For some time now, Oleg Vorotnikov has been living in the Czech Republic with his wife Natalia Sokol and three children. Vorotnikov and Sokol are members of the Voina group, which has become famous for its bold performances full of criticism of the Russian regime. The most famous action was "X ** in captivity of the FSB" in 2010. Then the members of the group painted a huge genital organ on a drawbridge in front of the FSB building in St. Petersburg. In the autumn of the same year, Vorotnikov was detained at the rally "Palace coup", when, allegedly, in search of a lost ball, activists turned over several police cars. At the beginning of 2012, Vorotnikov left for Italy, then lived in Switzerland, where the whole family asked for political asylum. Russia has issued an international arrest warrant for Vorotnikov, who is accused of hooliganism, insulting government officials and violence.

Get Out of Here Shelter and Supermarket Theft

In September 2016, Vorotnikov was arrested in the Czech Republic: the police arrested him for theft in a supermarket. By that time, his family had been living in the Czech Republic for several months. Members of the Get Out of Here art group helped them. However, over time, they gradually became disillusioned with Russian activists, whom they initially perceived as their colleagues and a source of inspiration. Czech activists did not like the unwillingness of Russians to adapt to Czech conditions, as well as to cooperate and observe the elementary rules of good neighborliness. The Get Out of Here members finally parted ways with their Russian counterparts on September 23, when a controversial interview with Vorotnikov was published on the Aktuálně.cz server, in which he praised Putin. According to Vorotnikov, the president "rallied the Russian people." Roman Tyts from the Get Out of Here group, in particular, wrote on Facebook that the Vorotnikov family robbed the apartment of one of Tyts's colleagues, as well as a studio in the town of Cesky Krumlov. Tyts also wrote that the Vorotnikovs readily accepted money, but continued to steal expensive goods from stores.

The court released Vorotnikov from pre-trial detention, but he had to promise that he would not hide from the investigation until it was completed and left the Czech Republic. After that, Karel Schwarzenberg offered the activist and his family a place to live. In November, the family moved to the Czmelice castle, which was completely at their disposal. But now, for unknown reasons, the Vorotnikovs again live in Prague. Vorotnikov also does not fulfill his promise to the court and does not come for interrogations. Moreover, he does not live at the address that he told the court. Therefore, recently the regional prosecutor's office again issued a warrant for his arrest. But even if the police arrest him again, it is unlikely that the Czech authorities will extradite him to Russia. Moreover, the family recently faced a serious problem: Vorotnikov's five-year-old daughter was hit by a car, and despite the way her parents treat official institutions and money, it is, of course, very difficult for them to provide the child with the necessary examinations and medical care.

In an abandoned house in Venice

People in other countries also received a negative experience of communication with Vorotnikov and his family, who met the Russians halfway at different moments of their wanderings. In Venice, the Vorotnikovs lived in the Ospizio Contarini squat. But their neighbors began to complain that it was difficult to get along with a Russian family, and they expelled Vorotnikov and his family in July 2014 using violence. Vorotnikov wanted to defend his home with an ax in his hands, but in a fight, according to local media, squat residents broke the head of a Russian. In April 2015, at the invitation of Adrian Noz, director of international projects at the Cabaret Voltaire club, the Russians came to Zurich and then moved to Basel. In Switzerland, the family asked for political asylum and settled in the Wasserstraße squat. But after several months of a difficult neighborhood, local residents called the Vorotnikovs "rude manipulators, cruel, ignorant and unconscious people." As a result, the police had to intervene in the case. For some time, the Russians lived in a center for those awaiting asylum and in April 2016 they fled in an unknown direction.

Decaying West

On May 15, 2017, that is, already during their stay in the Chechen Republic, the Russian newspaper Kommersant published a long interview with Vorotnikov, in which he criticized Europe and said that he was afraid of arrest. "Friends will hand over. We now live in some kind of half-abandoned house inhabited by drug addicts, and right below us is an apartment converted into a cannabis plantation. After the arrest warrant, we tried to hide underground, but it turns out with great difficulty."

Context

Czech Republic - under uncouth Americans

Aktualne.cz 09/27/2016

Voina activist Oleg Vorotnikov on his status as an "international criminal"

Radio Liberty 07/25/2011

Not everything Russians say is a lie

Parlamentni listy 03/22/2017

It is clear from the conversation that Vorotnikov had only negative impressions of life in Europe. According to him, the West is really rotting, as Soviet propaganda once liked to assert. “And, unfortunately, it is impossible to help them, and maybe this is even for the best. But the thing is, damn it, I'm just wasting time here! I lived in Russia for 30 years and 3 years, and for me this country still remained a mystery, it is full of secrets - in the forest, in the city, in the village. And here in six months I could tell you everything about everyone, who thinks what, how he will hide it or show it, how he will act. " According to Vorotnikov, Europe is experiencing an epidemic of psychosis caused by fear for its high standard of living. He claims that Europeans believe in "absolute darkness." "There is such a place in their worldview - a black hole, such absolute darkness."

