Garage Museum's 'The Coming World' exhibition explores ecology as politics through diverse artworks

Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow hosted 'The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100' from 28 June to 1 December 2019. Curated by Snejana Krasteva and Ekaterina Lazareva, the exhibition spanned the museum's galleries, atrium, and extended into Gorky Park, featuring works by artists like Allora & Calzadilla, who scattered artificial flowers outside. The show addressed environmental themes, with sections dedicated to water issues, including contributions from Hans Haacke, Tita Salina, and Allan Sekula. Critical Art Ensemble's 'Environmental Triage' (2018–19) presented water samples from Moscow tap water, the Moskva River, the Volga, and Lake Baikal, inviting visitor votes. A historical piece by the Soviet-era collective Gnezdo, 'A Minute of Not Breathing to Protect the Environment' (1977), was highlighted for its satirical approach. The 'Profiles of the Future' section, housed in a 1960s-inspired structure, featured individual capsules for artists such as Patricia Piccinini, Pamela Rosenkranz, and Tomás Saraceno. Sergei Kishchenko presented a solo show within this section, with works including seed photographs, limestone sculptures, and videos exploring agriculture and fertility cults. The exhibition aimed to present scenarios for action but faced criticism for a linear layout that limited dialogue between works. ArtReview covered the show in its December 2019 issue, noting the curators' focus on ecology as a political framework.