Night at the Museum is a worldwide event that takes place on the evening of May 17th. Museums across Moscow offered free admission, stayed open until late at night, and celebrated the event in various ways.
I had a great time with our praktikanti at Winzavod, a museum of contemporary art. Like its name suggests (zavod means factory), the museum is located on the site of what used to be a wine factory. Galleries are spread between its buildings. We walked from gallery to gallery and had a look at the sculptures, photographs, paintings, and mixed-media pieces on display. While we were there, a lot was going on – clowns danced to funky music, little kids ran around in cardboard crowns, guests painted murals together, artists worked on paintings in the galleries.
Our praktikantka Polina in a sculpture exhibit
a public mural
The pieces at Winzavod were interesting and funny, and the overall atmosphere was so refreshing and hip compared to the other museum experiences that we have had so far. It felt more like a big party than anything else, and that was super fun.
Look familiar? Or, well, kind of familiar? Hint: think Repin.
My favorite piece was this one by Mikhail Gulin called “Poproshu ne putat’!”/”Please don’t confused the two!”
The text reads, “Whose dots are these? These dots are Damien Hirst’s!”
“And whose dots are these? These dots are Yayoi Kusama’s!”
I thought it was pretty funny.
If Night at the Museum’s goal is to get young people to be more interested in museums, then Winzavod certainly did its job.
