Dissident “street art” resisting neo-Soviet discourse: the“Voina” and “Pussy Riot”  groups
10.13125/2039-6597/1862
The link between Moscow art-group “Voina” and the movement of Moscow Conceptualism was clear when, in 2007, it planned a performance with the artist Dmitrii Prigov, called “Voina/War does only unskilled jobs”.  Prigov died before he could take part in the performance but the group “Voina”  has since carried out an ever more spectacular series of  projects, bordering on pornography, as in the notorious performance "Fuck for the Heir Puppy Bear!", staged in February 2008, when five couples had public sex in Moscow’s Museum of Biology. This and other actions were filmed and posted on YouTube and other social networks, immediately going viral. The same M.O. was adopted in the actions of  the group “Pussy Riot”, and in Ukraine by “Femen”.While more traditional media such as TV and radio are government monopolies, access to internet and social media is still free and provides a powerful means for these dissident groups to publicize their performances against the restoration of neo-Soviet ideology and to assert their non-conformist identity. 
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Gabriella Elina Imposti
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Pussy Riot
Dissident “street art” resisting neo-Soviet discourse: the“Voina” and “Pussy Riot”  groups
Text.Serial.Journal
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Logics of Power, Practices of Resistance
2016-01-24
2015-06-18
2015-11-30
2016-01-24
1
Gabriella Elina Imposti
2015
10.13125/2039-6597/1862
Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna
2039-6597
10
Pussy Riot
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Dissident “street art” resisting neo-Soviet discourse: the“Voina” and “Pussy Riot”  groups
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5
    Dissident “Street Art” Resisting
         Neo-Soviet Discourse:
 the “Voina” and “Pussy Riot” Groups!
                           Gabriella Elina Imposti!

!
       «We’ve chosen the worst and most aggressive name possible, so
that we cannot hide ourselves.»1 This is how Oleg Vorotnikov, one of
the founders of the art-group “Voina” (War), comments on the name of
the group (Epshtein 2012:16-17). Other sources mention a different
reason for this name. Vorotnikov is also known under the alias of
“Vor”, which in Russian means ‘thief’, but this alias could also be read
as ‘war’ in the Russian pronunciation of the sound /w/, which sounds
more as a /v/. [Fig. 1] Therefore, there is at least a double
interpretation of this name. This recalls the ambiguous and
polysemantic interpretations of the nickname of one of OBERIU’s most
interesting authors, Kharms, whose real surname was Yuvachov. This
variety of nicknames and codes is typical of all the members of the
group “Voina”. Vorotnikov’s wife, Natal’ya Sokol is also known as
“Koza” (she-Goat) or “Kozlyonok” (kid, young goat), Pyotr Verzilov is
also known as “Porosyonok” (“Piglet”) or “Khueplyot” (“Dickhead”)
and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova as “Tolonko”. The poetics of nicknames
and aliases in neo- or post-avant-garde groups could be an interesting
field for further research. !
      Whatever the origin of the name of the group, the aggressive and
disruptive character of its actions is clear, even by means of a quick


    All the translations from Russian are mine, unless otherwise stated. The
    1

transliteration follows the Anglophone simplified system.


Between, vol. 5, n. 10 (2015)
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



overview of its history. Furthermore, if there is a war, it is important to
understand against whom or what it is directed. As Oleg Vorotnikov
said in an interview, «the idea of creating an art-group dates back to
2007, when it became clear that in our country all democratic liberties
were being swept away and the only works artists were producing
were all conformist and glam.» (informareperesistere). !
The group “Voina” existed for a limited period of time, about five
years. In February 2007 it was founded by Oleg Vorotnikov, Natal’ya
Sokol , Pyotr Verzilov and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, with the support
of Anton Nikolaev (born 1976), who was the founder of another group,
“Bombily”, and who for a while took part in the actions of “Voina”. [Fig.
2] !

     In 2009 the group broke up into two factions: the so-called Saint
Petersburg faction with Oleg Vorotnikov, Natal’ya Sokol, and the
Moscow faction with Pyotr Verzilov and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova2
who would later start the “Pussy Riot” group, which would gain
instant fame with the action in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in
February 2012. Because of this action, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria
Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich were arrested. Only the first
two were sentenced to two years’ detention. They were released in
December 2013.!
     In November 2010 Leonid Nikolaev and Oleg Vorotnikov were
arrested after the action called «Dvortsovyi perevorot» (Palace
Revolution), which consisted of turning a number of police cars upside
down3. [Fig. 3] At first the media minimized the significance of the
action, reporting that the intention was to «take a child’s ball from
under a car». Later, a more political interpretation of the word
“perevorot” (revolution) led the authorities to consider it an act of
vandalism bordering on terrorism. Nikolaev and Vorotnikov were
released in February 2011, when British graffiti artist Banksy bailed


       2   For a detailed report on this schism see Epshtein 2012: 48-61.
       3   The action took place on 6th September 2010.


