Moscow Contemporary Art Center Winzavod

Friendly Local Guides

9 years ago

Winzavod Art Zone

After artsy tours of St Petersburg, you may think Moscow can hardly surprise you… Well, think better!

Winzavod Art Center is more than 200 years old. During this time, the place has been the brewery, the distillery, the craft shops, and, finally, the art center. Now the huge complex is used as one of the largest exhibitions of Moscow…

What makes Winzavod so popular among locals and the epicenter of art life of Russia? Plunge with us into modern art of Moscow on our Moscow private tours.

Winzavod Art Center in Moscow

What is Winzavod?

Contemporary Art Center Winzavod is a leading art zone in Moscow, located at 4th Syromyatnicheskiy lane 1, bld 6.

To put it mildly, Winzavod is the biggest Сenter of Contemporary Art in Russia.

Winzavod is a mix of artists, designers and photographers.

Winzavod Center is concentrated with the most creative people of the city and creates a brand new, aesthetic area for art lovers.

Winzavod represents all sides of modern culture in Moscow: workshops, exhibitions, master classes, festivals, concerts, and even movie and theater premieres.

You can also find here trendy art cafes, unique bookshops, fashion show-rooms, School of Visual Arts, dance studio, and seasonal flea markets.

Here are lots of Winzavod’s fun photos and pictures.

Camomile. The Best of Russia. thebestofrussia.ru

Why should I go to Winzavod?

Winzavod consists of galleries, two dozen shops, educational workshops and three unusual cafes: Tsurtsum, Cunning people (Khitrie ludi) and Useful place (Poleznoe Mesto).

Tsurtsum is ideal for poetry lovers. Tsurtsum regularly holds various recitals and readings by authors.

Khitrie ludi surprises with its unique menu, as well as an unusual design and board games.

Poleznoe mesto is a quiet coffee shop, where you can watch people, read or work, using all necessary chancellery, printing services and document scanning on spot.

Creative space Rebel Art House is designed for those who want to relax and find new friends.

Numerous shops sell plenty of beautiful authentic stuff: from hand-made style trinkets to very serious designer clothes in Mustang Jeans showroom and Tegin Fashion House.
Each of the galleries is worth of attention. Each of them are independent projects created by locals that introduces diverse Russian and international culture.

Grandson of Stalingrad. The Best of Russia. thebestofrussia.ru

How did Winzavod start?

Throughout its history Winzavod belonged to multiple owners and was a malt house, wine manufacture, beer brewery, beer and honey company.In the mid XIX century, Winzavod was producing premium beer branded “Vienna Pure Number 1”. The “Black Velvet” brand was extremely popular.A huge plot of land in Syromyatniki area was assigned for a large shelter with a house church, opened on May 8, 1888. 87 free flats were provided for 150 widows with orphans.In Soviet times Syromyatniki was a large industrial slum area near the railway station.

In 1855 the vast estate and factory were owned by Vasily Kokorev, one of Russia’s richest men who made a fortune on wine.Apart from wine, Kokorev had another passion – art. The gallery he opened in 1861 displayed over 500 paintings, including works by Karl Bryullov, Dnitry Levitsky, Vladimir Borovikovsky and Orest Kiprensky. Some pieces were acquired by Mr. Tretyakov, the founder of Tretyakov Gallery.The decorative elements of the building are left almost untouched.The legendary terrace and exquisite portico add up to the historical vibe of Winzavod.

Ogorodami. The Best of Russia. thebestofrussia.ru

The Art Center is divided into:

White Hall;

Red Hall (performances, photo and video installations);

Arched Hall (large-scale projects, video art and installations);

Wander Hall;

Hangar;

Vintage Hall;

Lecture Hall

The Best of Russia

Winzavod holds an annual national photo contest, called The Best of Russia – the one and only exhibition of such kind.The project was founded in 2008 with the support of Russia’s Ministry of Culture.

The main idea is to colorfully portray the country’s everyday life through the photos taken by ordinary people. Participants include famous photographers as well as amateur photographers of different ages, cities and experience. Anybody can take part in this national art contest.

It started with 312 city-participants and 43,000 guests who attended the exhibition in 2008.

In 2013, the exhibition was attended by over 80,000 guests covering 600 cities of Russia.

The Best of Russia album (“Best Photos of Russia”) is the final stage of the project and is published annually. It publishes all the pictures that won in the competition.

Presentation of the album takes place during the opening ceremony at the Center for Contemporary Art Winzavod.

Album Best of Russia can be purchased in bookstores of Moscow.