ASTANA – The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and Grand Palais Museum will present exhibitions and public programmes June 10 – Sept.10 at the Astana Contemporary Art Centre as part of EXPO 2017, according to the press service of the Astana EXPO 2017 national company.
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. Photo credit: fb.ru
“We aim to attract people to our art centre and then they will be interested to visit our museums. Visitors will have opportunity to attend the exhibitions from early morning until late at night. We believe that the art centre becomes a great attraction, which will be interesting to every visitor both old and young,” said Astana EXPO 2017 Content and Event Organisation Department head Marat Omarov at an April 18 press briefing.
The Artists & Robots exhibition organised by the National Museums of France and the Grand Palais in cooperation with Garage’s space will be also held.
Seventeen artists from 13 countries will bring their robots and create their unique art works in front of the audience. The department team is currently negotiating the possibility of leaving the exhibits created by robots in the country. The robots will be delivered at the end of May.
“Artificial intelligence will perform as an artist. This exhibition is a big challenge because nobody did it before. This is the art of our time. Art is ahead of events,” said Omarov.
Marat Omarov. Photo credit: vlast.kz
An exhibition and an open library with books on contemporary art, architecture and design will be presented in cooperation with the Garage Museum on the ground floor of the art centre. It also includes a family workshop zone and an auditorium hosting lectures and discussions devoted to the art market, contemporary curating, and publishing. More than 300 screenings of films devoted to contemporary art, including films created by young Kazakh filmmakers and producers are scheduled. Films will be shown with the Kazakh, English or Russian subtitles.
“Taking part in international and regional projects is part of Garage’s long-term development strategy and we could not miss an international event as important as the EXPO. This year’s theme is Future Energy and that’s the kind of energy we produce at Garage every day – we are delighted to be able to share it with our visitors in Astana,” said Garage Director Anton Belov.
The Garage Museum organised a survey of leisure and cultural activities accessible for people with disabilities in Kazakhstan. The survey has allowed it to build connections with charities and specialised institutions in the country and initiate a dialogue on access to culture for the disabled in Almaty and Astana. This project will result in a series of seminars for the staff of cultural institutions designed to help them develop and promote programmes for visitors with disabilities, based on an analysis of attitudes towards disability in the former Soviet countries.
All projects and events will be accessible for visitors with disabilities. Sign language tours will be available for deaf and hard of hearing visitors. Visitors with developmental disabilities and learning difficulties will be offered extra learning materials and visual aids.
Installation and preparatory works are still underway at the art centre construction site.
