The Ship of Tolerance – a collaborative art project created by renowned Russian artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov – arrived in Moscow in 2013 following an international tour.
From early May until the beginning of September 2013, over 300 students from schools across Moscow participated in the Ship of Tolerance project, making sails for an 18 meter-high wooden ship.
During this time, public talks on the subject of peace and tolerance in modern society were held at Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, the Multimedia Art Museum and other venues.
From July 13th to August 25th open weekend workshops for families were held at the Garage Education Center. They aimed at exploring ideas of friendship and cultural diversity. During the workshops kids also created their own sails for The Ship of Tolerance installation.
The Ship of Tolerance will opened to the public on City Day, September 7th 2013 at 2:00pm at the Pionersky Pond in Gorky Park. This event was preceded on September 6th by a concert of classical music, performed by young musicians from across the world.
The Ship of Tolerance is a dialogue, a model for contemporary public art, and is aimed at everyone, not just a selected group of intellectuals. The main thing here is the subject of tolerance, to understand that other people are like us, rather than showing off ourselves – as every adult or child instinctively wants to. In our society, right now, this is a topic of the greatest importance.
Ilya Kabakov