The art activist complains about a recent incident when the police used force against him and his family: after a meeting with lawyer Pavel Ugol, the Vorotnikovs were detained by a police patrol, and the police were not satisfied with the documents presented. “When they brought us to the police station, they separated us and began to simply beat us, and for the first time I faced such a situation when a woman was beaten in the face. Here the police can act as they please, and society supports very tough police actions, because they live like on the front line, in a state of paranoia: they are Russians. " His wife Natalya, nicknamed Koza, commented on the incident as follows: "Even a Russian cop, he would not do this to a woman who has a child." The Prague police, according to their spokesman, found out about the incident only after a request from Czech Radio (Český rozhlas). Allegedly, in recent weeks or months, none of the aforementioned persons applied to the control bodies of the Police of the Chechen Republic with a complaint about the actions of the police. Now the incident will be investigated by employees of the Internal Control Committee of the Regional Police Directorate of Prague, who will check all the circumstances of the case.

The Immortal Regiment could be better organized

Vorotnikov spoke about other similar cases of cruel violence against himself. This is how he interprets what happened in Venice and Basel. According to Vorotnikov, the reason for everything that happened — one. He allegedly says that “you can't say”: “You are a dissident, so know your place, do not break the taboo. Our pro-Russian position almost cost us our lives twice, but in the Czech Republic it took the form of endless persecution, which continues to this day. "

If the activist manages to return to Russia and everything goes smoothly, he plans to engage in official propaganda. Vorotnikov praised the Immortal Regiment, a well-known campaign in the Czech Republic, an annual demonstration in which participants march with portraits of their relatives who died in World War II. This is how they celebrate the victory over fascism. “It can be done a hundred thousand times brighter and in such a way that it is interesting, noticeable and visible to absolutely everyone, to the whole world. Not only to us, not only to some part of Russian society calling themselves patriots, but in general to everyone, everyone! " - says Vorotnikov.

Show must go on

All of his previous statements appear in a new light after answering a journalist's question about the previous rejection of money and private property. “Well, we are artists, we have to show people the show. We really did that, we didn't lie. The task is to show. So that the person who asks the question: where did they get five tons of white paint from there? - you said: from there, and not five tons, but only 50 liters. There is such a store, you go there and you have two ways: buy or just open a backpack and put it in it. "

Only one thing is clear here: with his statements and behavior, the activist managed to turn against himself not only the repressive apparatus of Putin's Russia, but also practically everyone around him. Is this all part of the show that he has shown viewers throughout his life?

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively by foreign media and do not reflect the position of the Inosmi editorial board.

Natalya Sokol, nicknamed Koza, coordinator of the Voina art group and the wife of Voina leader Oleg Vorotnikov, answered Life's questions about the group's new life in Europe.

Art group "Voina" became the curator of a daily dinner in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Kunstwerke Institute, the organizer of the Berlin Biennale.Since 2013, the leader of the Voina art group, Oleg Vorotnikov, nicknamed the Thief, and his family have been living abroad. In November 2010 - February 2011, Vorotnikov was imprisoned in St. Petersburg for his participation in the "Palace coup" action , during which the participants in the "War" overturned several police cars in St. Petersburg.

In May 2011, Vorotnikov and his wife Natalya Sokol, nicknamed the Goat, announced federal criminal investigation department. The reason was again their participation in the action "Palace coup", as well asparticipation in the opposition march on March 31, 2011 in the northern capital.In July of the same year, Oleg Vorotnikov was put on the international criminal wanted list and arrested in absentia.

While abroad, they went through many trials, they were arrested more than once as illegal immigrants, they were beaten by local human rights activists. At some point, the Goat and the Thiefconsidered ardent opposition by the Western media, they became disillusioned with the myth of a free Europe and began giving patriotic and pro-Russian interviews.

Now the life of "Voina" is gradually getting better: the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Karel Schwarzenberg came to their aid. Natalya Sokol told Life about the creative plans of "War".

- You recently visited Berlin. What kind of project was there?

