MOSCOW.- Located within the monumental spaces of the Red October Chocolate Factory, invasion: evasion challenges selected artists to stage an invasion that evades typical classification. Etymological opposites, the words "invasion" and "evasion" have come to take on distinct nuances in contemporary usage, allowing the once-antithetical concepts to coincide within the same movement.

For its inaugural exhibition Baibakov art projects has commissioned more than 20 artists to explore this possibility of a simultaneous invasion : evasion within the former factory space. Dismissing the clichés of the private museum or the popular, broad-bannered (and often fictitious) presentation of a unified market front, invasion : evasion enlisted projects that answer to the space itself, and not to market demands, enabling artists to experiment with scale and material. Artists were asked to consider the idea of “site-specificity” and to incorporate their individual interpretations of the concept into their projects.

To aid the process, Baibakov art projects invited the artists to work directly in the space, using one-half of the exhibition space as a temporary open studio. From this point of origin, the artists have made their own advances and retreats throughout the entire space, as a collaboration or as a individual reaction to their physical environment – and inevitably, to the cultural, political and economic milieu impacting that environment.

In keeping with the theme, invasion : evasion does not dictate a strict path or narrative procession, but instead encourages visitors to explore the territory according to their own wishes, ensuring a unique viewing experience for each visitor.

invasion : evasion is the inaugural exhibition for BAIBAKOV Art Projects, a noncommercial program and exhibition space conceived by curator Maria Baibakova. Baibakov Art Projects addresses both a local and global audience, providing a platform for creative production within Moscow.

Co-curated with Kate Sutton, the exhibition includes 22 artists and artists groups, previously based or currently working in Russia: ABC Group, Katya Bochavar, Olga Bozhko, Dmitry Bulnygin, Alexei Buldakov, Alina Gutkina, July Zhdanova, Dmitry and Elena Kawarga, Lyuda Konstantinova, Ira Korina, Masha Koshenskova, Dasha Krotova, Misha Most, Konstantin Novikov, Gosha Ostretsov, PG Group, Ivan Plusch, Maksim Svishev, Veronica Smirnoff, Rostan Tavasiev, Dmitry Teselkin, and Valery Chtak.

Curators:
Maria Baibakova was born in Moscow and studied Art History at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, and at the Courtauld Institute, London, where she obtained a distinction in her MA. After gaining valuable experience working with a major auction house in New York and galleries operating world wide, Maria has concentrated on writing and curating. Her most recent exhibitions, LAUGHTERLIFE, presented contemporary Russian art at the Paradise Row gallery in London, 2008, and Gosha Ostretsov at Triumph Gallery, Moscow, 2008.

Kate Sutton was born in Nashville, TN, and studied Art History at Stanford University, and at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she collaborated with Okwui Enwezor and Hou Hanru as part of the inaugural Museum and Exhibition Studies Masters’ Program. Having worked with a number of cultural institutions in the United States, Finland, and Russia, Sutton has lectured widely on contemporary Russian art and written for publications including Artforum, Artnet, and ArtAxis.