Olga Treivas on Exhibition Architecture, the White Cube, and Her Move to São Paulo
Olga Treivas, a Moscow native born in 1983, has been influential in exhibition architecture for 20 years. She co-founded Form Bureau and currently heads Treivas Architecture Bureau in São Paulo. Treivas played a significant role in the design of OMA's Garage Museum in Gorky Park, crafting a white cube that honors the modernist design. Her curatorial achievements include Marina Abramović's 'The Artist Is Present' (2011), John Baldessari's '1+1' (2013), and 'Dalí and Media' alongside Alyona Doletskaya. She also curated MMOMA's 20th-anniversary exhibition and contributed to the 5th Moscow Biennale. In Brazil, she is evolving her artistic practice and planning a Brazilian-Russian naïve art exhibition for 2028, with glass works like 'Rag Chapel' (2015) and 'Emma in Paraty' (2026).
Key facts
- Olga Treivas was born in Moscow in 1983 and is now based in São Paulo
- As co-founder of Form Bureau she was local architect on the concept phase of OMA's Garage Museum in Gorky Park
- The Garage building's walls fold down from the ceiling to create a white cube on demand
- She designed Marina Abramović's 'The Artist Is Present' at Garage in 2011, curated by Klaus Biesenbach
- John Baldessari's '1+1' at Garage in 2013 was guided by chief curator Kate Fowle
- 'Upon Request' was held at Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku
- The 5th Moscow Biennale layout was developed with curator Catherine de Zegher in the Manege
- 'Rag Chapel' was presented at Glasstress during the 2015 Venice Biennale
- She is curating a Brazilian-Russian naïve art exhibition due to open in 2028
- 'Emma in Paraty' (2026) was selected for SP-Arte's curated DesignNow section
Entities
Artists
- Olga Treivas
- Marina Abramović
- John Baldessari
- Zaha Hadid
- Kazimir Malevich
- Wassily Kandinsky
- Ivan Leonidov
- Yakov Chernikhov
- Julie Mehretu
- Alexander Brodsky
- Mona Hatoum
- Lina Bo Bardi
- Brian O'Doherty
- Theodor W. Adorno
- Salvador Dalí
- Klaus Biesenbach
- Kate Fowle
- Catherine de Zegher
- Alyona Doletskaya
- Frédéric Malle
- Elena Kovalenko
- Konstantin Melnikov
- Bruno Sain
- Tarsila do Amaral
- Oswald de Andrade
Institutions
- Form Bureau
- Treivas Architecture Bureau
- OMA
- Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
- Heydar Aliyev Centre
- Zotov Centre
- MMOMA
- Moscow Biennale
- Blazar
- SP-Arte
- Glasstress
- Venice Biennale
- Gus Crystal Factory
- Cristais Tavares
- Oficina São João
- MASP
- Vogue
- Contemporary Art Issue
- Juliet Art Magazine
Locations
- Moscow
- Russia
- São Paulo
- Brazil
- Gorky Park
- Baku
- Azerbaijan
- Venice
- Italy
- Pomerode
- Paraty
- Helsinki
- Finland