Something unusual is happening in Moscow. As spring becomes summer, the citizens take the air and bask in the warmer sun with a stroll through Gorky Park. Here they are met by the sight of the trees, newly canopied with lush green leaves, and covered root and branch with red and white polka dots. Wait, what? This odd bit of arboreal mischief is the work of Yayoi Kusama. It’s the Japanese artist’s first working visit to Russia (and if she keeps this kind of behaviour up, possibly her last), and her modified trees serve as signposts leading to the freshly-completed Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.
Kusama is one of several international artists chosen to get the ball rolling at Moscow’s new institution. The building itself is the work of Rem Koolhaas and his OMA studio, and it’s quite a looker. The arresting façade uses an innovative design consisting of a double layer of semi-transluscent polycarbonate beginning two metres from the ground, leaving the museum’s “roots” showing to visually connect the massive 5,400 sqm structure to its park surroundings in organic fashion. There’s more Kusama dottiness inside, along with exhibitions by Rirkrit Tiravanija from Argentina and Czech artist Julius Koller. Russia’s Erik Bulatov has completed the first Garage Atrium commission, while Katharina Grosse (Germany) has created a terrific site-specific installation for Garage Pavilion.
Photo, Yuri Palmin
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Photo, Yuri Palmin
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Katharina Grosse
yes no why later, 2015
Acrylic on fabric, soil and trees
550 х 4400 х 1800 cm
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Katharina Grosse and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2015
Courtesy of Galerie nächst St. Stephan/ Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna and Johann König, Berlin
Photo, Ilya Ivanov
The Sixties: Points of Intersection
Photo, Egor Slizyak, Denis Sinyakov
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Theory
Photo, Egor Slizyak, Denis Sinyakov
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Rirkrit Tiravanija: Tomorrow is the Question
Photo, Egor Slizyak, Denis Sinyakov
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Rirkrit Tiravanija: Tomorrow is the Question
Photo, Egor Slizyak, Denis Sinyakov
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Theory
Photo, Egor Slizyak, Denis Sinyakov
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Photo, Yuri Palmin
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
The Sixties: Points of Intersection
Photo, Egor Slizyak, Denis Sinyakov
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Katharina Grosse
yes no why later, 2015
Acrylic on fabric, soil and trees
550 х 4400 х 1800 cm
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Katharina Grosse and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2015
Courtesy of Galerie nächst St. Stephan/ Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna and Johann König, Berlin
Photo, Ilya Ivanov
Photo, Yuri Palmin
© Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
