8th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art announces the open call for international curators to take part in the Biennale’s Main Project.
Call for applications will remain open from 18 November 2021 to 28 January 2022
Main Project Exhibition Dates: August – September 2022
The 8th edition of the Moscow International Biennale for Young Art is to be held in Moscow from June to September 2022. The Main Project of the Biennale will take place at the building of MMOMA located at 25 Petrovka Street. As before, the Biennale will consist of four parts: the Main Project and the Parallel, Educational, and Special Programs. To develop special and educational projects, the museum will join forces with other cultural institutions. The events of the parallel program will take place at different sites across the city.
By tradition, the Main Project is formed as a result of the international open call, finalists of which are selected by the Expert Board of the Biennale. This year, participating curators are given an ambitious task – to create and implement a large-scale project taking up all floors of the MMOMA’s building at Petrovka 25, be it an exhibition of a selected group of artists or another form of artistic manifestation. It is also possible to use a specific part of the museum building – a hall, a floor, or a courtyard. One of the significant evaluation criteria will be a project’s mobility and ability to change, adapting to the characteristics of the exhibition space.
Curators and groups of curators have ultimate freedom in choosing a topic for their research. Just as in previous years, one of the Biennale’s main goals is to discover new names, and preference will be given to the projects, which were never shown before. The organizers appreciate the curators’ interest to interdisciplinary collaborations, processual practices and work-in-progress tactics, and welcome projects born out of art laboratories.
An important wish on the part of the Expert Board is a conscious and sensitive treatment of the local cultural context and its integration into projects, as well as work with Russian artists, including those from the regions of Russia. Work with the museum’s collection is not obligatory, but it is possible and appreciated, as well as paying attention to the history and specifics of the location. On its part, MMOMA is ready to provide any necessary support in research, field and archival work.
From the Expert Board’s Letter:
“In the current situation of global uncertainty and turbulence, the most relevant are the approaches, combining flexibility and plasticity, openness and mobility. We wish to believe that the Moscow International Biennale for Young Art will continue to discover new names and acquaint the public with emerging artists – whom the future belongs to.
Among our key goals are to support young artists and curators, encourage development of new forms of collaboration, create an open space for discourse, envision potential future scenarios and promote dialogue about the current reality.
We look forward to your applications, expecting fruitful collaboration, and hope that the Biennale will reveal new relationship systems and show sensitive reactions to the surrounding reality.”
Any curator under 35 years old, whose project includes works by artists and art groups belonging to the same age category, can apply for the open call. Applications from groups of curators are also accepted; collective and individual applications are considered equal.
Applications can be submitted before 28 January 2022 on http://youngart.ru/ To apply, fill in the application form in your Personal Account. Questions regarding the application process can be sent to info@youngart.ru
Results of the open call will be announced on 15 march 2022.
Members of the Expert Board of the 8th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art:
Maria Doronina – curator, research fellow at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art
Alexey Masliaev – curator, culturologist. Head of Research Methodology Branch of the Department of Popularization of Art at MMOMA, Curator of the Non-Commercial Programme of the Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair.
Ekaterina Novokshonova – Head of the Vadim Sidur Museum and the Museum-Studio of Dmitry Nalbandyan
Ekaterina Kibovskaia – Commissioner of the 5th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (2016), Commissioner of the 6th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (2018). Advisor to the Managing Director at PJSC SIBUR Holding
Philip Vulakh – CEO of the International New European Theatre Festival, CEO of the International Summer Arts Festival “Access Point”, Associate Professor of the Department of Producing at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts
Nikita Nechaev – research curator for Garage Digital, a program on emerging technologies and media at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Svetlana Usoltseva – independent curator, co-curator of the Ekaterinburg contemporary art archive within the RAAN (Russian Art Archive Network)
Olga Shirokostup – Chief Curator of the Contemporary Art Centre “Siyanie” in Apatity, lecturer of the HSE University’s Joint Department with Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and Kaskad project school
Victoria Mikhelson – Head of Strategic Development at V-A-C Foundation (Moscow/Venice)
About the Biennale:
The Moscow International Biennale for Young Art is a large-scale project in the field of contemporary art held in Russia. The Biennale seeks to discover new names, support and stimulate creative initiatives of the new generation of artists and curators, create a stage for their public statements and, as a result, develop the contemporary art environment and enhance international integration.
The Moscow International Biennale for Young Art is held since 2008. Starting from 2021, it is organized solely by the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, with the support of the Moscow Department of Culture.
The project started with the festival of young art Qui Vive? (held by the National Center for Contemporary Art from 2002 to 2006) and the exhibition Workshops (held annually by MMOMA from 2001 to present). Developing rapidly, the project looks for new ways to support young art, inviting cultural institutions acting in tune with the biennale’s mission to collaborate, and working with the city infrastructure.
In 2020, the Main Project of the 7th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art brought together 47 artists from 10 countries. Despite the limitations and difficulties resulting from the pandemic, the Biennale realized 9 special projects, an online educational program, and its parallel program comprised 29 exhibitions. All in all, the 7th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art was visited, both offline and online, by 155 thousand of people.
