YARAT, the not-for-profit contemporary art organisation, is to open a new centre for contemporary art in March 2015 in Baku, Azerbaijan. YARAT Contemporary Art Centre will be the first permanent space for YARAT. It 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 sumptuous 2,000m2 exhibition space spread over two floors. The building will showcase four temporary exhibitions a year by leading international artists, highlighting emerging movements and new commissions, as well as housing YARAT Collection displays and a new library. The auditorium provides a dedicated space for screenings, performances and YARAT’s educational events. An organic café completes the centre by providing a space for informal discussions and gatherings. The new Yarat ‘CAC’ is conceived as a dedicated hub for contemporary art and art education not only for Azerbaijan, but the wider region as a whole.

The YARAT Collection is presented for the first time with the opening of the new centre and focuses on artists from the Caucasus, Central Asia and neighbouring countries. Baku is the perfect common ground for the arts from this region: similarities in religion, language, and a common Soviet past between the various nationalities have been further reinforced by the dramatic socio-economic changes of the last twenty years. Connecting to global markets and influences for the first time in 70 years, artists were among the first to react and subsequently negotiate and reflect this transition in their works.