GES-2, the new temple of contemporary art, opens in Moscow after more than seven years of work, thanks to the generosity of Leonid Mikhelson, multimillionaire and patron of Novatek, the vision of Teresa Mavica, Italian director of the VAC foundation, as well as the genius by Renzo Piano, author of the conversion project.
Over 30 thousand square meters of space recovered on four levels, no saving of resources (we are talking about a billion euro investment).
GES-2 represents a new concept of cultural space, which aims to bring people together. A place like this, which recovers the idea of the House of Culture, present in Russia well before the advent of communism
A traditional museum is for admiring art, one comes here to participate, to be part of a process
says Teresa Mavica
The houses of culture, in fact, became the first example of multidisciplinary institutions in Russia, hosting libraries, galleries, theaters, creative workshops, concert halls, museums, cinemas and even schools under one roof.
Through this approach, cultural activity was made accessible to a wider audience who were offered a place for creativity: art was no longer perceived as elitist but designed to be organically inclusive.
The GES-2 is exactly this: in the structure there are cafes and restaurants, cinemas, areas for concerts, areas for workshops, exhibition halls… The next five seasons have already been outlined (each lasting about six months) and are grouped under the title ‘Holy Barbarians’.
This beautiful box now needs to be filled. We will do it with new productions of different artistic disciplines
underlines the artistic director Francesco Manacorda.
We want to bring not only visual art but also cinema, dance, theater, poetry by creating a dialogue between them and the Moscow public.
