Moscow news
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16-May-2010
Moscow’s museums get set to open all hours
From cutting-edge music to retro computer games, Moscow's museums are shaking off their ‘dry-as-dust' image and partying through the night this weekend.
The annual "Night at the Museum" event is back, and this year's edition is bigger than ever, with more than 100 venues opening their doors into the early hours of the morning - and removing admission charges for the occasion.
And some are going one step further, bringing their displays to life with a wide range of special events to tempt the city's clubbers into culture vultures.
So many events can be bewildering, so to help out The Moscow News has picked out its top 10 museums for Saturday night's special shows.
The art of music
Visitors to the State Tretyakov gallery will be serenaded by the sweet strains of graduates from the Moscow Conservatory from 7:30 pm. Great music, beautiful art, and free entrance - no wonder the organisers advise visitors to get there early to back a seat.
Films in the chocolate factory
The Krasny Oktyabr chocolate factory used to be an icon for the sweet-toothed; now it's a beacon of the arts. And the Lumiere Brothers Photography Centre will be lit up from 7 pm to 2 am with a Soviet-themed evening of nostalgic films and retro arcade games. Entrance is free, and the event is backed by the Nostalgia TV channel and the Museum of Soviet-era Arcade Games.
In the footsteps of the artists
Winzavod has been a key part of previous Night in the Museum events, and this year is no exception. From 8 pm to 2 am guests can leave a plaster cast of their feet to be immortalised in a future installation and enjoy live music from jazz fusion singer Zventa Sventana and the Marakatu drummers. Tickets are 300 roubles.
Musical evolution
The Darwin museum puts the beat into biology with live gigs in the courtyard and on the roof from 6pm. The acts will include lounge and jazz bands Instead of Oars, SOM SOI, SALTO and a video show by VJ Art group. There will be poetry readings and performances inside the museum. Entrance is free, tickets for some events required.
First chance to see ...
The ARTPLAY Design Centre on the Yauza opens up its new live music venue with an open-air festival of Russian songs from 8 pm. Performers include indie kids Padla Bear Outfit, Uoki-Toki and folk-tinged former New Romantics Alyans. Free entry.
Clowning around
Moscow Museum of Modern Art has something for all ages, with clown-mime troupe "Mir Lits" and the "Fantasy" children's studio entertaining the youngsters before DJs and live bands take over the courtyard from 7 pm. Indie-rockers Niedlex Kenflie headline the free show.
24-hour Garage
The Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture will be open until 4 am with a mix of film and theatre. Performance art group Asymmetrique Answer are the stars, with Fritz Lang's masterpiece "Metropolis" getting a screening alongside works about Mark Rothko, whose work is currently on display at the gallery. Entrance is free, tickets for the exhibitions are 100 roubles.
A song for Mayakovsky
Classier than the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, the Mayakovsky House Museum is holding its own battle of the bands, challenging them to make music from the poet's lyrics. Classic cinema comedies from Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Rene Clair also feature.
Victory lives on
A week after Victory Day, the Kuzminki estate continues to celebrate with a retro evening including a horse show, war-time songs and dancing. Assemble at 8 pm, entrance is free.
Fairytale sounds
The Pushkin Museum offers a performance by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cappella of Moscow from 8 pm among the permanent exhibition devoted to the life of Russia's best-loved poet. Entrance is free.
Addresses:
The State Tretyakov Gallery
Lavrushnichevsky Pereulok, 10, m Tretyakovskaya, m Polyanka
Tel: 957-07-92, 953-33-75
Lumiere Brothers Centre for Photography
Bolotnaya Naberezhnaya, 3, Fabrika "Krasny Oktyabr", m Kropotkinskaya
Tel: 795-17-55
Winzavod
4-th Syromyatnichesky pereulok,1, str 6, m Chkalovskaya
Tel: 917 46 46
State Darwin Museum
Ul. Vavilova, 57/1, m Akademicheskaya
Tel: (499) 134-10-47, (499) 134-61-24
ARTPLAY Design Centre on Yauza
Nizhnaya Syromyatnicheskaya Ul, 5/7, m Chkalovskaya
Tel: 620-08-52
Moscow Museum of Modern Art
Petrovka, 25, m Chekhovskaya, m Pushkinskaya
Tel: 231-44-06
Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture
Ul. Obraztsova, 19a, m. Mendeleyevskaya
Tel: 645-05-20, (985)188-4-555
Mayakovsky Museum
Lubyansky Proezd 3/6, m Lubyanka
Tel: 621-93-87
Kuzminki
Topolevaya Alleya, 6, m Kuzminki
Tel:377-94-57, 372-60-66, 657-65-85
Pushkin Museum
Ul. Prechistenka, 12/2, m Kropotkinskaya
Tel: 637-56-27