Audio guides offering extra information on selected works in the exhibition in Russian and English will be available at the information stand.

Schedule

Artist talk: Rasheed Araeen and Nick Aikens

Van Abbemuseum curator Nick Aikens and artist Rasheed Araeen discuss the exhibition and the key themes in Araeen’s work.

Date
Friday, March 8
Time
15:00–16:30
Place
Garage Auditorium

Artist talk: Vali Mahlouji

Curator and researcher Vali Mahlouji talks about the reconstruction of cultural memory through inter-museum exhibition collaborations.

Date
Friday, March 8
Time
19:00–20:30
Place
Garage Auditorium

Workshop with Playtronica

Participants will learn about minimalist music theory and synesthesia and compose short music pieces.  

Date
March 23–24
Time
15:00–17:00
Place
Garage Glass Room