Catherine de Zegher, the Curator of the Fifth Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art was the Artistic Co-Director of the 18th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2012), Guest Curator in the Department of Drawings at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Visiting Curator at Tapies Foundation in Barcelona. In previous years, de Zegher held positions as Executive Director and Chief Curator of The Drawing Center in New York (1999-2006) and was Director of Exhibitions and Publications at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

Commenting on her plan for the upcoming biennale, Catherine de Zegher emphasized: “Entitled ‘Bolshe Sveta / More Light’ the 5th Moscow Biennale promotes enlightened conversation and action, at the crossroads, where different concepts of space and time, and consequent structures of thought and sensibility, are elaborated. In many parts of the world, the contemporary global network society is developing a very specific space-time dimension that tends to clash with other space-time dimensions. In this interconnected world, space and time concepts no longer acknowledge our place in a present that is here and now, because in the flow of globalization, a local chronotopy in which our perception of time is connected to a geographically defined place, is supplanted by a global chronotopy. With world time increasingly ticking in a homogeneous manner to the rhythm of neo-liberal capitalism, space is obliterated by time. The artists in the 5th Moscow Biennale point out an urgent need to enact another kind of movement in the world. By entering slow time and slow attention, there is an increased receptiveness to sensation and movement—an unfolding that profoundly belongs to art and aesthetics. Together with audiences, these artists engage in the continuities between past, present, and future, through a focus on daily routines and habits, in a time that is of the present, sometimes intimate and domestic, and that is related to our environment. The most familiar meanings of place and time are here linked with great currents of space-time, of thought and art, in an attempt to shed more light on large problems and questions of our time in society.”

Catalogue

The catalogue of the 5th Moscow Biennale, one of the most memorable art events of the year in Moscow, will not only introduce innovative thinking and practices of a wide group of international and local artists, but will also contain a set of unique texts by leading historians and critics of contemporary art. The authors include Keti Chukhrov, Alexei Penzin, Pascal Gielen, Svetlana Boym, Gabriel Gorodetsky, Souchou Yao, and Catherine de Zegher.

Location: Manege

The main project will be shown in the central exhibition hall of Manege. Today, Manege is one of the most prestigious venues in Moscow. Its building was initially constructed in 1817 by Spanish engineer Agustín de Betancourt. The Manege is an architecturally unique building and is situated next to the Kremlin in the centre of Moscow. In 2005 the building underwent major reconstruction and is now equipped with the most modern exhibition facilities.

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