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Regular version of the site

Exhibitions on VDNH: Russian Fashion, Cartoons, and Miniature Moscow

VDNH, a huge exhibition space with lots of beautiful Stalinist architecture, monuments and museums, has recently been renovated. This winter it offers a wealth of attractions including a skating rink and some remarkable exhibitions.

100 years of fashion in Russia: 1915-2015. From Alexander Vasilyev’s collection

Alexander Vasilyev, a fashion historian and television presenter who is one of the judges on the popular ‘Fashion Verdict’ TV show, owns one of the largest private collections of historical clothing in Russia. The exhibition at VDNH is a large-scale retrospective of women's and men’s outfits and accessories, demonstrating the changes in Russian fashion from 1915 to 2015. Pre-revolutionary clothes with their simplistic cut and flapper style, short dresses with a low waist from the 1920s, Soviet film-star style dresses of the 1930s, new look dresses from the 1950s and the business fashion of the 1980s, the luxury of the dashing 1990s and the glamour of the 2000s; all ages and all styles have found their way into this exhibition.

PLACE: Pavilion #64 ‘Optics’
TIME: from November 6, 2015 to February 7, 2016, daily except Mondays, from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm.
PRICE: adult ticket - 250 roubles, discount ticket - 100 roubles.

History of fashion: from avant-garde to GOST

Another exhibition devoted to Russian fashion is open in Pavilion #59 ‘Grain’. It covers the history of textiles and fashion between the 1920s and 1960s in Russia and features more than 100 exhibits from the collections of specialized Russian museums, archives and private collections. Original sketches, samples of fabrics, photographs, posters, outfits and fashion magazines illustrate the peculiarities of design of these four decades.

PLACE: Pavilion#59 ‘Grain’
TIME: from December 2, 2015 to February 28, 2016, daily except Mondays from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm.
PRICE: adult ticket — 250 rubles, reduced fare ticket — 100 rubles.

UNreal heroes. Artists and characters of Soyuzmultfilm

Soyuzmultfilm was the leading animation studio in the Soviet Union. Most of the classic Soviet cartoons were created here. In this exhibition, about 700 graphic and 3D exhibits help to reveal the secrets of how these animated images were created. They include original scenery, sketches, storyboards, models and dolls from some of the most famous and well-loved cartoons, including Cheburashka and Crocodile Gena, Winnie the Pooh, Carlson, Buratino, Wolf and Hare from ‘Nu Pogodi!’, the Nutcracker, residents of Prostokvashino and many more. Some of the exhibits are more than 60 years old and most of them have never been shown to the public before! Cartoons play non-stop in the cinema, and workshops with famous filmmakers and artists are being held as part of the exhibition.

PLACE: Pavilion#2 ‘Education’
TIME: from December 2, 2015 to February 28, 2016, from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm. Booking office is open from 11:00 am to 09:00 pm
PRICE: full ticket - 250 rubles, discount ticket for children from 6 to 16 years, students, pensioners - 100 rubles, children under 6 years - free of charge.

Watch Me Move: Legends and faces of the world animation at VDNH

Another exhibition for cartoon lovers is devoted to the global history of animation. The event has been organized with the support of the London based Barbican arts centre.

This blockbuster exhibition by Barbican Arts Centre has already been to Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Detroit, Nashville, and Monterrey.  The collection, gathered together by the project curator Greg Hilty, includes more than 150 exhibits: hand-drawn, doll, clay, sand, silhouette and pixel animation, rotoscoping, stop-motion and shadow theater, chronophotography, sketches, storyboards and character models, vintage cameras and projectors. The exhibition includes the best releases of the major animation studios - Fleischer, Walt Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros., Aardman, Ghibli, Pixar, Tezuka, Shochiku, as well as works by leading contemporary artists devoted to the limitless potential of animation.

PLACE: Pavilion #15 ‘Radio electronics’
TIME: from November 18, 2015 to February 16, 2016 from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm
PRICE: 250 rubles - for adults, 100 rubles - for children under 16 years, pensioners and full-time students, free of charge - children up to 6 years old, orphans, the disabled, veterans, large families

Miniature Moscow

This architectural model of Moscow is a a welcome addition to the exhibits at VDNH. It covers an area of 121 sq.m. The 1:400 scale model includes 6,500 miniature buildings, and the model is equipped with diodes creating the effect of the city at night. The model was started in 1976, and first shown to the public in 1986. A major renovation was started in 2012 and finished by summer 2015. The updated model is almost twice the size of the old version.

PLACE: Pavilion #75
TIME: daily except Mondays, from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
PRICE: free

See the VDNH website in English with the map and other useful information.