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                                                       Between, vol. 5 , n. 10 (2015)



them out (gazeta.ru 2011/02/24). A month later, Oleg Vorotnikov was
arrested again because of his offensive behaviour during the march of
the dissident group Strategiya 31 in St Petersburg4. In 2012 he was
invited to be the curator of the seventh edition of the Berlin Biennale
(berlinbiennale.de). In the same year Oleg Vorotnikov, his wife,
Natal’ya Sokol and their children left the country in order to avoid
further repression. They are currently in Italy, where they applied for
political asylum. They presented videos of their performances at
festivals in Venice (saledocks) and Milan5 and for a period lived as
squatters near the Arsenal in Venice. In 2014 Vorotnikov was arrested
for a brawl with other squatters and then released (corrieredelveneto). !
      The art group “Voina” is integral part of the evolution of Russian
Avant-Garde, which, according to the sociologist and expert in
contemporary art, Alek Epshtein, in the twentieth and early twenty-
first century went through four “waves” (Epshtein Langenburg 8-12).
The first one developed from the beginning of the 1910s to,
approximately, the end of the 1920s. It included artists like Malevich,
Kandinsky, Khlebnikov, Kharms and others and was represented by
various groups, including Cubo-Futurism, Contructivism, OBERIU.
Stalin’s repressions caused a long gap until the early 1960s, when the
so-called “second wave” of Russian Avant-Garde began. [Fig. 4]Its
more representative tendencies were the conceptualism of Ilya
Kabakov’s total installations and Andrey Monastyrsky’s “actionism”.
[Fig. 5] The participants in the so-called “bulldozer exhibition” (1974),
Vitalii Komar and Aleksandr Melamid, were the founders of the so-
called “sots-art”. Together with Timur Novikov’s neoclassical art, they



 4 “Strategiya 31” is a Russian organization for the defense of civil rights of
peaceful assembly and demonstration granted by Article 31 of the Russian
Constitution. Since July 2009 these demonstrations were held every 31st of
the month.
 5 Macaomilano (2012). Inaugurazione mostra dei VOINA – «Soon we’ll be
completely fearless» http://www.macaomilano.org/appuntamenti/750


                                                                                   3
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



can be considered members of the third wave of the Russian Avant-
Garde. !
     The fourth wave developed in the early years of the twentyfirst
century and is characterized by its strong and unconventional reaction
to the present social and political situation in Russia. It started with
Anton Nikolaev’s group “Bombily” and developed with the group
“Voina”, which cooperated with “Bombily” in the “Trade union of
street-art” (Profsoyuz ulichnogo iskusstva), and later saw the creation
of “Pussy Riot”. !
     The group “Bombily” was founded at the end of 2004 by Anton
Nikolaev [Fig. 6] and Aleksandr Rossikhin, who had worked in the
studio of the artist Oleg Kulik6. The word “bombila” is commonly used
for drivers who illegally work as taxi drivers. It was chosen because
Nikolaev and Rossikhin were then spending a lot of time travelling by
car in provincial Russia and had decided to turn their experience into a
sort of “reality show” or “Life-Art” (Nikolaev «Ob artivizme»). The
name of the art-group was also later interpreted in connection with the
Russian verb “bombit’” (to bombard), from which it derives, in order
to highlight the disruptive effect of its actions. It received vast media
coverage thanks to the action called «Avtoprobeg nesoglasnykh» (The
Dissenters’ Car Ride), [Fig. 7] which took place on April 14th 2007, the
same day as the March of the Dissenters (Marsh nesoglasnykh) in
Moscow7. This action was the first in Russia to use the sexual act as a
means of political protest. It consisted of a car of the old Soviet
“Zhiguli” model, which was circulating with a red bed fixed on the


    Born in 1961 he is a representative of Moscow actionism. He became
    6

famous for his performace in which he acted as a “dogman” on a leash. The
action "I bite America and America bites me", was performed in 1997 at New
York's Deitch Gallery (artinfo.ru/ Oleg Kulik).

   In 2005 and 2007 in various cities of the Russian Federation there were
    7

many marches of the so-called “dissenters” protesting against Putin’s policy
and his ruthless erasing of any form of organized political dissent in the
country.


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roof, on which an heterosexual couple was having sex. The artists
declared that through this act of sexual liberty they wanted to protest
against the authoritarian Putinian regime and its control over the lives
of Russian citizens (Jonson 2015: 149). We can apply to the authors of
this action the modified Foucaultian formula of «founders of
discursivity», if we replace the word “text” with “action”: !

        [These authors] are unique in that they are not just the authors
     of their own works [actions]. They have produced something else:
     the possibilities and the rules for the formation of other texts
     [actions]. (Foucault 1998: 217) !

     What they produced was indeed the provocative and disruptive
actions that the group “Voina” would perform in the following years.
These groups followed the model of the performances of the 1950s and
1960s in the West and of Andrey Monastyrsky’s “actionism” in the
USSR. The link between Moscow art-group “Voina” and the movement
of Moscow Conceptualism was particularly clear when, in June 2007, it
planned a performance with the artist Dmitrii Prigov, called «Gruppa
Voina zanimaetsia tol’ko nekvalifitsirovannym trudom» (Voina/War
does only unskilled jobs). Unfortunately, Prigov died before he could
take part in the performance. On 24th August 2007 “Voina” organized
an action called «Pominki D.A. Prigovu» (Wake in honor of Dmitrii
Prigov). [Fig. 8] Before closing time the activists carried folding tables,
food and drink into the Moscow underground, invited the other
passengers to celebrate the memory of the great Russian conceptualist
poet. The action was repeated in the metro of Kiev.!
     These art-groups renounced the creation of material artifacts
suitable for the conventional and static structure of museums and
galleries and moved their artistic actions into the streets, shops and
commercial malls, police stations, courts and even back to museums.
This calls to mind Mayakovsky’s well-known call to Futurists to «take
the art to the streets» (Prikaz po armii iskusstva Command / Order to the
Army of Arts), so that everyone can become not only a spectator but



