De Baere has accepted the offer despite the strained cultural and geopolitical relations with Russia.

“It’s better that a public space for contemporary art continues to exist from where we can think about the future than that it disappears as a result of the powers of the moment.”

Since 2002, De Baere is the director of the M HKA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp, which owns a major collection of Soviet art. Prior to that, he served as curator at SMAK, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ghent.

The 6th Moscow Biennial opens on 17 September 2015.

Image: Bart de Baere via Artforum.