HSE Embarks on Long-Term Collaboration with Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

In 2018, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art will expand its range of educational projects and embark on a collaboration with HSE in the field of contemporary art and art practices.

Educational programmes are a main priority for Garage and are designed for both professionals and newcomers to the industry. Over the past 10 years, Garage has held more than 150 exhibitions, 6000 educational events (including international scientific conferences, training programs and seminars), published more than 200 books and catalogues in Russian and English, become the custodian of the world's largest archive on the history of Russian contemporary art and opened a public library on contemporary art which is the first of its kind in Russia. The Garage Museum is currently working on integrating the knowledge and professional experience of its employees into an academic environment.

On March 2, 2018, HSE’s Academic Council founded the Joint Department with Garage Museum. The department will engage in research in contemporary art and the training of professionals in this field, for which there is currently an urgent need in Russia. The new department will be open to students and researchers of all faculties and departments of the Higher School of Economics. It draws upon the extensive experience and knowledge of employees at Garage and fulfills an existing need at HSE.

Furthermore, in Spring 2018, students at HSE’s Lyceum will be able to attend a series of lectures held by museum experts which aim to provide vocational guidance. The course participants will learn about what a modern museum is, how it differs from museums of the past, what the current requirements are of museum employees and which skills will be in demand over the coming years.

This March, Garage’s minor programme, Contemporary Art: An Introduction to History and Museum and Exhibition Practices, opens for enrollment for all first-year bachelor students. Classes will begin this fall.

Developed by Garage’s experts, the minor programme provides students with the opportunity to study contemporary art with experts in the field and to receive up-to-date information on artistic processes. In addition to the history of art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, students will learn about curating as a profession, the legal specifics of the art market, and the various technologies used in art management. The programme combines theoretical and applied knowledge and employs an interdisciplinary approach. The practical sections of the programme will take place in Moscow museums and galleries, where students will analyse artistic and curatorial processes.

In 2019, Garage will launch the Master's programme in Practices of Contemporary Art and Curatorship. The outline of the programme was put together by analyzing the most successful international and domestic academic programmes in the field of Culture and Art Studies. The purpose of the Master's programme is to train specialists who possess interdisciplinary professional competences in the field of contemporary art, as well as theoretical knowledge and practical skills in curation, exhibition work and project management. The first intake will be in 2019.

The Garage department at HSE will also actively engage in research activities and so the list of joint projects with HSE will continue to grow. Lecturers at the department will include Garage employees such as Garage Director, Anton Belov, Deputy Director for Reconstruction and Development, Anna Trapkova, Senior Curator, Ekaterina Inozemtseva, Archive Curator, Sasha Obukhova, Curator of Public Programs, Anastasia Mityushina, Head of Education, Ekaterina Vladimirtseva, and Head of IT, Alexander Vasilyev.