“…not the old, not the new, but the necessary.” - Vladimir
Tatlin
Garage Center for Contemporary Culture and Gorky Park will launch a project
entitled Necessary Art, which brings together eleven
contemporary Russian artists to create specially commissioned works of ‘public
art’. Each of the works – to be placed in and around one of the historic
pavilions in Gorky Park, Moscow – will invite the public to engage with art in
a new way. The artists’ ideas take different forms – from interventions in the
landscape, to performance, to alternative sculpture. Every work encourages
public interaction, either conceptually or physically, and they all present
experimentalism in the park environment.
The project was inspired by a well-known statement by Vladimir Tatlin
concerning the role of art. Tatlin was central to the birth of Russian
Constructivism, creating objects that were both sculpture and architecture. He
has come to define the spirit of avant-gardism in the 20th century, the attempt
to bring art to the service of everyday life. Much of Tatlin's work shows a
desire to abolish the traditional representational function of art and put it
to new, more practical uses, ultimately to serve the goals of Russia's
Communist revolution. These ideas continue to be relevant today, and they have
inspired Garage to allow art to actively serve everyday life in Moscow, to be
accessible to everyone in the park.
The project curator Yulia Aksenova asked: “Should artists be given freedom of
expression; and if so, what are the social and political statements that should
be voiced from this platform and within the public sphere as a whole? How can
we create art that engages a new generation of artists to create new
ideas?”
Participating artists include the collaborative duo The MishMash Group, who
will present The Rebirth of Venus, an interactive sculpture of the
classical form of Venus de Milo, which visitors are encouraged to use to wash
their hands, paradoxically accelerating the work’s disappearance and
disintegration. Zhanna Kadyrova has given a street lamp a physical presence
with her The Light for Climbers which functions as a climbing wall for
visitors. Two artists have taken inspiration from Gorky Park’s former
incarnation as an amusement park. Irina Korina proposes to recycle elements of
the old rides in her outdoor sculpture, Wintering. Meanwhile, Alexei
Kostroma’s Knot, a giant inflatable sculpture, is reminiscent of an
intricately twisted party balloon. Roman Sakin marks the passage of time with
Urban Sculpture, a square formed of twenty-five vertical rods with a
moveable sphere on each, whose configuration changes in accordance with
individual Russian national holidays. Olga Treivas’ Flies is a metal
frame illuminated by re-used glass lamp fixtures. Lastly, Ivan Brazhkin
references Concrete Poetry in Fellow Traveller, quotes that run along
the foot paths and accompany the public steps.
Participants:
Alexei Kostroma, Olga Treivas, Roman Sakin, The MishMash Group, Zhanna
Kadyrova, Irina Korina and Ivan Brazhkin, Sergey Voronzov and Yuliana
Bardolim.
Curator's biography:
Yulia Aksenova read History of Art and Curating Contemporary Art at the Russian
State University of the Humanities (1998-2002) and attended the Programme of
New Art Strategy for Artists and Art Critics at the Soros Center of
Contemporary Art (2000-2002). She later attended the International Curatorial
Training Program de Appel in Amsterdam. Aksenova has held curatorial positions
at the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow Center of Art and Garage. Yulia has
curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions over the last 5 years. These
include Russian Pop-art (2005) and Sots-Art: Political art in
Russia (2007) at the Moscow State Tretyakov Gallery; numerous exhibitions
at the Moscow Center of Art; Red October Gallery; Masters Hamfrey`s
Clock, De Appel, Amsterdam (2008); Russian Utopias (2010) and
Fantom Monuments (2011) at Garage. Aksenova has also written for
several influential exhibition publications.
