GES-2. Plans 2023

Interdisciplinarity 

We are presenting our plans for the upcoming year in the form of a video essay and a summary.

Artistic Production 

The House of Culture’s artistic and public programmes are built around its core values of interdisciplinarity, accessibility, and cultural production. Our video essay showcases the work of our cultural institution through interviews with our team and footage of the atmosphere at GES-2. To stay updated on our upcoming events and their exact dates, visit our website or join the GES-2 Telegram channel.

Public Programme 

Interdisciplinarity

At GES-2 House of Culture, we embrace all forms of art. Our programme is built on the principle of interdisciplinarity, where we create projects that explore the borders and intersections between different art forms.

This year, our programme has several main themes: communities and support, fragility, returning to archives and making them relevant, as well as existential themes like self-exploration and finding inner strength.

Our goal is to hold over 200 public projects and more than 900 individual events.

Exhibition Programme

In 2023, GES-2 House of Culture will feature fifteen new exhibitions that differ in scale, format, and content. The programme is divided into seven branches, including stand-alone installations on the Prospekt and large-scale collective projects.

Other Stories

The large group exhibitions feature a combination of classical and contemporary art, utilizing the principle of transhistoricity where works from artists of different eras are displayed, bringing together classical museum pieces with contemporary ones.

A Brief History of Absence

27 April—3 September
This project is an exploration of artistic experimentation where components that were once considered integral to a piece of artwork are intentionally omitted. What happens to a piece of art when it loses its title? How does art transform when it is removed from the traditional confines of exhibition halls? What emerges in the space left behind by the removed elements? Does the absence of certain parts actually add something to the overall work? Ultimately, this examination asks whether it is possible to enhance a piece of art by removing certain elements.

Light Painting: Around Olga Rozanova

November
Olga Rozanova, known as one of the most prominent “Amazons of the avant-garde, ” had a tragically short life, passing away at only 32 years old. Our exhibition offers a unique perspective on the works of female artists from different eras, viewed through the prism of Rozanova’s paintings sourced from federal and regional museums, as well as private collections.

Group Exhibitions

Large group exhibitions related to the development of modern technologies, as well as advances in natural sciences and humanities.

Technology as the Hero

November
This exhibition will center around the dreams and ideas surrounding space exploration. It will explore how the topic of space colonization has evolved throughout the 20th century. Specifically, it will delve into how the focus has shifted from people to technology, which has become the primary tool for conquering space, replacing the role once held by the cosmonaut.

Sorcerers

27 April—2 JulyThis exhibition project explores the experience of fear and dark folklore through the works of young artists such as Mika Plutitskaya, Nadezhda Bakhshieva and Anna Pospelova, Slava Nesterov, Ruslan Polanin, and Mikhail Maksimov. Each artist focuses on a specific aspect of the eerie and the macabre, drawing inspiration from historical events, local myths, visual arts, modern culture, and digital technology.

Star Revenge

October
The exhibition is a group project that explores contemporary culture through the lens of protoscientific knowledge from the early modern period, including hermeticism, alchemy, and numerology. It features works by several contemporary artists, such as Francisco Infante-Arana, Severin Infante, Alek Petuk, Evgeny Strelkov, and the Order of Sophianic Marxists group. In addition, the exhibition showcases the historical, biographical, and creative legacy of several iconic figures of Russian culture who shared the desire to create alternative world models and worldviews, including Nikolay Morozov, Yuri Petukhov, and Anatoly Fomenko.

An Essay Exhibition on Myths

The exhibition aims to explore the impact of well-known mythological stories and the conventions of the genre on historiography, historical narratives, and our understanding of our place in history.

Odd Convergences

Solo exhibitions or «double portraits» of contemporary artists in dialogue with filmmakers, choreographers and representatives of other arts.

Cloud Storage

Opens on 27 April
This exhibition brings together two distinct groups of artists from different generations: Cloud Commission, founded by Arkady Nasonov, and Polina Abina and Alexei Sebyakin. Through their works, these artists explore the concept of archives and their role in society, as well as the ways in which real and imaginary events are chronicled. They also contemplate the nature of digital and analogue information, the life cycles of information units, and why certain events that happened in the past remain eternally relevant.

Sergey Sapozhnikov. Home and Garden

8 June—17 September
This is a collaborative project by an artist and photographer from Rostov-on-Don, in cooperation with theatre director Dmitry Tsupko and composer Aleksey Khevelev. The project combines photography, theatre, and music to create a unique and immersive experience for the audience. The exhibition catalogue takes inspiration from the House & Garden magazine, and the idea to create it with a reference to this periodical was initially suggested by international curator Francesco Bonami, who will serve as its editor-in-chief.

