Saint Petersburg, 25 July 2011, Art Media Agency (AMA).
The leader of the Russian art collective Voïna, Oleg Vorotnikov, has been arrested for hooliganism. This anti-establishment performance art group has been ruffling the feathers of the Russan government, as the members are highly outspoken and do not hesitate to use provocation to make their voices heard.
This is not the first time Oleg Vorotnikov has been arrested. In September of last year, he was detained for turning over several police cars as a protest against corruption in the Russan police force. The collective has carried out a series of attacks and protests against a society that it considers too consumerist and corrupt. In the online magazine Lesinrocks.com, Oleg declared: “We entered a war against werewolves in uniform, political and social obscurantism and for the liberty of contemporary art.”
Voïna’s performance are often funny or shocking. The group staged the hanging of a Jew and a homosexual in a supermarket, threw starving cats at McDonalds’ employees and held an orgy in the State Museum of Biology. A female member once inserted a chicken into her vagina in order to steal it. When asked to explain these actions, they stated: “We wanted to portray pre-electoral Russia, a country where everyone screws each other, to the satisfaction of our President.”
In their most spectacular performance, Voïna painted a giant 65-metre phallus on a drawbridge, which remains raised in the morning. The giant penis faced the headquarters of the Federal Security Service and was subsequently awarded a prize in the section “Innovation 2011″ of the ministry awards for modern visual arts. Voïna donated the €10,000 prize to a defence group for political prisoners.
During an interview with Courrier International in November 2010, Voïna declared: “We create a new and honest, heroic and monumental form of art. In Russia, our artistic group, Voïna, is one of the rare protests the country hears. Our actions are followed by millions of persons.”