                                                                                  5
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



also a participant in these actions. These actions are usually swift,
unexpected and extremely provocative in their programmatic breaking
of taboos and conventions. They are similar to flash mobs, and some
have even been compared to terrorist acts. These performances can be
perused for a very limited time by the public which is directly involved
in them. However, the fact that they are recorded and then posted on
the internet and social networks grants them a great degree of
longevity, multiplying their effects. Anton Nikolaev talks about
«cognitive terrorism», which by means of «”symbolic violence”
achieves a media impact analogous to that obtained by terrorists by
means of “subjective violence”» (Nikolaev “Bombily”).!
     In these actions the spheres of the intimate, the personal and the
public are mixed. It is up to the artist to decide the proportions of this
mixture, sometimes even involving his/her own body and the very
intimate sphere of sexual life and transforming it into a public
statement. As one of the participants in the action in the Biological
Museum in Moscow, Oleg Vasilyev, aptly summarised: «The social role
of the philosopher [artist] is above all to reflect on the taboos of society
and go beyond its limits.» (Epshtein 2012: 81). !
     To better understand the political impact of the actions of the
group “Voina”, let us explain the concept of “tandemocracy”, which is
particularly relevant to our discussion. It derives from the system of
power shared in “tandem” between Vladimir Putin and Dmitrii
Medvedev, which started in 2008. Unlike the Belarusian President,
Alexander Lukashenko, Putin decided not to alter the Russian
Constitution, which limited the tenure of Russian President to two
consecutive terms. He decided to step down as President of the
Russian Federation but he found a loyal candidate for the office in
Dmitrii Medvedev, who at the time was Deputy First Minister. When
Medvedev was elected President of the Russian Federation, he
appointed Putin as First Minister, de facto letting him continue to rule
the country. Soon afterwards, a new law was passed which extended
the duration of the office of Russian President to six years, paving the



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path for further two consecutive terms for Putin as Russian President
(from 2012 to 2024) (Epshtein 2012).!
      Bearing this in mind, it is not difficult to understand the reason
why the peak of “Voina”’s actions was in the year 2008. The group
energetically protested against the political farce being played out in
the country. The action which made it instantly famous took place on
February 29th 2008 in Moscow in the Timiryazev Biology Museum in
the room devoted to bears. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Pyotr
Verzilov, Oleg Vorotnikov and Natal’ya Sokol, Vladimir Shilov and
Elena Kostyleva and two more couples, who by chance joined the
action, took off their clothes and had sex while their action was being
filmed. The ideologue of the group, Aleksey Plutser-Sarno held a sign
saying «Ebis’ za naslednika Medvezhonka» (Fuck for the heir, the little
Bear-Medvedev). [Fig. 9] As Plutser-Sarno commented in an interview,
this action is «the portrait of Russia before the presidential elections,
when everyone is fucking everyone else, and the Little Bear-Medvedev
observes all of this with repulsion. The group sex in the museum was a
protest against the pornography and the moral dissolution which have
swept Russia.» (Plucer-Sarno 26/11/2008).!
      After her release from prison, Nadya Tolokonnikova thus
commented on this action: «When Putin said that a totally unknown
politician [Medvedev] would become our next President, he put us in
front of a fait accompli. In that moment the country had been really
fucked. In our action we showed this as well as we could using the
traditions of contemporary art.» (Tolokonnikova Alyokhina 2013).!
      Another interpretation of the action in the Biology Museum can be
found in the renewed emphasis of the Russian government on the role
of the family in the growth of the country. In May 2006 Putin sent an
official letter to the Federal Parliament of the Russian Federation
encouraging it to take effective measures against the dramatic fall in
the birth rate and announcing a series of measures in support of
families with more than one child (Vedomosti 2006). The year 2008 was
officially declared to be the year of the family in Russia
(Semya2008.ru). Public discourse began to focus on themes concerning