An Alighiero Boetti and Ellina Gennadievna exhibition

This project brings together Italian and Russian artists to explore the intersection between rational systems and the poetic worlds of the imaginary and the virtual.

An exhibition on Dinara Asanova

This year, we are launching an exhibition project on cinema, with its first part dedicated to Dinara Asanova, an outstanding film director who was known for featuring teenagers and children as main characters in her works. Asanova was skilled at building strong relationships with her young actors, making them true collaborators in the creation of her films. This exhibition promises to be a celebration of her innovative approach to filmmaking and her contributions to the art of cinema.

GES-2: Cities

We have expanded our exhibition programming to include regional programmes in other cities throughout Russia. Last year, we kicked off this initiative with a successful exhibition in Kostroma, and we are now turning our attention to upcoming shows in Chelyabinsk and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

A Mind of One’s Own

23 March—23 July
The project is a collaboration between curators from GES-2 House of Culture and their colleagues in Kostroma. It aims to showcase the range of themes and subjects that have shaped the identity of the local cultural community over time. These themes include motifs from folk traditions, typical images of the “Russian province” and post-Soviet life, and artefacts from the “archaeology of everyday life” in an old Russian city.

GES-2: Prospekt

The large-scale installations commissioned for the open space of the Prospekt, which is a place where one can experience the uniqueness, volume, and architecture of the House of Culture. We invite artists to engage in a dialogue with the space and to reflect on it through their installations.

Interdisciplinary projects

These projects are created through artist residencies, curated by invited curators and artists, and involve cross-genre collaborations.

A Space for Teenagers

This year, a new installation will be added to the GES-2 House of Culture: a temporary space created by young adults themselves. The installation will be created through a series of workshops that will guide participants through architectural and artistic practices towards its implementation.

Music Programme

The GES-2: Music programme for the 2022/2023 season is designed for the widest possible audience, featuring world premieres of works commissioned by GES-2 as well as transhistorical programmes that place pieces by composers of the past in a contemporary music context.

Key events of the programme include premieres of new commissions by contemporary Russian composers such as Vladimir Gorlinsky, Oleg Gudachev, and Alexey Sysoev, as well as the multimedia opera Ask Ada by Dutch composer Yannis Kyriakides. Other highlights include concerts from the Rachmaninoff Festival and performances by ensembles such as Intrada, Pratum Integrum, and Questa Musica.

Theatre Programme

This year’s theatre programme has a two-fold focus: one on the theme of loneliness and isolation and the other on moving away from anthropocentric views and exploring animals and the wider world around us, which is much bigger than humans. The programme will feature various forms of contemporary theatre, including plays with professional therapists as performers and everyday objects acting instead of actors.

New productions such as 52 Hz will be created specifically for the Prospekt and Insectopedia will be staged in one of the exhibition galleries. In addition, successful performances from last year, such as Memory Reservoir and Lake contemporary ballet, will be repeated for those who missed them.

Dance Programme

This year’s dance programme at GES-2 House of Culture aims to engage the audience and explore new ways to showcase dance.

One of the upcoming performances is Fragile, which explores the connections between people and involves interaction between the performer and the audience in the GES-2 building. This fifteen-minute-long dance show is scheduled for March 26th. Additionally, the programme includes the Easy series, where choreographers showcase sketches of their future works in a simple, informal situation on the Central Platform. After each show, the audience shares their impressions. The first show is scheduled for April, and a total of eight shows are planned for the year.

Cinema

The GES-2: Cinema programme offers a range of screenings, including both popular films released in theaters across Russia and curated film programmes that combine classic and modern releases with films that have either never been shown in Russia or have been screened only a few times. These films are presented in a new thematic context, providing them with a new lease on life.

Oscars 2023 at GES-2

14–16 March
This programme gives the audience an opportunity to watch some of the Oscars nominees and winners on big screen after the Academy Awards Ceremony (12 March). These films include both ones already in Russian distribution and new releases screened for the first time, as well as the only Russian nominee for Oscars 2023.

One Life to Play. Films of Isabelle Huppert

16–21 March
A mini-programme dedicated to perhapsthe most interesting and daring actress of the past few decades, Isabelle Huppert, on her 70th anniversary.

From Lighting to Light

3–14 May
The curatorial programme presents cinema not only as an art form that heavily relies on dramatic lighting and is ontologically born from light rays projected onto a screen but also as a uniquely powerful tool for reflecting on philosophical, religious, social, and existential concepts related to light and darkness.

Artistic Production

Grants and Residencies

Last year, grants were awarded to artists and researchers, and from this year, curators are also eligible to receive them. In total, there are over 60 grants available, with 26 allocated for artists, 20 for researchers, and 14 for curators.

Read more about the residency programmes for artists here.

