THERE IS MORE THAN ONE GARAGE IN THE WORLD
Thibaut de Ruyter
30th June 2020
The question of sameness and repetition has become embedded in the way our society assesses comfort. We love this feeling of 'security' of choice, and at the same time despise it. We try to break free but can we? In this article, Thibaut de Ruyter shares his feelings about the clone of the Garage Museum in Moscow that chose the City of Vladivostok in Russia as its sight. So, has the Garage in Vladivostok succeeded in being different or has it followed the safe path?
We live in a globalised world. Almost every continent, almost every country, almost every city has a McDonald’s, an H&M, an Irish Pub and a Dr Martens store. Art institutions follow that trend too, and you will find a Guggenheim in Bilbao, a Louvre in Abu Dhabi, a Centre Georges Pompidou in Metz and, soon, a Tretyakov Gallery in Vladivostok. Tourists follow the brands they know; they enjoy the same food everywhere and are not afraid anymore to be confronted with the new or the unexpected. Meanwhile, it makes me sad, and I remember a time when cigarette brands were different as soon as you crossed a border, where fashion changed radically between countries and the inhabitants did not speak Globish. You could drive fifty kilometres and enter another world; the adventure was waiting for you at the corner. Bringing back souvenirs was always an experience, my friends were enchanted by my strange discoveries, and we shared exotic stories eating chocolate mixed with ground dry scallops.
But nowadays, what I bring to my teenage niece from my travels is another Joy Division T-shirt directly from another H&M.
During my last visit to Vladivostok, my friends told me that the Museum of Contemporary Art Garage had opened a discreet dependence in the city. The famous art institution from Moscow already supported projects in Almaty and Tashkent so it was no big surprise for me, and I asked for a visit. My host, Yana Gaponenko, didn’t need long to organise everything. And we hit the road…
On an early evening late October 2019, the night had fallen on the city early. My cab took me up to the hills but before we arrived at the destination, it had to stop because the path was made of loose and rough white rocks. Only an SUV with an experienced pilot could have finished that dangerous trip and the taxi driver was not ready to ruin his car for me. I walked the last 500 meters alone, trying not to break my bones in the dark. The experience was so weird that I didn’t even find time to ask myself ‘Is Garage really waiting for me there?’
At the end of what I cannot really call a road, Pasha Shugurov, his wife and daughters welcomed me warmly in their house. I had been there a few years ago and it was a nice surprise to see them again. We had a rather eclectic Asian dinner with vodka (typical for Vladivostok) and chatted about life and times gone by since our last meeting. It was a lovely evening, and I almost forgot the original reason for my visit until the host said: ‘Ok, now it’s time to visit Garage!’
I was taken out for a short walk in the dark and got in a red Japanese car (with the steering wheel on the right as always in this strange city). Pasha’s wife drove us about fifty metres on the rocks and we re-entered their house, but this time directly through the Garage door. That was the place, and there was the exhibition of Ashot Babykin, an artist from the famous Vladivostok community 33+1. Comfortably sitting in the car, I could observe the artworks hung on three brick walls surrounding me. Several tyres associated with different objects were displayed in the space lit by a single bulb. Not really a traditional ‘white cube’ - but still an exhibition space. One tyre was painted with two red stripes, another one covered with yellow shapes, not unlike the leopard’s skin; one was associated with an oval mirror while some were inhabited by a small painting with a seascape, an electric garland with tiny multicoloured bulbs or even filled with gasoline. My favourite one was almost erotic as too inflated pink balloons were squeezed in the circular shape of the dirty black rubber and evoked an arse or two generous boobs. A total of nine tyres, from different brands but of similar shapes had been used to create nine artworks in this unique Garage. Of course, as a French visitor, I had recollections of Marcel Duchamp, of the readymades and of how much art history have changed since 1917 and the presentation of a signed urinal standing on a pedestal in an art exhibition. Pasha gave me a quick guided tour, explaining to me that the interest of the artist in used tyres was coming from a Russian tradition where people use them as elements for garden decoration, children playground and landscaping (a habit that the City of Vladivostok tried to ban in 2018) that Ashot Babykin was revealing the social meaning and symbol of poverty of used tyres in the post-perestroika times that one could feel certain melancholia in the completed artworks. If Marcel Duchamp made a very provocative joke, Ashot Babykin is deeply rooted in actual societal problems — not to mention environmental disasters! — and ‘the Russian soul’. Once the visit finished, we had a last drink and I walked down the hills trying to find a proper road where another cab could pick me up and drive me back home.
Vladivostok has a Garage, its opening times are flexible, it’s a bit difficult to find, and no taxi driver will ever take you there. But the food is great, the visit to the exhibition - unique, and there is no gift shop at the end forcing you to buy souvenirs for your niece. But, luckily, there is always an H&M somewhere around or amazing chocolate filled with scallops to make your friends happy.
Thibaut de Ruyter is a French architect, curator and critic who lives and works in Berlin since 2001. In the last ten years, he has organized exhibitions at Kunstmuseum Bochum, Museum Kunstpalais Düsseldorf, Museum of Applied Arts in Frankfurt, HMKV in Dortmund, EIGEN + ART Lab and CTM in Berlin, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź and CRP/ in Douchy-les -Mines. One of his latest projects is a travelling exhibition co-curated with Inke Arns for the Goethe-Institut: « The Border », that calls into question the dividing line between Asia and Europe in the former Soviet states. Since 2017 this exhibition was exhibited in St Petersburg, Moscow, Tashkent, Almaty, Krasnoyarsk (u.A.) and ended its trip in Erevan in 2019. His areas of interest range from new media to spiritism via "exhibitions that are not exhibitions". Most of his projects are related to everyday, pop or underground culture. He has been the German correspondent for the French magazine artpress since 2003.
Editor Tamara Khasanova.