                                                                               7
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



the family. For example, during the celebrations for the day of the
capital, on September 7th 2008, one of the main events was a pageant
during which dozens of young glamorous couples sporting prams and
rosy babies marched in the square in front of the Moscow City Council
building. Thus “Voina”’s action of copulating in public unmasked this
message that had violated the limits of the private sphere of the lives of
Russian citizens, encouraging sexual activity for the demographic
growth of the country and transforming a private and intimate act into
an act of public interest.!
     The reference to the “bear”, “medved’” in Russian, in the context
of the action of the group “Voina” is particularly polysemantic. Apart
from the obvious hint at the surname of the new Russian president,
there are a series of other connections. “Medved” is the acronym of a
movement created in 1999 for the elections, the Mezhregional’noe
Dvizhenie Edinstvo (Inter-regional Movement Union) whose symbol
was a bear. [Fig. 10] After Putin’s election as President in 2000 it was
transformed into the party “Edinstvo” (“Union”) and later into
“Edinaya Rossya” (“United Russia”), which represents the present
Russian ruling establishment. !
     In February 2006 the meme “Preved medved”, “Hello, bear!” [Fig.
11] went viral on the Russian internet. It derived from the American
cartoon “Bear surprise” posted by John Lurie. [Fig. 12] In it an
anthropomorphic bear surprises a couple having sex in a wood. The
word “surprise” in the Russian version is replaced by the semi-slang
expression “preved” (privet), “Hello!” (Ukraine Daily, 2006). Since then
there have been dozens of variants of this cartoon. The bear itself is
often represented with Medvedev’s face in a variety of funny or
obnoxious situations. [Fig. 13] !
     After the action in the Biology Museum the group “Voina” carried
out eleven more actions8. Let us mention two more rather remarkable
actions aimed at buildings symbols of power in Russia. «Shturm
Belogo Doma» (The Storm of the White House), i.e. the Building of

      8   See Plutser-Sarno’s Blog, Epshtein 2012 and 2013.


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Government of the Russian Federation in Moscow, took place on the
eve of the 7th of November 2008, which is the anniversary of the
October Revolution. Putin at the time was Prime Minister of the
Russian Federation. A group of activists of “Voina” succeded in taking
a fifty-kilogram laser generator to the top of the Ukraine hotel,
opposite the White House from where they projected a giant picture of
skull and crossbone onto the government building, while another
group climbed over the fence surrounding the White House and made
a brief “invasion”. The image was twelve stories high and stayed there
for a very short time, long enough though to be filmed before the
power was switched off by the security staff of the hotel9. [Fig. 14 ] This
time there were no slogans,           the action was left to the free
interpretation of the Russian citizens. On his blog Plutser-Sarno
commented, saying that the «skull and crossbones on the White House
is there to warn the government about the Russian people dying while
the new bourgeoisie are drowning in luxury.» (reported in Epshtein
2013: 271).!
      The other (in)famous act protest was «Khuy v plenu FSB» (The
Cock Held Prisoner at the FSB [Federal Security Agency]), also called
«The Leteyny-bridge Cock» (Plutser-Sarno blog). It took place on Che
Guevara’s birthday, June 14th 2010. A 65 metre long erect phallus was
painted on a drawbridge in Saint Petersburg in less than a minute just
before the bridge was raised. The image was proudly erect right in
front of the FSB building in Saint Petersburg. [Fig. 15] It immediately
went viral on the internet. In April 2011 it was awarded the Art
Innovation Prize as «the best work of visual art» by the National
Centre for Contemporary Art10. However, the group “Voina” did not
claim the prize and left it to the Russian organization “Agora” for the
defence of civil rights (Plutser-Sarno blog).!

     9  For a detailed description of the action with commentaries of the
actors see Epshtein 2012: 126-134.
     10 For further information about the prize and the querelle it provoked
see Jonson 2015: 155-156.


                                                                                 9
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



      According to “Voina” activist Verzilov, !

         Art being taken from galleries and brought outside into the
      streets is the healthiest sign of the times. Voina is at the origin of a
      completely new type of actionism. Here the emphasis is shifted
      from the abstract and symbolic mini-gesture made within the
      limits of gallery art, and onto specific, naked street action, made as
      close to the viewer as possible. [...] We have to show people what
      forms of possible self organisation are available to them. […] To
      inspire individuals to create their own band, to be autonomous
      and bold. Today this kind of art is mainly promoted and
      propagandised via the internet, since there are no other resources
      free from federal control. (quoted in Epshtein 2013: 272)!

     At the beginning the group “Voina” had no definite strategy to
publicize their actions. They did not keep an official blog. They mainly
used the technique of the leakage of news to the press and on the
internet. Their fame spread mainly thanks to Aleksey Plutser-Sarno,
who at first appointed himself as «honorary member of the group»,
then as «artistic director», and in 2011 as «media-artist of the
group» (Epshtein 2012: 89). Since March 2008 he kept a blog devoted to
the actions of “Voina” and their interpretation (Plutser-Sarno blog).
These reports were usually agreed with Vorotnikov, although they
often acquired a rather bombastic and surrealistic tone and did not
always correspond to the reality of facts. Plutser-Sarno «‘squeezed’ the
maximum from the actions, enacting big media-shows around them on
the virtual stage of internet, every time managing to get a full
house.» (Epsthein 2012: 90). [Fig. 16]!
     At this point, it is important to introduce the concept of “artivism”
formulated by Anton Nikolaev, which he applies to the art-groups of
the second half of the first decade of this century: !

         Although the actions of activism and artivism are apparently
      similar, they use different strategies of expression (representation).
      The representation of the actionists consisted of the action itself,



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     while the product of the artivists consists of the artist’s report of
     the action on the internet. This upload of information into the
     mediasphere is meant to excite violent reactions and animated
     discussions. [...] You can say that artivism is interactive. (Nikolaev
     «Artivizm i aktivizm») !