Read more about the grant programme here.

The Vaults

Read more about the Centre for Artistic Production here.

Public Programme

In 2023, GES-2 House of Culture has planned over 200 public programme projects catering to diverse audiences. A key objective for the House of Culture this year is to create a space that fosters meaningful interactions and dialogue among city residents, where everyone is welcome to participate on an equal footing.

Themed Programmes

One of the themed programmes at GES-2 House of Culture this year is focused on fashion. The programme’s main feature will be a project called Fascination for Archives, which is dedicated to the collection and worldwide interest in “young” vintage fashion.

Urban Integration

The GES-2 House of Culture team remains committed to working with local audiences and sharing experiences with staff from other cultural institutions in the city. Our aim is to bring ideas that emerge from these exchanges to life not only within the walls of the House of Culture, but also in the everyday lives of our audiences. Since the opening of GES-2, we have held Event Laboratories in various Moscow districts, including Shchukino, Izmailovo, Zyuzino, Krylatskoe, Novogireevo, Yasenevo, as well as in our neighboring districts of Yakimanka and Zamoskvorechye

This permanent format of interaction between GES-2 House of Culture and urban communities, as well as local cultural and community centers, is an important part of our work.

Working with Children, Schools, and Universities

GES-2 House of Culture is actively engaged with over 100 educational institutions through its school outreach programme. The programme not only brings students to GES-2 but also conducts joint projects with the curatorial team in schools and at the House of Culture. For instance, a festival of school music bands is planned for September.

Programmes for Seniors

GES-2 also offers programmes for seniors to unlock their creative potential through contemporary cultural production practices. Continuing this interaction is crucial, and several projects in areas such as contemporary dance and playback theatre, which have been successful at the Great Experience festival, are currently under development.

Accessibility

At GES-2 House of Culture, there are employees who are deaf, hard of hearing, and blind. They, along with experts from various fields, play a significant role in developing adaptation mechanisms. Often, the resources and mechanisms created for people with disabilities benefit all visitors.

The beginning of this year was marked by two large-scale shows: a performance by the Otsebyatina (Russian for ’Ad-Libbing’) theatre club, in collaboration with the Social Theatre master’s programme of the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS), and Ornaments of Life and Death, staged in collaboration with the KRUG integrative theatre studio.

There are plans for tours designed specifically for blind and low vision school students, as well as visits to the Library which is equipped with special tools. A chess club for beginners, regular tournaments for both blind and sighted chess players, silent film screenings with audio descriptions, and the Total Dictation event that is accessible for blind and low vision participants are also part of the programme.

In 2023, we have plans to organize spring and autumn camps for deaf and hard of hearing children. Our curatorial team also oversees the annual Pik-Pik camp, which focuses on a particular theme each year. For this year’s summer camp, the theme is cinema.

Publishing Programme

The V–A–C Foundation’s publishing programme is aimed at a wide audience and strives to reach readers with a broad range of interests. The programme focuses on public knowledge and collaborativecultural production with artists, curators, researchers, and academics, as well as on the development of new theoretical and literary trends in Russia and rethinking its intellectual legacy, including critical and artistic thought of the 19th and 20th centuries. Digital projects are essential to our publishing activity: they include V—A—С Sreda online magazine and the Centre of Experimental Museology blog.

Some 25 publications are planned for 2023, such as several new translations on posthumanities and art theory and history (Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Daniel Arasse, Nancy Katherine Hayles, Alois Riegl, Clement Greenberg, Michael Fried), with special attention given to artistic, research, and literary projects created in Russia. A number of publications are planned, describing the Russian context and the history of such areas as electronic and academic music, contemporary dance, cinematography, art residencies and institutions, literary studies and fiction (the authors include Georgy Kozhevnikov, Anna Kozonina and Anna Kravchenko, Oleg Aronson, Zhenya Chaika, Sergei Guskov and Maria Doronina, and Vitaliy Babenko). We will continue publishing the series of critical, art historical, and philosophical works by Boris Arvatov, Aleksei Fedorov-Davydov, Ivan Aksenov, and Alexandre Kojève, which are unknown or unfairly forgotten, but highly relevant today. The much-loved series of books for children designed by contemporary Russian artists will be expanded with new editions by Olga Chernysheva, Pavel Pepperstein, and Rodion Kitaev. A number of catalogues and special publishing projects will be devoted to the GES-2 House of Culture programme.

Atelier

Learn more about the space based on Reggio Emilia approach here.

Mediation

The mediators of GES-2 House of Culture not only adapt the content of the tours to the exhibitions, but also create their own programmes in line with the exhibitions’ themes. Learn more here.

To attend any tour, pre-registration for admission to the GES-2 House of Culture is required.