Activists make art of Putin protests
Feminist collective opens show in London, hits U.S. beginning Dec. 13
LONDON – Petr Pavlensky, Oleg Kulik and Nadya Tolokonnikova are artists and activists who protest what they see as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly repressive rule. But marching with signs and chants is not their style.
In past years, Pavlensky has sewn his mouth shut and rolled naked in barbed wire.
Kulik has roamed around nude on all fours growling like a dog.
While pregnant, Tolokonnikova took part in a public sex orgy at a zoological museum. Later, she shot to fame as a member of the feminist-punk collective, Pussy Riot, and spent two years in jail for performing in a cathedral.
Their goal, they say, is for people to experience the brutality and oppression of Putin’s Russia. The former Communist country that this week marked the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, ranks near the bottom in freedom, according to many human rights groups.
Starting next week, Londoners will get several chances to do just that. Tolokonnikova, 27, is bringing Inside
Pussy Riot to the stage Nov. 14 to Dec. 24 at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea.
On Nov. 17, at Islington’s Assembly Hall, Maria Alyokhina, 29, Tolokonnikova’s Pussy Riot collaborator, will recount her version of illegal strip searches and solitary confinement in a Siberian penal colony in Riot Days, based on her book.
Yekaterina Samutsevich, 35, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were detained in 2012 for hooliganism for performing Punk Prayer in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The obscenity-laced song attacks the Orthodox Church’s support for Putin.
“Inside Pussy Riot will be based on Pussy Riot’s story, but it won’t just be about Pussy Riot,” Tolokonnikova told USA TODAY in an interview in the British capital, where she was rehearsing the show. “It will be about you and your beliefs, and being prepared to stand up for what you believe in — ready or not.”
Director Christa Harris said that in addition to highlighting abuses within Russia’s penal system, the performance would challenge perceptions about freedom of speech, LGBT rights, feminism and artistic expression.
“There’s definitely some big climactic moments — and as a performance it’s not that safe,” Harris said. “We don’t want the audience to feel safe.”
On Wednesday, Pussy Riot will release Police State, a song accompanied by a video featuring actress Chloe Sevigny. According to a statement, the project “sums up the current state of affairs of authoritarian leaders like Russia’s Putin and America’s (President) Trump.”
The feminist collective will play its first live show, in a commercial setting, in Berlin on Thursday. Los Angeles hosts the U.S. debut Dec. 13.