      Plutser-Sarno took on himself this role of «‘specialist in fine
discursive tuning’, who rocks the mediasphere, provoking its reactions
and generating additional meanings» (ibidem). As Oleg Vorotnikov
himself aknowledges, the group “Voina” owes its fame to Plutser-
Sarno (Epshtein 2012: 95). According to Baudrillard, replacing reality
with the signs of reality is what characterizes contemporary culture,
which evolves from «reflecting reality» to camouflaging its absence and
reaching a point where the signifier is not connected with any reality at
all (Baudrillard 1995). Plutser-Sarno’s representation of the actions of
“Voina” is therefore very close to Baudrillard’s concept of
“simulacrum”. As Alek Epshtein suggests, Plutser-Sarno was one of
the first to apply to the Russian web the achievements of Russian
conceptual art and artivism. !

        He bet heavily on the absence of a boundary between
     representation and original. He described the actions of “Voina”,
     so that they appeared in the most effective way, according to the
     rules of cyberspace, regardless of whether his ‘reportages’ were
     close to the real description of the events or not. (Epshtein 2012:
     97). !

     In a nutshell, Plutser-Sarno made the events of the actions of
“Voina” «become merely a master matrix, or a mold for casting its own
reproductions» (Anders 1956: 20). !
     !
     ***!
     !
     The “artivism” of “Voina” was further developed by the “Pussy
Riot” group, which was in fact started by one of “Voina” members,


                                                                                   11
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and others «around the end of September
2011, right after Putin announced that he was planning to return as
president» (Langston 2012). This feminist punk group is inspired by
earlier punk rock groups like “Bikini Kill” and the “Riot Grrrl”
movement and among feminists several names are quoted: Simone De
Beauvoir, Andrea Dworkin, Shulamith Firestone, Rosi Braidotti, Judith
Butler, and Pankhurst’s «brave suffragist actions» (Langston 2012). !
     The very name of the group “Pussy Riot” is a call to female sexual
agency and power, as one of the group explains: !

             A female sex organ, which is supposed to be receiving and
          shapeless, suddenly starts a radical rebellion against the cultural
          order, which tries to constantly define it and show its appropriate
          place. Sexists have certain ideas about how a woman should
          behave, and Putin, by the way, also has a couple of thoughts on
          how Russians should live. Fighting against all that—that's Pussy
          Riot. (Langston 2012)!


     By wearing neon balaclavas and brightly coloured dresses the
group chose «masks of de-individualization, of liberating
anonymity» (Žižek 2012)11. As one of the members declared in an
interview:!

             We often change names, balaclavas, dresses, and roles inside
          the groups. People drop out, new members join the group, and the
          lineup in every Pussy Riot’s guerrilla performance can be entirely
          different. (Langston 2012)!




     To be sure, a man masked like the Pussy Riot also took part in the
     11

attempted action in Sochi in February 2014.


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                                                         Between, vol. 5 , n. 10 (2015)



      They write songs with provocative titles aimed against the
president like “Putin pissed his pants”12, “Fuck the Sexists, Fuck
Putin’s Henchmen”. After Putin’s 2011 election and December 2011
mass protests in Moscow, their songs called to rebellion following the
model of Tahir Square: “Do Tahir in Red Square”, “Egyptian Air is
good for the Lungs” or pointed to the Russian anarchist tradition as in
“Krapotkin Vodka”13. Their actions did not stop even after the release
of Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina from prison in December 2013. Their
first action was in Sochi in February 2014, when they sang “Putin will
teach you how to love the Motherland”14.!
      The actions of “Pussy Riot” draw on the carnivalesque principle
of exposing and subverting the fundamentals of power by mixing
absurd, parody and chaos. Perhaps it is not by chance that the
notorious action in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was performed
at the end of “Maslenitsa”, that is to say the Russian Carnival (Bessant
2014: 169). This is another reason why, as for “Voina”, the choice of
public spaces is crucial for their protest art and even more relevant
than the lyrics of their songs (Bessant 2014: 171). Even before the action
in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in February 2012, which
triggered their world-wide fame along with their harsh repression, as
in carnivaleque performances (Bakhtin 1965) all of the venues of their
actions implied the potential presence of mass audiences. These venues
have a strong simbolic value: the Moscow underground, Red Square,




  12 Performed in Red Square on 20 January 2012. The song (optimistically)
refers to Putin being allegedly scared by the 2011 December mass protests
against his re-election.
  13   For an English version of these songs, see Jonson 2015: 179-182.
  14 Their first attempt was blocked by a group of cossacks who beat them
with whips and sprayed them with teargas. Afterwards they managed to
perform in front of the Olympic symbol (The Guardian 2014; Archive Colta
ru; Stereogum).


                                                                                    13
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



the roofs of the buildings opposite the prison where leaders of the
December protest where held15, the Elokhovo Cathedral. !
      The worldwide notoriety of the group is mainly due to their
uploading on the internet of short videos edited and assembled on the
basis of their performances, which in fact last a matter of few minutes.
Thus they go viral, multiplying the impact of their action and erasing
time and space thanks to their infinite repeatability. This aspect recalls
another point of analogy with the OBERIU poetics, and in particular
with Daniil Kharms’ vignettes in which the same absurd action is
repeated over and over again16.!
      As we have seen, the meaning of the actions performed by
“Voina” wasn’t always clear and easy to decipher and in some cases,
for example the action «Pamyati Dekabristov» (In memory of the
Decembrists: a Gift to Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov)17, they were
completely and maliciously misinterpreted. Indeed, in 2012, in
response to Angela Merkel’s criticism of the “Pussy Riot” case, Putin
quoted this action, in which Tolokonnikova took part, as an example of
the group’s alleged antisemitic feelings.!
      Unlike “Voina”, “Pussy Riot” are articulate and explicit in
explaining the meaning of their actions during the numerous
interviews they have released from the very beginning and do not
delegate any “spoke-person” to do this. This is particularly clear in the
letters Tolokonnikova and Žižek exchanged during the imprisonment
of the “Pussy Riot” activists discussing artistic subversion, political

     15   See the video in Langston 2012.

     As for example in Falling Old Ladies. To be sure, Tolokonnikova made
     16

explicit reference to OBERIU in her closing statement at the 2012 trial (Pussy
Riot Closing Statement).

