Garage Museum of Contemporary Art’s project Open Systems. Self-Organized Art Initiatives in Russia: 2000–2015 begins on March 24 at the Urals branch of the National Center for Contemporary Arts

With Open Systems, Garage continues its work in Russia’s regions, exploring new ground and introducing contemporary art to local audiences all over the country.

Since 2000, the Russian art scene has witnessed the rise of artists’ DIY initiatives, including independent non-profit spaces, exhibitions in converted factories and underground crosswalks, street festivals, internet projects, and apartment shows. Together these reflect the autonomy of emerging generations of artists from both state-run and private institutions.

Open Systems is a live, research-based exhibition that presents self-organized initiatives, exploring the phenomenon from the perspectives of artists who have pioneered projects over the past 15 years. The aim of the project is to present artists’ speech while those artists strive to develop new forms of social communication in the big world of art. The aim of the project is also to enhance cooperation in the struggle against the dictates of institutions and commerce.

Garage’s project continues at the Urals branch of the National Center for Contemporary Arts in Ekaterinburg. The exhibition focuses on the specifics of the region, as well as its peculiarities.

The experience of Open Systems participants shows both the uniqueness and the universality of each artist’s history in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Ekaterinburg, Nizhny Tagil, and other cities. Together the participants ask questions that challenge the conventions of the world as we know it, and the way we think about art.