MOSCOW.- This year, the 7th Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair will take place at Moscow’s most distinguished venue, Gostiny Dvor, on September 6-8 with the Collectors’ and VIP Preview on September 5, starting the international art calendar. Cosmoscow will be supported by its long-standing partners: Main Partner Qatar Airways, Strategic Partner Credit Suisse, and Automobile Partner Audi. Simon Rees, Museum professional and Curator, has been appointed as a new Art Director of the Fair, while Alistair Hicks, Curator and Author, has joined the Cosmoscow Advisory Board, to further develop the Fair’s programming.

Margarita Pushkina, Founding Director of Cosmoscow Fair, says: ”I am very glad that as an international art platform we are reaching a brand new level. We have made this possible through constant efforts to improve and expand the Fair’s main programming, as well as by recruiting important members of the international art scene.”

Cosmoscow 2019 will be enhanced by a new position of Art Director to be held by Simon Rees. In this capacity, he will deal with international galleries extending the Fair’s main programming, and contributing to the educational programme of the Fair.

Museum professional Simon Rees (born 1972, based in Vienna) was a former director of New Zealand’s contemporary art museum, and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Prior he was head of programming and development at the MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art (2011-2013). Mr. Rees is best known for his work at the CAC, Vilnius (2004–2011) and writing and curating in post-communist Europe; including for the prize winning national pavilion he led as commissioner for Lithuania at the Venice Biennale (2007). Mr. Rees has sat on boards and juries of a host of organizations and awards internationally, including those of the contemporary art fairs in Vienna (AT), Auckland (NZ), and Innovation Prize (Moscow). Simon Rees was a regular visitor to Moscow from 2005–2014 for the purpose of writing and research and inter-institutional collaborations, engaging with the city’s most important exhibitions and events (including those associated with the Moscow Biennial).
Simon Rees, Art Director of Cosmoscow Fair, comments: “I am glad to be engaging once again with the contemporary art and culture scene in Moscow, which is one of my favorite cities, at a time when it’s developing in leaps and bounds. And as private commerce, and private-and-public partnerships, linked to the visual arts, is helping Russia re-imagine its culture and its civil society for the future. It’s clear to me that Margarita Pushkina and her team at Cosmoscow Fair are key players in these positive developments to which I am joining my energy.”

Further development of Cosmoscow will be improved by the Fair’s Advisory Board to be joined by Alistair Hicks, Curator and Author, who will build more presence for Cosmoscow on the international art scene.

Alistair Hicks is the author of the Global Art Compass. For twenty years he was Senior Curator at Deutsche Bank. Mr. Hicks is currently curating two shows: The Time needs changing at the Pera Museum, Istanbul and The Crime of Mr Adolf Loos at the Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp.