Moscow, major contemporary art museum suspends its activities in protest

It is certainly a very courageous stance to take by the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, one of Moscow’s leading contemporary art museums: in a note posted yesterday on its website and social channels, the museum made it known that it has temporarily suspended its work on all exhibitions “until the human and political tragedy that is convulsing Ukraine ends. We cannot sustain the illusion of normality when events like these are ongoing.”

The Garage is the museum founded as the “Garage Center for Contemporary Culture” in 2008 by then-married tycoons Daša Žukova and Roman Abramovič and was renamed to its current name in 2014. A very vibrant contemporary art center that grew out of Daša Žukova’s strong passion for art, it is housed in a Rem Koolhaas-designed building that opened its doors in 2015 and houses an important art collection of modern and contemporary Russian art, especially from the 1950s onward. Over the years it has hosted major solo exhibitions and retrospectives of artists such as Mark Rothko, Cindy Sherman, Takashi Murakami, Antony Gormley, and Jeff Koons. At the moment, the Garage is working on the upcoming exhibitions, namely the first retrospective on Lydia Masterkova (1927 - 2008), a major exhibition with 150 paintings from museums and private collections in Russia and France, and a project by German artist Anne Imhof, winner of the Golden Lion at the 2017 Venice Biennale. The exhibitions will happen, the museum assures us, but it is not yet known when (the originally planned dates were March 16 for the Lydia Masterkova exhibition and April 5 for the Anne Imhof exhibition).

It is therefore unknown whether the two exhibitions will take place, since the museum, as mentioned, has suspended its activities, although it remains regularly open and visitable. “The Garage,” a note continues, “has always been an international institution open to a plurality of voices. We are categorically opposed to all actions that sow division and create isolation. We see ourselves as part of a larger world not divided by war. We will fulfill our obligations to the artists whose projects have been postponed and who have worked with us with confidence and enthusiasm. We thank Anne Imhof, Helen Marten, Saodat Ismailova, Heimo Zobernig, their studios and galleries, and the lenders of works for Lydia Masterkova’s exhibition for their support and hope for an immediate end to the conflict.”

At the moment, Daša Žukova has not yet spoken publicly about the situation in Ukraine. Her ex-husband Roman Abramovič on the other hand, has resoundingly left the management of Chelsea, the soccer club he owns, to protect the club’s interests. The oligarch turned over management to the Chelsea Foundation. On the other hand, those who have taken sides are Abramovič’s daughter, Sofia, who with a story on Instagram edited the phrase “Russia wants a war with Ukraine” by deleting the word “Russia” and replacing it with the word “Putin,” thus implying that it is Putin and not the Russian people who want the war.

Pictured: the Garage Museum in Moscow.

Moscow, major contemporary art museum suspends its activities in protest

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