We were invited to Berlin as curators for a gala dinner in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Kunstwerke Institute - the organizer of the Berlin Biennale (we were curators of the 7th Biennale in 2012) - and went to look for activists. As I said, we are recruiting a team of inveterate actionists, like the one that picked up in "Treasure Island" - remember the cartoon? For three weeks of Berlin vacillations, they found one person, which is quite a lot for Europe. True, he turned out to be a Russian, more precisely a Belarusian.

Twice for this train we were almost arrested. The first time the police were called because, sitting in a cafe, we drank coffee, but did not order food. The waiter warned us that he was about to call the police, and then he took and called. We couldn't believe our eyes! Left straight from the hands of the arrived outfit, pretending to be stupid tourists.

The second time was on the train: according to the passengers, we were returning home too late. A typical bald German approached us and began to threaten. Casper (son, he is seven) jumped up and slapped him in the face with a mitten. They also called the police, but we got off at our stop before the outfit arrived.

Children, families with children are driven into a kind of social ghetto, like dog owners, from where it is better not to stick out. You are a mother with children, especially since you have more than one? Ay-yay-yay, shame on you! Be attentive and expect a catch from everywhere. You better become a predatory animal so that your children are not eaten by the childless creatures around you.

In this I see a monstrous transformation of feminism in our days: now the struggle of a woman in modern society is a struggle for the rights of her children, for their opportunity to develop creatively, to become people with a rich spiritual world. Otherwise, they will immediately make robots out of kids. Berlin only strengthened my thought: hey, you can trample on family values \u200b\u200bas much as you like here in Europe, but not at the expense of restricting the freedom of my children.

When I gave birth to my third child in Switzerland - my daughter Trinity - the doctor warned the police in advance, being for some reason sure that I was giving birth in order to sell the child for organs.

Natalia, in the "Voiny" Instagram one of the latest photos - the castle in Chimelitsa, which will house the "Voiny" studio. Have you already started preparing any projects?

We are planning projects, but we are not making any announcements. Otherwise, it simply will not work: they will come and arrest. The code name is GOU, in the sense - "Woe from Wit". We will start cooking as soon as our activists from Russia arrive. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find activists in Europe who were brave enough to participate in the "War" actions. It's easier to dismiss people from Russia.

Former Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg is actively helping you. How did you meet? Did he know about "War" before? Why do you think he decided to help you, because before that many people refused to help you?

Karel himself volunteered to help, and at a very difficult time for us. Oleg was just released from prison in Prague, we were surrounded by the local press, we were giving out patriotic interviews that shocked Czech society. After their publication, the local community turned away from us in an instant. We lost everything: housing, lawyers, support.

Human rights defenders circulated vile gossip behind our backs. Prepared creative projects were immediately scrapped. Newspapers burst out with propaganda articles, depicting us not as brilliant artists, as it was before, but as inhuman maniacs who belong in a prison or a madhouse. Then Karel appeared and turned out to be a sensitive person and a great politician: he offered us a residence in Orlik.

And as a studio for creative experiments - the castle in Chimelitsa, where, by the way, he spent his childhood in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. So our family history of misadventures was close to him.

Karel loves Russian art, at the banquet he quoted Blok, his father's favorite poet.

Another noble Czech turned out to be a wonderful children's painter Petr Nikl. When Oleg and I were arrested, the children - Kasper and Mama - remained in his apartment in Prague's Holesovice, not knowing where we were and what was with us, and in anticipation of our return, alone, painted on the walls.

Children's creativity is a guaranteed path to home loss in Europe. People here have forgotten how to enjoy children.

But Peter was delighted with the drawings of Kasper and Mama. He asked to leave everything as it is. In gratitude, we arranged a farewell opening day for him before leaving for Orlik. Peter and the children had a joint session - they drew and cut masks out of paper.

Was it just an event "for insiders" or can it be positioned as one of the "War" projects? How often do you organize such events?

The children have accumulated a large archive of creativity, but it was destroyed during the attack on us by a group of Swiss human rights defenders on March 20 this year in Basel. An armed crowd broke into our room in the attic at 21 Wasserstraße.

Human rights activists kidnapped children and left them naked in the street, beat us, our parents, stole our computers, iPads, stole archives, including the works of Kasper and Mama.

The arriving police were not interested in the attack, instead we were arrested as illegal immigrants, then a deportation prison, and then the whole family was escorted to an underground concentration camp in the town of Esch of the Basel Land canton, from where we managed to escape. We managed to take some photos with a hidden camera in the Ash concentration camp.

In Prague, I had to start all over again. Peter Nikl's exhibition is the first after the horrors in Switzerland.

Oleg said in one of his interviews: "The artist, as you yourself probably guess, is just about the camps, and about arrests, and about unexpected ones." Lately, you have accumulated a lot of emotions associated with such events. Will they be reflected in the projects of "War"?

