With the support of:

Alexandra Obukhova

Alexandra Obukhova

t.o.b. Moscow

«All of us have learned according to the ‘shop’ principle – knowledge was passed from master to apprentice, we were blindfolded, adopting the mistakes of our teachers along with their experience. It’s a good job that many of my peers had an opportunity to work in Western museums, where we were able to see what kind of mistakes we were making ... There will always be an opposition between the artist and the curator: even Szeemann was known to be criticized by his favorite artists ... Often, owing to the curator the artist realizes his role in the context of history, in a wider range of events and names» (Alexandra Obukhova, TimeOut)

«In the end, we no longer used any ready-made recipes, and the very idea that we know how Russian art is arranged has been discarded. This is how the very idea of field research in the regions has originated» (Alexandra Obukhova, It`s My City)

 

An archive curator and an organizer of the historical and archive projects of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Member of the curatorial group of the First Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, art critic, art-historian, curator. 

Alexandra Obukhova has been the head of the research department of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art since 2012 and is in charge of the museum’s archive, which forms the basis for international research projects and is the center whose aim is the popularization of the Russian contemporary art. Obukhova is listed in” the Top-50 of the most influential persons in the Russian art”, according to “Artguide” magazine.

As a curator Obukhova strives to attribute new hues to the pieces of art, disclose them, setting them into unusual surroundings. She helps the artist to express himself in a more popular language.

In spring 2017 the First Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art was opened. It is a major research project within the frame of the long-term program of the Garage museum, aimed at development and popularization of the contemporary art in Russia, where Ms. Obukhova is one of the six curators. During the preparation for the Triennial the organizers examined and selected the works of over 60 artists aged 19 to 69 from more than 40 towns and cities of Russia in order to fully and comprehensively reflect the art processes which are under way in modern Russia.

Selected projects:

2013-2014 — “ Reconstruction. 1990-2000.” Bilingual research catalogue. Co-author.

2014 — “Russian Performance: A Cartography of its History.” Exhibition. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Curator.

2015 — “Postscript after RIP: A Video Archive of Moscow Artists’ Exhibitions 1989–2014.“ Exhibition. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Organizer.

2015 — “Open Systems. Self-Organized Art Initiatives in Russia: 2000–2015.” Exhibition. Curator.

2015 — “Insider”. Exhibition. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Curator.

2017 — “Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art.” Moscow. Curator.

Awards and titles:

The winner of “The independent Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award” in “The Best Text on Contemporary Art” category in 2014.

Education and professional activities:

Graduated from the Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1992;

Studied in Prague, Central European University in 1993;

Worked in the State Russian Library from 1986 to 1988;

Institute of Contemporary Art, lecturer from 1993 to 1996;

Worked at the State Tretyakov Gallery from 1999 to 2012;

The Art Projects Foundation, the director from 2000 to 2016;

Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, head of the research department, archive curator since 2012;

Member of the State Expert Comission of Contemporary Fine and Visual Art under the Ministry of culture of the Russian Federation since 2008.

Member of Kandinsky Council of Experts.

Member of the Expert Council of the Russian investment art rating 49ART-2017