Opening of the year: what George Lucas and Woody Allen did in Moscow

On June 12 a big party for actors, film directors, journalists, art workers and museum curators was held in Moscow. Woody Allen, Stella McCartney and Natalia Vodyanova were there. But what for? / Woody Allen, his wife Soon-Yi Previn and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich

The story begins in 2008, when Daria Zhukova, girlfriend of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, opened the "Garage" Centre for Contemporary Culture inside a former bus depot. Than the building became a Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre and Garage Museum was looking for new space. It was decided to transform the famous Vremena Goda (Seasons of the Year) Soviet Modernist restaurant built in 1968 in Gorky Park, into a contemporary museum. / Rem Koolhaas and Daria Zhukova

The new building designed by Rem Koolhaas and his OMA studio was opened on June 12, 2015. Recently, the center was renamed the Museum of Modern Art. The opening is celebrating the completion of the Rem Koolhaas-designed building with a range of exhibitions, performances, screenings, and events.

The opening party was a big event in Moscow high society. The three-day program of events was so extravagant that the Russian press dubbed it the #openingoftheyear. Some went further, calling it the #openingofthedecade.

There were lots of surprises and rumors about the guest list, which some said might include Leonardo DiCaprio, Woody Allen and George Lucas, plus various Russian models and artistic types.

Leonardo DiCaprio did not put in an appearance, but his mother did. Woody Allen showed up with his wife and daughter

And the opening was also attended by Stella McCartney (right)

George Lucas (in the center)

Famous models Karlie Kloss (left) and Natalia Vodianova (right)

Russian model Sasha Luss

Lena Perminova (left) and designer Ulyana Sergeenko (right)

Italian style icon Giovanna Battaglia

For his debut Russian exhibition, Rirkrit Tiravanija invites audiences to participate in works developed in response to his experiences in the city, from tournaments in collaboration with Ping-Pong Club Moscow (P.P.C.M.), to eating pelmeni (the Russian dumplings) served from site-specific sculptures. The artist has also paid homage to little-known Czechoslovakian conceptualist Július Koller (1939-2007), who is both an inspiration and creative source for Tiravanija, particularly in his choice of the exhibition title: Tomorrow Is the Question?

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Theory features two of the artist’s groundbreaking installations: Infinity Mirrored Room–The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (2013), consists of a room with mirrored walls filled with thousands of small lights, which appear as pulsating dots. These are infinitely reflected in the mirrors to create an illusory cosmos, which is experienced by a lone viewer, enabling each visitor to momentarily get lost in Kusama’s mesmerizing world.

Conversely, the installation Guidepost to the Eternal Space (2015) invites audiences to gather amidst an environment in which white polka dots on a red background cover walls and structures, forming an outlandish landscape, confusing viewers’ perception and spatial orientation.