Voina, a russian art collective, is making people to talk about them again. They have done crazy things in the past such as hurling live cats at McDonalds workers, engaging in a full-on orgy in a state museum, and shoplifting a raw chicken from a store by hiding it in one member’s vagina!
Their members got in all sort of problems of course with some being put in jail but they are now recognized by the establishment, VOINA has indeed just received one of the highest honors for contemporary art in their country Russia.
Dick in FSB Captivity is why they got this award. The artwork is a 210-foot outline of a penis on a drawbridge facing the the headquarters of the state security services, yes the KGB. When the drawbridge raises, the penis appeared to become erect – genius.
Bansky takes a keen interest in VOINA and gave a large amount of cash earlier this year to get two members of the collective out of custody.
Art terrorism like some call it?
Related links
The VOINA website – http://en.free-voina.org
Read more about Voina on Wikipedia
Read more about VOINA on The Guardian
Yes it was a genius move. Voina are cutting edge in that they know what buttons to press to get a reaction. It is kind of ironic that they got a state prize for the penis because Voina has the state in its cross-hairs. Word is they are diverting the prize money toward the needs of political prisoners.
Activist art is under threat… most recently Seranno’s Piss Christ. Link here to Drive-by Times.. also to a related cartoon:
http://aidanmaconachyblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/serranos-piss-christ-smashed-by.html
http://aidanmaconachyblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/vatican-reacts-to-piss-christ-attack.html
Thank you for your comment Jcee. VOINA clearly know where it hurts. They are very brave and fearless and their actions needs to be relayed so I’ll keep an eye on them and will post more about them