Garage Museum of Contemporary Art presents Russia’s first major exhibition of kinetic and optical art from Eastern Europe and Latin America, developed with the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. More than one hundred works from the 1950s to the 1970s include kinetic sculpture, painting, drawing, film, installations and archival material.
By focusing on Eastern Europe and Latin America, “The Transatlantic Alternative” challenges post-war art histories centred on the North Atlantic. It connects cities including Budapest, Bucharest, Warsaw, Zagreb and Moscow with Buenos Aires, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Kinetic and optical art flourished in these regions alongside movements such as Abstract Expressionism and lyrical abstraction, shaped by related political and economic conditions but often separated from better-known Western narratives.
During the opening days, curators Dieter Roelstraete, Abigail Winograd, Snežana Krasteva and Sasha Obukhova will lead tours in Russian and English.
The public programme includes lectures and discussions with participating artists, scholars of Latin American architecture, composers and art historians.
Weekend activities for children and teenagers include play-based tours, themed tours for school groups, a family lecture on kinetic and optical art and workshops for different ages.
A bilingual Russian–English audio guide and a children’s activity guide accompany the exhibition.
The public programme also includes conversations with Russian and international researchers, meetings with artists, curator-led tours and film screenings.
It opens with a discussion featuring curators Dieter Roelstraete, Abigail Winograd and Marta Dziewańska, art historian Ieva Astahovska and Garage Archive curator Sasha Obukhova. Snežana Krasteva, Garage curator and exhibition co-curator, will moderate.
