Dasha opens the doors to her garage

Its glamorous patron may not have the grasp of art history that she has of fashion, but the opening on September 17 of the Moscow arts centre founded by Dasha Zhukova, Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich's girlfriend, promises to be the Russian capital's cultural event of the year.

The Garazh Centre for Contemporary Culture is housed in a gigantic Soviet bus station – hence 'garage' or garazh in Russian. Built by the Constructivist architect Konstanin Melnikov, it is one of the most famous Art Deco landmarks in a city where many architectural landmarks have been razed to make way for a new Manhattan-inspired skyline.

Funded by private donations, the Garazh is set to become a major fixture on the Moscow party calendar. Zhukova announces in this month's Russian Vogue that the fashion world is now too narrow for her which is why she is branching out into contemporary art.

As well as a 12-page interview and set of black-and-white Peter Lindbergh pictures celebrating her new project, the magazine also runs an ad which states that the centre – already nicknamed Dasha's Garage in art circles - is "Moscow's first private arts centre with an international programme of exhibitions and events". Think the Tate's turbine hall, with a lot of Russian money - including, it is understood, a sizeable contribution from Abramovich - thrown in.

Russia's zolotaya molodezh (gilded youth) social set is still recovering from the lavish party weekend Zhukova and Abramovich hosted in June to preview the centre. Amy Winehouse played a one-hour set at a dinner for 300 people. While Roman Abramovich disappeared at around 3am, Dasha partied at trendy Moscow nightclub Most until dawn. She then had her birthday party the following night at Soho Rooms, Moscow's latest see-and-be-seen venue.

Part of the intrigue around this project is how it seems to have happened almost overnight. Dasha first visited the bus depot last December and by spring the project had taken shape. She swiftly engaged Amy Winehouse - with whom, bizarrely, she shares a hairdresser - for the launch because she needed someone who would create a buzz and, she told me after the party, "Amy is someone that everyone can appreciate."

Normally cagey about her career intentions, Zhukova is unusually bullish in Russian Vogue when asked if she is using this museum opening to change her image: "My image is the last thing I think about," she tells Vladimir Paperny. "I just want to create an atmosphere where celebrities, Russian artists, critics and art lovers can meet."

The focus on celebrity is perhaps not surprising. In an interview published in the Guardian this week, Daria, when asked which artists she particularly likes, could only reply: "I'm, like, really bad at remembering names." Still, she has taken on the formidable Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst, a former director of the Gagosian Gallery in London, to be the Garazh's director, and she would hardly be the first socialite to patronise contemporary artists for the sake of the parties.

The first exhibition, Alternative History of Art and Other Projects, is by Russian-born, New York-based husband-and-wife team Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. A collection of large installation pieces, it features a huge pair of framed fluffy angel wings attached to a leather harness entitled How to Make Yourself Better.

Maybe this is exactly what Dasha is trying to do. "If I wanted to be liked by the Russian public I would have put on an exhibition of Impressionist paintings. Instead I have decided to take a risk." ·