      Performed on 7 September 2008. In 1826 five participants in the
     17

Decembrist uprising were hanged. Holding a banner saying «Nobody gives a
fuck about Pestel», the participants in the action performed a mock-hanging
of two homosexuals and three Central Asian guest-workers (see Epshtein
2012: 114-120).


14
                                                       Between, vol. 5 , n. 10 (2015)



activism, democracy, later published in a book (Tolokonnikova Žižek
2014). “Pussy Riot”’s opposition to power after Tolokonnikova’s and
Alyokhina’s liberation has not limited itself to Russia, but has extended
to social problems such as the migration crisis that has currently
involved most of Europe. From this point of view the recently
produced video «Refugees In» is particularly significant (Pussy Riot at
Banksy’s Dismaland 2015). !
      “Voina” performed actions which changed style and procedure
every time. The aesthetic aspect of their performances was sometimes
rather refined. For example, the disposition of the bodies in the photos
of «Fuck for the heir, the little Bear-Medvedev» closely recalls that of a
painting. On the contrary, in their actions “Pussy Riot” follow a clear
“format” with masks and gestures which never change. Their jumping
up and down, their plastic guitars and bright balaclavas have become
an authentic ‘trademark’. Even the music does not seem to change
much. What changes are the lyrics of their songs and the venues of
their performances. To these features one should add their being a
group clearly defined from the gender point of view and «their name,
perfectly pitched to both shock and attract the western media» (Idov
2012). All of this and last but not least, the ferocious repression of their
«rather marginal act of arty protest» (Idov 2012) greatly contributed to
their international success18. !
       In spite of predictions about their “end”, which started soon after
their liberation from prison (Nekhezin 2013), and all allegations of «the
death of the “Pussy Riot”»19, they have continued their action of
resistance against the repressive laws enforced in recent years and the
«general apathy» that has engulfed Russia nowadays (Zoladz 2014).!

  18 In an interview Tolokonnikova remarked: «Probably no one would have
noticed our protest if Putin himself hadn’t highlighted it to the whole world»
(Tolokonnikova 2014).
  19 Recently they staged a self-mocking performance about their alleged
death: «Aktsiya! Aktsiya! Pussy Riot Likvidatsiya! Pussy Riot is
dead» (Special offer! Liquidation of Pussy Riot. Pussy Riot is dead) 2015.


                                                                                  15
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



    As Tolonnikova said in an interview after being beaten with a
whip by a Cossack during the attempted Sochi action:!
      !
     Anyone can become a member of “Pussy Riot”, including one of you.
The only thing you need is to be passionate about politics, make up a song,
record that song, find a place, put on a mask and perform. Anyone can be
Pussy Riot. (Pussy Riot gets whipped at Sochi).!
      !
      !
      !
                                 List of illustrations !
      !
      Fig. 1 «Voina Wanted». Oleg Vorotnikov in the courtroom 14 January
2011. Photo: Vladimir Telegin!
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
!
!
!


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                                                      Between, vol. 5 , n. 10 (2015)



Fig. 2 Art-group “Voina” in Moscow for an interview with Sergey Korneev
from the free newspaper “Aktsiya” (Action) 8 April 2009. Photo: Natalya
Eremina http://akzia.ru/politics/08-04-2009/2545.html !
!

                                       !
                                       !
                                       !
                                       !
                                       !
!
Fig. 3 Action “Palace Revolution” 16 September 2010, Saint Petersburg. See:
http://plucer.livejournal.com/tag/"Дворцовый%20переворот . See video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue_Wd2AjKAI!

                                            !
                                            !
                                            !
                                            !
                                            !
                                            !
                                            !
                                            !
                                            !
!
!
Fig. 4 Artist Ilya Kabakov (b. 1933). Photo: Aleksey Filippov (ITAR-TASS)!
http://artchronika.ru/news/kabakov-anniv-2013/!



                   !
                   !
                   !
                   !

