Moscow Art Biennale
Art meets oligarchs at Moscow’s cultural extravaganza
IS THE MOSCOW BIENNALE THE IDEAL MEETING PLACE FOR ART AND OLIGARCHS?
The event, closing this month, not only gives the artists a chance to flaunt their work under the noses of the actual few who could afford to buy it, but it also gives the galleries a chance to showcase western artists who are still relatively new to Russia.
Moscow’s Garage Center for Contemporary Culture (GCCC), which was launched last year by Daria (or Dasha as she’s better known) Zhukova, the girlfriend of Roman Abramovich, plans to fulfil this role once the biennale closes.
“The idea that Dasha has for GCCC is to be Moscow’s version of the Tate Modern, the Pompidou Centre or Moma [the Museum of Modern Art, New York]. It’s a centre that pulls in artists, thinkers and style leaders,” claims Roxane Chatounovski, the centre’s spokeswoman when we meet in their revamped café area. She is aware that Russian investors have recently taken to art – billionaire Chelsea FC owner Abramovich recently broke records for his £60m purchase of Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon works – but adds: “It’s still quite a new thing, so it makes a difference to pull in the major artists like Antony Gormley [who they showed over the summer] and we’ve got various events as well as weekly talks and late night parties with guest DJs for different nights.”
For this third Moscow Biennale, the organisers are showing Russian artists’ work alongside that of their international peers, hence naming the show ‘Against Exclusion’. See the likes of Anish Kapoor, Wolfgang Tillmans and Yonka Shonibare alongside Anatoly Osmolovsky, Ivan Chuikov and Valery Koshlyakov, as well as plenty of wealthy locals.
The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, 19A Obraztsova Street, Moscow; www.garageccc.com The third Moscow Biennale runs until 25 October. www.3rd.moscowbiennale.ru
