MOSCOW.- The Organizers announced details of the 3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Entitled ‘Against Exclusion’ and curated by Jean-Hubert Martin the exhibitions and events which comprise this year’s Biennale will present groundbreaking work by artists from often marginalised centres of contemporary art, including Africa and Oceania, whilst maintaining the ethos of the first two Moscow Biennales by providing an international platform for Russian art.

For the first time, the Moscow Biennale will cohere under a single curatorial vision, and be focussed on a single exhibition space. ‘Against Exclusion’ alludes to the capacious and open-minded conception of the contemporary art scene which animates the exhibitions and events of the Biennale. Many of the artists presenting work will be known from the familiar art world networks of the gallery, the museum, the art fair and the art biennale. The 3rd Moscow Biennale will seek however to place such artists in the context of the intense creativity that resides outside the conventional art circuit. Artists working at the fringes of the art world – from territories that do not fit on the usual maps of contemporary art production and consumption, and whose practices elude received ways of making and seeing work – will be shown in a spirit which aims to avoid didacticism, but nonetheless aspires to an inclusive global survey in the name of free creation.

The main exhibition of the 3rd Moscow Biennale will be shown in The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture Moscow, which has recently been renovated and inaugurated with an exhibition by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov in September 2008. This venue offers an outstanding one-level display space in a single room with a surface area of 8,500 m², and will provide a physical and conceptual focus for the Biennale. A number of collateral events and exhibitions will also take place around the city, constructing a dialogue with the principal exhibition and offering visitors the chance to address the notion of a globalised and decentred world of contemporary art from a range of perspectives.

The previous two Moscow Biennales were conceived as multi-curatorial projects and were developed by the international curatorial team under the direction of Joseph Backstein. For the forthcoming edition of the Biennale the renowned French curator Jean-Hubert Martin was appointed as the sole curator. Olivier Varenne (Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart), Tasmania, and Mattijs Visser (Zero Foundation, Düsseldorf) will assist him in his office. A number of museums and collections will contribute to the Biennale, lending works by artists from different continents: the CAAC (The Contemporary African Art Collection) in Geneva, Switzerland; and the MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) in Hobart, Australia. The Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art was established to bring focus to the hitherto neglected Russian art scene, to create a forum for the exchange of ideas between arts professionals, and to strengthen Moscow’s unique position in the network of cultural capitals of the world.