In 1986, the Soviet government created a statute enabling citizens to form associations and clubs for the first time since the 1920s. This-and the 1988 law on cooperatives which permitted private enterprise-gave rise to the first official organizations created by unofficial artists, as well as the beginning of a vibrant gallery scene. Run by artists, curators, and cultural entrepreneurs, these spaces unleashed the creative energy that now characterizes early post-Soviet Russia. Access Moscow examines the key role which the first independent galleries played in the emergence of Moscow's art scene in the 1990s. Through historical texts from leading practitioners of the period-some of which are translated into English for the first time-and essays by Valentin Diaconov, Kate Fowle, Andrei Kovalev, and Elena Selina, this book provides a first-hand account of an art community in formation. A chronology of art and political events shows the development of art life in Moscow over the course of the decade. Access Moscow is the second in a new series of books by Garage Museum of Contemporary Art on research and materials in Garage Archive Collection.

Since the beginning of his career in the 1960s, Russian artist Erik Bulatov has investigated the potential of painting as social commentary. A founder of the school of Moscow Conceptualism-alongside Ilya Kabakov, Collective Actions, and Komar & Melamid among others-Bulatov developed what has been described as conceptual painting, using text and image to explore spatial preoccupations that mirror his understanding of social relations. This book follows the making of the artist's largest work to date: a thirty-two-feet high monumental diptych made in his trademark graphic style, reminiscent of the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky's advertising posters from the 1920s. Introducing an innovative assessment of Bulatov's oeuvre, this richly illustrated publication includes an essay by Garage curator Snejana Krasteva exploring his use of monumental scale, an interview with the artist by Hans Ulrich Obrist, and several of Bulatov's texts spanning the period 1978-2006, which are translated into English for the first time.