The anniversary exhibition of the Russian largest photo research Best of Russia – 2017 completes the ten-year cycle of the project's history.
The final exhibition is opening at the Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art on March 22th. Audience will see works by winners of the contest 2017 and the 100 best photos of the project in ten years.
Best of Russia is an incomparable project, which involves both famous photographers and the beginners. Each year the photo contest was held in several nominations. The best shots, selected during anonymous jury voting, were published in a catalogue and were presented at the Best of Russia exhibition.
Over one million people have visited the Best of Russia project within ten years, almost 300,000 photographs and tens of thousands of authors took part in the competition. The age of participants varies from 6 years old of the youngest photographer to 92 years of the oldest one. Over the years, the main Russian photo exhibition was shown in Paris, Riyadh, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad, Perm, Yekaterinburg, Ulyanovsk.
“While conceiving the project in 2007, we proceeded from the increasing popularity of the photography. One of the main aims of the project – development of a promotion system for photographers, who are talented but still unheard. Moreover, within ten years history of the project we have collected a unique photo archive documenting the life in Russia”, – comments Sofiya Trotsenko, President of the Winzavod Fund for the Support of Contemporary Art.
The anniversary exhibition of the project presents two nominations: 100 best photos of the project in ten years; and a timeline, that reflects the most significant historical events of the decade, illustrated by the photos of the Best of Russia project.
The display of the context 2017 presents photos in the nomination "People. Events. Daily life" and in a special nomination “Anniversary”. Participants focus on such topics, as 205th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino, the 60th anniversary of the Russian cosmonautics, the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution, the Moscow-870 festival, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Aivazovsky, key political, cultural events and the photos of heroes’ personal anniversaries.
“Photographs by the Best of Russia winners reflect all the most important events that had happened in the past ten years – everything that somehow has changed all of us. Over this years, many things have happened. And the photography evolved from the simple hobby of many people to the way of life for millions. New technical capabilities for shooting and graphic editor programs have developed. But for us, for the Best of Russia team, the most important characteristics of the photography are not just the excellence of image, but also an intense emotion and a strong statement. And I am sure, that the photos, presented at the anniversary exhibition, will not leave anyone indifferent”, – highlighted Lina Krasnyanskaya, curator of the project “The Best photos of Russia”.
The expert council’s list of the project 2018:
- Sofiya Trotsenko, President of the Winzavod Fund for the Support of Contemporary Art;
- James Hill, British photographer, photojournalist of The New York Times, Pulitzer Prize and World Press Photo winner;
- Pavel Kassin, Director of the photographic service of Kommersant Publishing House;
- Alexander Budberg, Publicist and journalist;
- Vladimir Povshenko, Co-owner and director of ARTEX.GLOBAL;
- Nikolai Kanavin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of photo holding Pro Lab;
- Sergey Ponomarev, Photographer, Pulitzer Prize and World Press Photo winner;
- Igor Gurovich, Art director of Ostengruppe, Arbeitskollektiv;
- Ilya Varlamov, Russian blogger, photographer;
- Svetlana Taylor, Head of the Multimedia Art faculty of the British higher school of art and design;
- Natalia Udartseva, Founder and director of the School of Visual Arts.
Open Studios
Free of Charge 
Starts at 10:00 