                                                                                 17
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



!
Fig. 5 Artist Andrey Monastyrsky (b. 1949). Photo by Daria Novgorodova.
h t t p : / / w w w. n c c a . r u / i n n o v a t i o n / e n / s h o r t l i s t i t e m ?
slid=186&contest=26&nom=6 !
!
                              !
                              !
                              !
                              !
                              !
                              !
                              !
!
Fig. 6 Artist Anton Nikolaev (b. 1976). Photo from http://vk.com/halfaman!
                                      !
                                      !
                                      !
                                      !
                                      !
                                      !
                                      !
                                      !
                                      !
                                      !
                                      !
!
Fig. 7 “The Dissenters’ Car Ride”, 14 April 2007. http://nnm.me/blogs/
assa82/v_moskve_proshel_avtoprobeg_make_love/!
See video: https://vimeo.com/16046649!
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
                                              !
!
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                                                                                                                                                          Between, vol. 5 , n. 10 (2015)



                                                             Fig. 8 Art-group “Voina” “Wake in honor of Dmitrii Prigov” performed in
                                                             the Moscow underground 24 August 2007. http://plucer.livejournal.com/
                                                             199938.html?thread=7162626 !




                                                             !
                                                             Fig. 9 Art-group “Voina”. Action “Fuck for the heir, the little Bear-
                                                             Medvedev”, performed on February 29th 2008 in Moscow in the Timiryazev
                                                             Biology Museum. http://plucer.livejournal.com/68093.html!



                                                                                                                                                      !

                                                                                                                                                      !
et art” resisting neo-Soviet discourse: the“Voina” and “Pussy Riot” groups - beatrice.seligardi@gmail.com - Gmail                24/01/16 18:49       !
                                                             Fig. 10 Logo of “Edinstvo” (Inter-regional Movement Union)!

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                                        A: Gabriella Elina Imposti
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                                        Oggetto: Re: [BW] Dissident “street art” resisting neo-Soviet discourse: the“Voina” and “Pussy Riot” groups

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Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



Fig. 11 The Meme “Hello, bear!”.!

!

                         !
                         !
                         !
                         !
                         !
                         !
!
Fig. 12 “Bear surprise” by John Lurie. http://www.johnlurieart.com/art/
index.php?s=prints!




 !

Fig. 13 The Meme “Hello, bear!” with Dmitrii Medvedev. See http://
netspider.com.ua/index.php/2008/03/02/preved-medved/!

                                                  !
                                                  !
                                                  !
                                                  !
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                                                         Between, vol. 5 , n. 10 (2015)



!
!
Fig. 14 Art-group “Voina”. Action “The Storm of the White House”
performed on 7th November 2008 in Moscow. http://lj.rossia.org/users/
plucer/98046.html!




!
Fig. 15 Art-group “Voina”. Action “The Cock Held Prisoner at the Federal
Security Agency”, performed on 14 June 2010 in Saint Petersburg. Frame
from Andrey Gryazev’s movie “Tomorrow” (Zavtra), 2012.!

                                                            !
                                                            !
                                                            !
                                                            !
                                                            !
                                                            !
                                                            !
                                                            !
Fig. 16 Philosopher, journalist and art critic Aleksey Plutser-Sarno (b. 1962)
http://vk.com/album-50618732_184369560!

                    !

                                                                                    21
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse




                                      Bibliography!
Anders, Gunther, «The World As Phantom And As Matrix», Dissent
    (3:1), (Winter) 1956, pp. 14-24. !
Bakhtin, Mikhail, Tvorchestvo Fransua Rable i narodnaya kul’tura
    srednevekov’ya i Renessansa [The works of François Rabelais and the
    popular culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance], Moscow:
    Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1965.!
Baudrillard, Jean, The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, translated and with
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    Press, 1995.!
Bessant, Judith, Democracy Bytes: New Media, New Politics and
    Generational Change, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.!
Epshtein, Alek, “Voina”, Total’naja “Vojna” Art-aktivizm epokhi
    tandemokratii [“Voina”: Art-activism in the Age of Tamdemocracy],
    Moscow: Georgii Eremin, 2012. !
Epshtein, Alek, «The Voina Group: Radical Actionist Protest in
    Contemporary Russia», in Post-Post-Soviet? Art, Politics & Society In
    Russia At The Turn Of The Decade, edited by Marta Dziewańska,
    Ekaterina Degot & Ilya Budraitskis, Warsaw: Museum Of Modern
    Art, 2013, pp. 263-276.!
Foucault, Michel, «What is an Author?», in M. Foucault, Essential
    Works of Foucault: Aesthetic, Method and Epistemology, edited by
    James Faubion, English translation by R. Hurley and others, vol. 2,
    New York: The New Press, 1998, pp. 205-222.!
Jonson, Lena , Art and Protest in Putin’s Russia, London and New York:
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Tolokonnikova, Nadezhda & Žižek, Slavoj, Comradley Greetings: the
    Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj, London and New York: Verso,
    2014.!
!



