The Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is among key cultural figures and politicians due to speak at the sixth Moscow Biennale. The event will run for only ten days this autumn (22 September-1 October) at the historic VDNKh, a vast Soviet-era exhibition space located north of the capital.
The biennial—entitled How to Gather? Acting in a Center in a City in the Heart of the Island of Eurasia—is organised by Bart De Baere, the director of Mukha (Museum of Modern Art), Antwerp; Defne Ayas, the director of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam; and Nicolaus Schafhausen, the director of the Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna.
“We’re eager to hear about the ideas and visions of thinkers who will deliver daily keynote speeches. These will take place alongside lecture-performances and statements by artists, and a daily talk show hosted by the Chinese writer Mian Mian, as well as informal meetings in smaller groups,” Ayas says.
“Thinkers such as Varoufakis, the futurologist Maya van Leemput, and globalisation scholars such as Saskia Sassen [professor of sociology at Columbia University] will convene to find answers to questions such as: 'What are the fundamentals of a better life? Who are we (people, city, nation, empire, etc.)? What will Moscow be like in the future?', while primarily addressing a highly urgent question: 'How can we live together?'” she says.
Artists including Rana Hamadeh of Lebanon, the New York-based Anton Vidokle, and Qiu Zhijie from China will present works, while an exhibition charting the development of the biennial will remain on site for a month. Rietumu Banka is the event’s principal sponsor; the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Government of Moscow are also backing the biennial.
“The astonishing VDNKh site is the prime symbol of the Soviet orientation towards progress and the future. Instead of working with multiple venues, and given the limitations with budgets and logistics, we decided to work radically together and condense the programme at this one particular building,” Ayas says. Collateral events, including exhibitions at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and the State Tretyakov Gallery, are due to coincide with the biennial.
