Suddenly controversial photo project on Sotchi gets alternative opening in Moscow

The photo documentary made by photographer Rob Hornstra on the preparations for the Sotchi Olympics will be shown in Moscow after all. At least we hope so, now that after an earlier sudden cancellation a venue has been found at the Sakharov House in Moscow. Next Friday, Dutch fans can watch the opening from Amsterdam's Stadsschouwburg (bring your own beer) attend. Unless the row with Moscow has escalated so much that instead of William Alexander, we have sent a couple of fighter jets to the Russian capital.

The entire press release about the opening can be found here:

On Friday 18 October, the exhibition opens in Moscow The Sochi Project by photographer Rob Hornstra and writer Arnold van Bruggen in a modified format. The Sakharov Centre in Moscow has agreed to show the main part of the exhibition after the Winzavod arts centre cancelled it last week.

During the opening, the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam offers a shadow opening via a video link. Sjeng Scheijen, artistic director of the cultural programme in Russia as part of NLRF2013 performs the opening in Amsterdam. Makers Hornstra and Van Bruggen explain their work and the genesis of the project. On the Russian side, Yuri Saprykin, well-known opinion maker, columnist and chief editor of Lenta and Afisha, will speak. At the same time, on Russia's largest online news portal goes Lenta.ruan online version of the exhibition live.

The project deals with the conversion of Russia's Summer Capital Sochi into Olympic Winter Capital, the unknown Abkhazia and the conflict in the North Caucasus. Hornstra and Van Bruggen: 'We are enormously proud that critical, independent parties in Moscow have taken up our project and are now making our exhibition - albeit in slimmed-down form - available to a much wider audience than it could ever have reached.' The Sakharov Centre has less exhibition space and is therefore showing part of the exhibition.

DutchCulture centre for international cooperation is coordinator of the Dutch cultural programme in Russia within the framework of NLRF2013. The Dutch and Russian cultural worlds have a long history of cooperation, exchange and mutual engagement. That engagement with Russian culture has always been and will continue to be of great value to the Netherlands. During the Netherlands-Russia year, dozens of projects were realised in Russia, which together provide a very broad and strong picture of the modern Dutch cultural world. Until the end of 2013, many projects are planned in Moscow and St Petersburg, including a Russian version of the Night of the Unexpected, an exhibition on Dutch protest culture of the 1970s and 1980s, a retrospective on Dutch architecture at the Hermitage in St Petersburg, performances of the State and la Passione by Louis Andriessen and performances by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. For the full calendar, see www.nlrf2013.nl