New exhibition spaces and edgy hangouts have created a fresh modern art scene in Moscow; a perfect canvas for the city's upcoming Biennale of international work

Britain and Russia have a symbiotic art relationship that stretches back centuries. Catherine the Great, one of history's greatest art collectors, caused splutters of outrage in England in 1779 when she snapped up a rare collection of old masters from Houghton Hall in Norfolk, home of Britain's first prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole.

Today, it's oil-gorged oligarchs such as Roman Abramovich who are buoying up the ailing international art market with purchases at auction in London, New York and Paris. The anglophile owner of Chelsea football club set records last year when he acquired Francis Bacon's Triptych for £53 million and a work by Lucian Freud for £20m.

It's not all east buys west either: a new generation of provocative Russian artists, such as Gosha Ostretsov and Pavel Pepperstein, has piqued the interest of British collectors with shows in London.

In the Russian capital the post-Soviet art scene is developing into a major international force. Three huge and vibrant new exhibition spaces have opened in Moscow in the last two years, one of them masterminded by Abramovich's socialite girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova. Edgy, arty hangouts are popping up too.

Now the city is gearing up for its third Biennale of contemporary art, from 24 September to 25 October (3rd.moscowbiennale.ru), as curators promise up to 80 works by artists from 25 different countries.

Here are the top spots where you can catch Moscow's new art elite.

The Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture

Who says Russia's oligarchs can't tell a Hirst from a Hockney? Roman Abramovich is an avid art collector who has helped to create the glitziest contemporary art venue in Moscow.

The centre is housed in the former Bakhmetevsky bus garage, a masterpiece of constructivism built by architect Konstantin Melnikov in 1929 to house a fleet of Leyland buses bought from Britain.

The renovated building opened last September, and in March this year the garage staged Russia's biggest ever exhibition of foreign contemporary art, including works by Jeff Koons and Cindy Sherman. Last June it showed Zeppelin models by Mexican artist Hector Zamora, whose mock airship wedged between two buildings gave an outlandish tinge to the start of this year's Vienna Biennale.

The centre has an excellent cafe and bookshop, and also runs free art workshops for kids every weekend.

? Ulitsa Obraztsova, 19A (07 495 645 0520, garageccc.com). Metro: Novoslobodskaya.

Winzavod

This sprawling former wine factory with cavernous cellars is shaping up as a new mecca for Russian contemporary art. Four major galleries - XL, Aidan, Regina, and M&J Guelman - moved here when it opened two years ago. A smell of wine residue still hangs in the air and the walls are bare brick and chipped tiles, but the sheer scale of this space (20,000 sq m) is awe-inspiring. Oleg Kulik's opening exhibition for the 2007 Biennale, I Believe, A Project of Artistic Optimism, brought together 51 artists in what he called "these beautiful catacombs that resemble some kind of ancient construction from a lost epoch."

The XL and Guelman galleries were two of the forerunners of Russia's contemporary art scene in the early 1990s. Marat Guelman is Russia's most famous gallery owner, as well as a sometime spin doctor - a potent mix that has provoked rage as well as respect. In 2006, a group of 10 young ultra-nationalists burst into Guelman gallery, kicked him in the face and tore down work by Georgian artist Alexander Djikia (the Kremlin had whipped up anti-Georgian hysteria after a political spat). Yet the gallery has soldiered on, always trying to push the boundaries; in particular with the irrepressible Siberian collective, the Blue Noses, who have seen several works impounded by customs officers for allegedly insulting prime minister Vladimir Putin.

? 4th Syromyatnichesky Pereulok 1/6 (+7 495 917 4646, winzavod.com). Metro: Kurskaya.

National Centre for Contemporary Art

Opened in late 2005 after Moscow's first Biennale, this is an ingenious conversion of a workshop in a former theatre lamp factory near the city zoo. The dilapidated building was braced with steel bands like a rectangular barrel. And, rather than build a third floor, which they feared the walls could not withhold, the construction team suspended a top-lit exhibition hall and auditorium from overhead trusses. All this on a budget of £3m. The finished result has been likened to an airship nestled above one's head, fastened to a cat's cradle of hawsers and beams, and is worth a look regardless of the centre's other attractions: exhibitions, seminars, workshops and a growing permanent collection.

? Ulitsa Zoologicheskaya 13, (+7 495 254 8492, ncca.ru). Metro: Barrikadnaya.

Baibakov Art Projects

Following the trend for industrial spaces, Maria Baibakova - the 23-year-old daughter of metals magnate Oleg Baibakov - opened this gallery last year in 2,800 sq m of halls at the former Red October Chocolate Factory near the Kremlin. A group of leading young British artists was the first to exhibit. Belgian painter Luc Tuymans, acclaimed as one of the most significant contemporary painters around by Tate Modern, will show Against The Day, his first major exhibition in Russia, from 26 September to 29 November as part of the Biennale.

? Bersenevskaya Naberezhnaya 6, (+7 499 230 3930, baibakovartprojects.com). Metro: Kropotkinskaya.

FAQ Cafe & Creative Studio

A warren of tiny rooms in a basement just off Tverskaya near the central telegraph office, this idiosyncratic cafe is a honeypot for writers, journalists and artists. Chinese-Armenian owner David Yan - one of Russia's leading IT entrepreneurs - organises regular sessions of jazz, body art, street performances, film showings and other kheppeningi (happenings). FAQ's rooms are themed, so choose according to your mood: the living room, the library, the nursery or bedroom. FAQ has a dedicated crowd - regulars even have a special box for keeping a pair of slippers to shuffle around in - but they're a friendly lot, so you should be able to talk your way in, even without a membership card.

? Gazetny Pereulok 9 (+7 495 629 0827, faq-cafe.ru). Metro: Okhotny Ryad.

Proyekt OGI

A bookshop, club and occasional gallery combined, OGI is one of Moscow's favourite hangouts for creative types, or those posing as such. It opened in 1999 and was the venue for the first gigs of the legendary Russian group, Leningrad, who were later banned from performing in the capital because of their obscene lyrics. Now this bohemian dive has a mellower feel - customers muse over OGI-published poetry books - with the odd flash of raucousness on the weekends. The door policy is liberal - a welcome change from the strict "fays kontrol" at some of Moscow's elite nightspots. The club is open 24 hours and the food is cheap as chips but beware - the place can get rammed and smoky, even midweek.

? Potapovsky Pereulok 8/12 (+7 495 627 5366, proektogi.ru). Metro: Chistiye Prudy.

Kitaysky Lyotchik

"Chinese Pilot", a restaurant and club, draws a young artsy crowd, attracted by its reasonably-priced food, laissez faire attitude and decent live music. It's not the classiest joint - in fact this is about as far as you can get from the glam of pafosny oligarch hangouts, but if you're up for a few vodkas with raw herring and some dancefloor fun, then this is the place. Lyotchik prides itself on its diversity of performers, from French chanson to Petersburg hooligans. Paperny Tam, the house band, are a must see.

? Lubyansky Proyezd 25/12, (+7 495 623 2896, jao-da.ru). Metro: Kitay-Gorod.

Dom

Expect the unexpected at this decade-old venue, with avant garde theatre and cinema alongside live music and occasional exhibitions.

? Bolshoy Ovchinnikovsky Pereulok 24 (+7 495 953 7236, dom.com.ru). Metro: Novokuznetskaya.

Expedia (0871 226 0808, expedia.co.uk) offers flight-plus-hotel packages to Moscow: three nights B&B at the Peter 1st Hotel from £384pp, or three nights room-only at the Golden Apple Boutique Hotel (goldenapple.ru) from £447, both with with bmi flights from Heathrow.