"Garage" (Gorky Park) - a wonderful museum of modern art

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Contemporary art is constantly looking for new forms and opportunities in order to get to know the layman. One of these ultra-modern ways of presenting the work of artists, sculptors and just creative thinkers was the Garage Museum in Gorky Park.

There are all conditions for coming back here again and again and every time to find something exciting for yourself.

History of creation: Bakhmetiev period

This museum appeared relatively recently - in 2008. The director is Anton Belov, the author of the idea is Daria Zhukova, who founded Garage (Gorky Park). Such a simple, at first glance, name arose not by chance. The first place where the museum was located was the building that previously housed the Bakhmetevsky bus garage. The latter was chosen for the reason that by itself it also showed somehistorical value, being built back in the 20s of the previous century.

The garage is only part of a large architectural ensemble, which is called the Bakhmetevsky Bus Park and includes, in addition to the named one, also the building of the administrative building and the premises, which are architectural monuments of the Soviet era.

Temporary building "Garage"

Later, in 2012, the museum changed its address. This time, the Garage Museum in Gorky Park chose to live in a temporary building created by Shigeru Bana.

The author of this extraordinary building is the winner of the most prestigious award in the world community of architects, the Pritzker Prize, and this time he pleased not only with the original solution, but also with non-traditional building materials. The columns that lined the facade of the building were made from cardboard, paper and other raw materials.

"Garage" (Gorky Park), or rather its temporary shelter, is an original oval-shaped room six meters high. The total area of the created pavilion is 2.4 thousand square meters. Exhibitions are also held here, there is a cozy cafe and a souvenir shop.

New and permanent building

In 2015, the opening of a new pavilion of the Garage Museum took place. Gorky Park has now become his permanent home. The new premises were created as a result of the reconstruction of the Vremena Goda restaurant, built in 1968.

The reconstructed building is a project of the famous Dutch master of architecture Rem Koolhaas. The author tried to preserve the features of the interior design of the restaurant. There are chips and fragments covered with tiles, elements of brickwork from such a distant Soviet era. That is why he calls the work carried out a careful reconstruction, which resulted in such a "Garage" in Gorky Park.

The photo allows you to see that from the outside the architect has created something incredible. The architecture of the building, created on the basis of glass and transparent plastic, is an incredible sight, and it seems as if it is dissolving into space. Clouds and sky reflected in the walls of the building make it soaring in the sky.

The entrances to the building are original. They, like cargo hatches, rise and open up a place for access to a variety of projects, ideas, their authors and, of course, museum guests. A huge canvas peeps through the glass of the walls, created especially for the "Garage" by contemporary artist Eric Bulatov. The entire territory, covering three floors, is 5.4 thousand square meters.

Not just a museum

Today the idea of this concept has changed a lot. Exhibits frozen under glass, which you can only look at, the half-dead silence of the halls, slippers at the entrance and the boring voice of the guide are a thing of the past.

The modern concept of museum exhibitions is completely different. Exhibits can not only be seen live, but also touched. And in a numberexpositions even offer to touch, play with objects presented to the attention of visitors. All these transformations allowed the founders of Garage not only to radically change the idea of the museum as such, but also to transform the very concept of presenting contemporary creative results.

Now it is no longer just an institution that stores exhibits. The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Gorky Park is a new space that not only introduces the expositions, but also gives an idea of what contemporary Russian art is. The authors of the project also see their main mission as providing support to novice artists and increasing the prestige of national culture as a whole.

What else is there in Garage?

Besides exhibitions, the Garage ISC (Gorky Park) allows its visitors to enjoy communication with contemporary art, some of the latest achievements in science and technology, and also have a great time here with family or friends. In "Garage" you can take pictures, participate in various workshops, create films, paintings or something else with your own hands.

There is a wonderful cafe here that absolutely everyone can visit, including people with disabilities.

The Garage has a lecture hall, an excellent cinema hall. You can come here with your child for free drawing lessons, where the kid will not only learn this creative and exciting activity, but also learn a lot about artists and artin general.