YARAT Contemporary Art Space

Formation	2011
Founder	Aida Mahmudova
Founded at	Baku, Azerbaijan
Legal status	Non-profit art organization
Headquarters	YARAT Building
Coordinates	40°20′24″N 49°50′15″E / 40.340135°N 49.837443°E / 40.340135; 49.837443
Website	https://www.yarat.az

YARAT Contemporary Art Space (Azerbaijani: YARAT Müasir İncəsənət Məkanı) also referred to simply as YARAT, is a non-profit art organization based in Baku, Azerbaijan, founded by artist Aida Mahmudova in 2011.^[1] YARAT (Azerbaijani: yarat, lit. 'create') is dedicated to contemporary art with a long-term commitment to creating a hub for artistic practice, research, thinking and education in the Caucasus, Central Asia and the surrounding region. The building is located near National Flag Square.

Building

YARAT Contemporary Art Centre is housed in a converted Soviet-era naval building overlooking the Caspian Sea, which acted as a maintenance base for navy ships in the 1960s. The conversion has created a 2000 m² exhibition space spread over two floors.^[1] The building showcases temporary exhibitions by leading international artists, highlighting emerging movements and new commissions, as well as housing YARAT Collection displays and library. It was officially opened for the public on March 24, 2015.^[2]

Structure

YARAT consists of the YARAT Contemporary Art Centre, Museum of Azerbaijani Painting of the XX-XXI Centuries and ARTIM Project Space.

Museum of Azerbaijani Painting of the XX-XXI Centuries (Azerbaijani: XX-XXI əsrlər Azərbaycan rəngkarlığı muzeyi) presents a series of exhibitions with the works from the collection of National Museums and Galleries and organize a public and education programme of events running.^[3] The Museum collaborates closely with educational institutions and the museum's staff familiarises pupils and students with expositions through interactive tours by teaching them to comprehend and interpret art.

ARTIM Project Space was established in October 2015 in Old City.^[4] ARTIM (Azerbaijani: artım, lit. 'progress') shows experimental practices and new work by emerging Azeri art professionals (selected through open call) and the international artists from the residency programme. It features multiple small-scale projects each year and hosts ARTIM Lab, a programme enabling young artists to engage in workshops and daily studio practice to generate new ideas and works.

YARAT also have an educative public programme that includes courses, workshops, lectures, screenings, festivals, literature and theatre clubs and family weekends.

Activity

YARAT has held exhibitions on international artists such as Shirin Neshat,^[5] Oscar Murillo, Erbossyn Meldibekov, Almagul Menlibayeva, Alexander Ugay, Nurakhmet Nurbol, Reza Aramesh, Vajiko Chachkhiani,^[6] Jan Fabre, Stephen G. Rhodes, Michelangelo Pistoletto,^[7] Shilpa Gupta,^[8] Zadie Xa, Taus Makhacheva,^[9] Pedro Gómez-Egaña,^[10] Kamrooz Aram, Dadbeh Bassir, Gelare Khoshgozaran, Timo Nasseri, Navid Nuur.

In April 2021 YARAT held the first ever Baku Street Photography Festival,^[11] bringing together juries and lecturers consisting of local and foreign photographers. The contest part of the festival was titled Streets in Focus.

An exhibition by Dutch-Kurdish artist Ahmet Öğüt, No poem loves its poet closed when the artist objected to the political instrumentalization of his work by YARAT in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.^[12]

In April 2022, the organization together with the Icharishahar State Historical Architectural Reserve opened the first one-year Contemporary Art Scholl in Azerbaijan.^[13]

References