Garage announces the winners of the 2019/2020 Garage grant program in support of emerging russian artists

Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and Ingosstrakh announce the winners of Garage grant program in support of contemporary artists aged under-35 for the year 2019/2020.

Providing a network of support for young Russian artists since 2012, Garage grant program remains the only initiative of its kind in the country. Offering emerging practitioners a period of financial independence, the program allows them to grow professionally and become more deeply engaged in creative activities, and conduct research.

From 2019, Garage grant program in support of emerging artists working in the field of contemporary art operates with the support of Ingosstrakh, the Museum’s strategic partner.

Applications for the grant program featuring descriptions and draft designs of projects for the upcoming year were accepted between July 15 and September 25, 2019. From 348 participants who applied for the competition the expert jury selected seven winners, based on the candidates’ priority qualities, which include unique vision, employment of new material and forms, and persuasive and coherent creative solutions.

The winners of Garage grant program for emerging artists working in the field of contemporary art for the year 2019/2020 are:

Anastasia Vepreva (St. Petersburg);

Alisa Gorshenina (Nizhny Tagil);

Polina Kanis (Moscow);

Vasily Kononov-Gredin (Kirov);

Sofia Skidan (Moscow);

Zaur Tsugaev (Grozny).

The seventh recipient is Igor Samolet (Moscow) who has been awarded the grant for the second year in a row.

The winners will receive a monthly stipend of 40,000 rubles and are invited to take part in Garage’s exhibition and education programs.

The expert jury of Garage grant program for emerging artists working in the field of contemporary art for the year 2019/2020 included:

– Nailya Allakhverdieva, Artistic Director, PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art (Perm);
– Iaroslav Volovod, curator, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art (Moscow);
– Konstantin Zatsepin, Specialist, Samara branch of the Tretyakov Gallery (Samara);
– Maria Kramar, curator, V-A-C Foundation (Moscow);
– Stanislav Shuripa, artist, curator, and Rector, Joseph Backstein Institute of Contemporary Art (Moscow).

About the artists

Alisa Gorshenina (b. 1994, Yakshina, Sverdlov Region) is an artist working with objects, photography, and video. She graduated in Fine and Graphic Arts from the Nizhny Tagil Pedagogical Academy (2016). Selected personal shows: Ural Coma, Space Place Gallery, Nizhny Tagil (2015); Ural Skin, VDNKh, Moscow (2018); and Bridal Gift, Larin Gallery, Krasnodar (2018). Selected group shows: Bazhov Fest. The New Ural Mythologies, the Ural Branch of the National Center for Contemporary Art, Yekaterinburg; Center for Urban Culture, Perm (2016); Non-casual Relationships, the Ural Branch of the National Center for Contemporary Art, Yekaterinburg (2016); What You Carry, Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts (2018); and ARS UNA, Rhythm Visuals Gallery, Los Angeles (2019). Participant of the 3rd Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art (2015) and the inaugural Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art (2017). She lives and works in Nizhny Tagil.

Anastasia Vepreva (b. 1989, Arkhangelsk) is an artist, critic and curator. She graduated in History from the Lomonosov Northern (Arctic) State University (2012) and in Art Criticism from the joint program of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of the European University in St. Petersburg and Bard College (2014). Selected personal shows: I oss själva, Skövde Museum of Art, Sweden (2014); Lost Machine, Winzavod Contemporary Art Centre, Moscow (2015); Future in the Past, Voronezh Center of Contemporary Art (2017); and Easily, Space Pavilion, VDNKh, Moscow (2018). Selected group shows: Exquisite Corpse, Fuse Art Space, Bradford, UK (2015); Hero Mother. Contemporary Art by Post-Communist Women Rethinking Heroism, MOMENTUM & Studio 1, Berlin (2016); The Politics of Fragility, Na Shabolovke Gallery, Moscow (2016); Kronshtadt Stories–2. Archive, Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg (2017). Participant of the 35th Moscow International Film Festival (2013) and the 4th Moscow International Biennial of Young Art (2014). She lives and works in St. Petersburg.

Vasily Kononov-Gredin (b. 1990, Urzhum, Kirov Region) is an artist working with sculpture, installation and video. He graduated in Fine Art and Sculpture from the Rylov Vyatka College of Arts (2013). His personal exhibition Abstract Realism was held at the “Gallery of Progress” Center for Contemporary Art, Kirov (2016). Selected group shows: Impersonality of Space, Space without Personality, Vyatka State University, Kirov (2018); and The Ethics of Dust, Residential House “Na Kazanskoy”, Kirov (2019). He lives and works in Kirov.

Polina Kanis (b. 1985, Leningrad) is a video artist. Graduate of the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University (St. Petersburg, 2006), Rodchenko Art School (2011) and Rijksakademie (Amsterdam, 2018). Selected personal shows: Ideal Photography, Paperworks Gallery, Moscow (2012); 1,2,3,4, Triumph Gallery, Moscow (2012); A New Flag, New Holland Art Gallery, St. Petersburg (2013); Smena, Trekhgornaya Manufaktura, Moscow (2016); The Procedure, Haus der Kunst Munich (2017); The Shift, TheWhyNot Gallery, Tbilisi (2018); and Don’t Turn Around, Continuo Studio, Amsterdam (2019). Winner of the Kandinsky Prize in the Best Young Artist category (2011) and the Sergey Kuryokhin Prize awarded in the field of contemporary art in the Best Media Object category (2016). She lives and works between Moscow and Amsterdam.

Sofia Skidan (b. 1996, Ukhta, Komi Republic) is an artist working with sculpture, performance, installation, and video. She graduated from Rodchenko Art School (2017) and St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television (2018). Skidan’s personal show Transverse Hyperspace was held at Fragment Gallery, Moscow (2018). Selected group shows: Reverse Lookup, Na Shabolovke Gallery, Moscow (2016); 8 Level, Winzavod Contemporary Art Centre, Moscow (2017); The Boa Constrictor Who Swallowed an Elephant, 25 Frame Gallery, Moscow (2018); and Creative Method, Electro Museum, Moscow (2019). Member of the performance collective Strange Attractors. She lives and works in Moscow.

Zaur Tsugaev (b. 1984, Grozny) is a video artist. He graduated in Pre-school Pedagogics and Psychology from the Chechen State Pedagogical University (2007). Selected group shows: 1994–2014. Generation X, Center of Contemporary Art, Grozny (2014); Tête-à-tête, Center of Contemporary Art, Grozny (2014); the 5th Forum of Young Artists of Northern Caucasus ART Caucasus NEXT, Vladikavkaz (2016); Others, Center of Contemporary Art, Grozny (2017); and Tragedy in the Corner, Museum of Moscow (2018). He lives and works in Grozny.

Igor Samolet (b. 1984, Kotlas, Arkhangelsk Region) is a photographer and artist working with objects and installation. Graduate of Rodchenko Art School (2013). His personal shows have been held at at Winzavod Contemporary Art Centre, Moscow (2012); Fotodepartament, St. Petersburg (2015); Vladimir Smirnov and Konstantin Sorokin Foundation, Moscow (2017 and 2018); and the Centquatre 104 art center, Paris (2018). Group shows include the 7th Triennial of Photography, Hamburg (2018); the Athens Photo Festival (2018); the exhibitions sans (t)rêve et sans merci, Cube Space, Moscow (2019); and Über Leben am Land, KUNST HAUS WIEN, Vienna (2019). He lives and works in Moscow.