22
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                            Sitography!
«Aktsiya! Aktsiya! Pussy Riot Likvidatsiya! Pussy Riot is dead» May
    2015, http://pussy-riot.livejournal.com/34906.html!
Archive Colta ru (Pussy Riot in Sochi 14 February 2014), http://
    archives.colta.ru/docs/27877!
Artinfo.ru/ Oleg Kulik, http://www.artinfo.ru/RU/news/main/
    OlegKulik.htm!
Berlinbiennale.de, http://www.berlinbiennale.de/blog/en/1st-6th-
    biennale/7th-berlin-biennale!
Bernstein 2013 Bernstein, Anya, «Post-Soviet Body Politics: Crime and
    Punishment in the Pussy Riot Affair», http://somatosphere.net/
    2013/09/post-soviet-body-politics-crime-and-punishment-in-the-
    pussy-riot-affair.html!
Braidotti, Rosi, «Punk Women and Riot Grrrls» (First Supper
    Symposium, Oslo, May 12,                        2014), http://
    www.thefirstsuppersymposium.org/index.php/en/text-
    symposium-2014!
Corrieredelveneto, http://corrieredelveneto.corriere.it/veneto/
    notizie/cronaca/2014/31 -luglio-2014/venezia-dissidente-russo-
    arrestato-l-associazione-non-estradatelo---223663546384.shtml!
Epshtein Langenburg, «Zhdanov protiv Rodchenko: chetvyortaya
    volna Avantgarda na skame podsudimykh» [Zhdanov against
    Rodchenko: the Fourth Wave of Avant-garde in the dock]
    (Langenburg interviews Epshtein), http://www.be-in.ru/art-
    process/25620-pussy_riot_process/!
Gazeta.ru 2011/02/24, http://www.gazeta.ru/news/lenta/
    2011/02/24/n_1719509.shtml!
Idov 2012 «Pussy Riot prove the only professionals in sight» Friday 17
    August 2012, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/
    2012/aug/17/pussy-riot-only-professionals-in-sight!
Informareperesistere, http://www.informarexresistere.fr/2011/02/18/
    le-anime-vive-di-voina/!




                                                                            23
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



Langston 2012 «Meeting Pussy Riot» by Henry Langston , http://
    www.vice.com/read/A-Russian-Pussy-Riot!
Macaomilano (2012). Inaugurazione mostra dei VOINA – «Soon we’ll
    be completely fearless», http://www.macaomilano.org/
    appuntamenti/750!
Nekhezin 2013 «Konets istorii Pussy Rayot?» [Is this the end of Pussy
    Riot’s history?], http://www.bbc.com/russian/russia/
    2013/12/131227_tolokonnikova_alekhina_end_of_pussy_riot.shtl!
Nikolaev, Anton «Artivizm i aktivizm» [Artivism and activism],
    http://halfaman.livejournal.com/510998.html!
Nikolaev, Anton         «Bombily», http://halfaman.livejournal.com/
    510998.html!
Nikolaev, Anton         «Ob artivisme» [About Artivizm], http://
    halfaman.livejournal.com/661972.html!
Plutser-Sarno 26/11/2008, Evgeniy Finkel, interview with Aleksey
    Plutser-Sarno, http://www.newsru.co.il/world/26nov2008/
    plucer_102.html!
Plutser-Sarno blog, http: / / plucer.livejournal.com !
Pussy Riot at Banksy’s Dismaland November 18, 2015, http://
    pitchfork.com/news/62174-pussy-riot-perform-at-banksys-
    dismaland-in-refugees-in-video/!
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    nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/pussy-riot-closing-
    statements/!
Pussy Riot gets whipped in Sochi (Vice News), https://
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFrZfluKDrc!
Pussy Riot livejournal, http://pussy-riot.livejournal.com/12442.html!
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Saledocks http://www.saledocks.org/voina-soon-well-be-completely-
    fearless!
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    will-teach-you-how-to-love-video/video/!



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                                                  Between, vol. 5 , n. 10 (2015)



The Guardian 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/
    19/pussy-riot-attacked-whips-cossack-milita-sochi-winter-
    olympics!
Tolokonnikova 2014          «Amelia Gentleman interviews Nadia
    Tolokonnikova for the Guardian» , http://www.theguardian.com/
    theguardian/2014/sep/19/nadya-tolokonnikova-pussy-riot-
    interview-nothing-to-lose!
Tolokonnikova Alyokhina 2013 Interview with Nadezhda
    Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina «Pussy Riot: Putin, chekist s
    obiliem strakhov» [PR: Putin, a chekist with a lot of fears],
    published 27-12-2013, http://www.svoboda.org/content/article/
    25214238.html ,!
Ukraine Daily, 2006, http://www.uadaily.net/index.php?view=5611!
Vedomosti 2006, http://www.vedomosti.ru/library/news/
    2006/05/10/prezident-rf-predlozhil-programmu-stimulirovaniya-
    rozhdaemosti-v-rossii ,!
Žižek 2012 «The True Blasphemy», https://chtodelat.wordpress.com/
    2012/08/07/the-true-blasphemy-slavoj-zizek-on-pussy-riot/ !
Zoladz, Lindsay «Interview with Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova i
    Masha Alyokhina» April 10, 2014, http://pitchfork.com/features/
    interviews/9374-nadya-tolokonnikova-and-masha-alyokhina-of-
    pussy-riot/!
!

                            The author !
      Gabriella Elina Imposti!
      !
Gabriella Elina Imposti is Associate Professor of Russian Literature in
the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at
Bologna University, Italy. She has worked on Russian and Italian
Futurism, Russian Romanticism and its reception of British and
German literature. She is also interested in contemporary Russian


                                                                             25
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Dissident “Street Art” Resisting Neo-Soviet Discourse



women writers and the development of gender studies in Russia. See
also her page http://www.unibo.it/docenti/gabriella.imposti !
        !
        Email: gabriella.imposti@unibo.it!



                                         The article!
Data invio: 15/05/2015!
Data accettazione: 30/09/2015!
Data pubblicazione: 30/11/2015!




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