A Beautiful Night For All The People. 2nd Garage Triennial Of Russian Contemporary Art

The exposed system of relations was graphically presented in the form of a map illustrating the emotional connections between artists through fictional geography. Invented regions and other geographic objects (The Archipelago of Mentors, The Scythe of Fellow Countrymen, The Island of Rivals, The Land of Comrades, and the Reserve of Love), superimposed on the plan of the Museum, united works that were very different in aesthetics and content.

In the Museum space, the regions are separated by “water” made of blocks of white foam. The white “sea” with openwork and delicate edges serves a double function. On the one hand, it delimits the zones of the exhibition, emphasizing the transition from one system of relations to another. On the other hand, it visually unifies the space with many heterogeneous installations into a single clear narrative.

The styrofoam was chosen for the “sea” and the exhibition devices because of its whiteness, lightness, and malleability, but also because it is an industrial material, associated with work-in-progress, testing, and protective cladding. Its texture conveys a sense of cheapness, incompleteness, and informality, remote from any idea of establishment, which is precisely what this Triennial tries to avoid.

The Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art is a regular project organized by Garage to provide representation and support for the local art scene. While the 1st Triennial in 2017 was based on research and focused on the overview of the state and tendencies of art in Russia, including then underrepresented non-central regions, the 2nd edition rejected the expertise-based approach and delegated the selection of participants to artists who participated in the inaugural Triennial in 2017.

The 2nd Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art. A Beautiful Night for All the People is on view from September 11, 2020 to January 17, 2021.