Voina
 | This article needs to be updated. (December 2010) |
- For the Russian film, see War (2002 film)
Voina (Russian: Война = War) is a Russian performance group known for their provocative and politically charged works of performance art. Voina was founded in 2007 by philosophy students at Lomonosov Moscow State University Oleg Vorotnikov and Natalia Sokol,[1] At the present moment the activists Oleg Vorotnikov and Leonid Nikolayev are detained by the Moscow police in connection with an anti-corruption protest, facing up to seven years of prison sentence.[2] In response to the detention, graffiti artist Banksy decided to raise money for the artists.[2] They have also been denounced by right-wing groups like the People's Synod.[1][3]
Voina came to widespread public attention with their 2008 work Fuck for the heir Puppy Bear!, staged the day before the election of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Five couples, including one pregnant woman four days from giving birth, had public sex in Moscow's Timirayzev State Museum of Biology.[1][3]
The Voina action In Memory of the Decemberists - A Present to Yuri Luzhkov, staged a hanging of two homosexual men and three Central Asian guest workers, references to political stances of Moscow Mayor Luzhkov which have been denounced as racist and homophobic.
[1] A Cop in a Priest's Robe featured Vorotnikov wearing the robe of a Russian Orthodox priest and the hat of a police officer leaving a grocery store without paying for a full cart of groceries, a demonstration of the "invulnerability" of these groups.[1][4]
Other Voina actions include a wake for absurdist poet Dmitry Prigov, featuring a table with food and vodka, in a Moscow Metro car and celebrating International Workers' Day by throwing live cats through the counters in a McDonald's restaurant "to break up the drudgery of workers' routine day".[3]
In the night of June 14, 2010, Voina painted a giant 65 m long phallus on the Liteyny drawbridge leading to the Bolshoy Dom, headquarters of the Federal Security Service in Saint Petersburg.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d e Konstantin Akinsha, "Art in Russia: Under Attack", ARTnews, October 2009.
- ^ a b Tom Parfitt, "Banksy pledges £80,000 to Russian radical art group Voina", Guardian, Dec 12, 2010.
- ^ a b c Thomas Peter, "Art shock troops mock Russian establishment", Reuters, Jul 23, 2008.
- ^ "Lisa Taylor, Explosion of State and Popular Racism follows Moscow Blasts". Hartford-hwp.com. Retrieved 2010-12-03.
- ^ Marina Galperina, "Why Russian art goupr Voina dicked a St Petersburg bridge", Animal New York, 16 June 2010.