You are citing a falsified interview in Fur-Fur. Unfortunately, we were unable to influence this publication in any way, since we were outside the legal field, and the journalists of "Fur-Fura" took advantage of this, passing off fragments of e-mail correspondence as interviews. Therefore, it is unpleasant for me to refer to this text. He is evidence of dishonesty on the part of this publication.

In an interview, Oleg said that many know about "War": "When we meet with artists, they begin to write with delight:" Oh, "War", "*** in captivity", "Punk in court", it's all of you ! "They feel like they are just lucky, who managed to communicate with the legends they read about. But when the conversation turns into a practical plane - is it possible to find housing or a lawyer - then almost everyone loses interest. We are good somewhere - when in Russian prison, then we're good. " Maybe, after all, there were artists in Europe who are interested in working together with Voina?

- Initially, we did not intend to conduct any artistic activity in Europe, since we considered the European context to be uninteresting in comparison with the Russian one. We also did not plan to stay here.

But the circumstances turned out differently: the channel of return to Russia was closed, and we found ourselves in Europe as in a trap. If we ever get serious about creativity here, it will be very, very critical.

We do not communicate with European artists, because they simply do not exist in nature. We are constantly receiving offers from the West, but this is like an invitation to the grave. We are in no hurry.

Do you keep in touch with any of the Russian artists? Interested in what contemporary artists are doing in Russia now?

In Russia, we like the work of video artist Injoykin, he managed to capture the spirit of the times better than anyone else.

Oleg's quote: "The image of the West that intellectuals in Russia paint is a fiction. People here do not violate anything - it's not for nothing that stagnation is more powerful in European contemporary art than under Brezhnev. Art is crammed into an entertaining ghetto for rich people. You can be a clown - and only then will you be interesting. They sit and wait for an idea to be thrown from the third world. This is how I explain the success of Russian actionism, when the most elementary actions are well read. " Do you want to try to somehow change the situation with this "entertainment ghetto" with your projects? Or will it be very difficult or even dangerous to do this due to the peculiarities of the legislation?

Working in Europe and for Europe is a waste of time. The West groans from the meaninglessness of existence, but these groans are deserved. All that remained was for the barbarians to come and stop the protracted performance. A strange situation has developed in Europe. They, like in war, almost no one has their own children - but they command how we should behave with ours.

Recently there was news about that. Although in September this issue was already raised, and then the authorities said that there were no grounds for extradition. Do you have an understanding of how the Czech authorities will behave now?

The actions of the Czech authorities are only their own headache. We, healthy people, are not interested in it.

Radical actionist association

A left-wing radical actionist group that has been operating since early 2007. She became famous for a series of shocking and radical performances. In 2011 she became a laureate of the "Innovation" art award.

The emergence of an art group

The art group "Voina" (it is customary to write its name without quotation marks in the works of the group members themselves) was created on the initiative of a graduate of the Philosophy Faculty of Moscow State University (MSU) Oleg Vorotnikov (nicknamed Thief), who was further called "the founding father",,, ... Back in 2005, Vorotnikov and Natalya Sokol (nicknamed Koza) created the Sokoleg art group, which was engaged in field photography (according to other sources, avant-garde fashion) and performances on the theme of paradigm shifts in art. In the spring of 2006, they met the artist Anton Nikolaev, the leader of the Bombily art group, with whom they began active cooperation. The headquarters of the joint project was one of the workshops of the prominent action artist Oleg Kulik, who, however, denied using any of his own ideas in the group's performances.

In early 2007, the most radical and politically inclined participants in the project, led by Vorotnikov and Sokol, organized the Voina group. Initially, the Voina art group was supposed to be radical left, "since the left spectrum was absent in Russian art at all." At the same time, it was later emphasized that the political component of the project was more important than the artistic part.

Main shares 2007-2010

In February 2007, the first performance of "Wars" took place - the performance "Thugs" at the Zverev Center for Contemporary Art, where the group was invited to the opening of the "Military Actions" exhibition. During the performance, three members of the "War" were plastered so that they formed a single sculptural group, which was then allowed to roll on ice-cream briquettes ("frozen mud under the tank tracks").

Shortly thereafter, Voina and Bombiles, as well as the actionist Sergei (Emelyan) Gdal, created the Street Art Trade Union. On May 1, 2007, Voina, with the assistance of Bombil, held the Mordovian Hour action at the McDonald's restaurant on Serpukhovskaya Square in Moscow. Activists of the art group shouting "Free cash!" threw live cats on the counters of the restaurant, which was "a gift to the low-paid fast food workers, deprived of relaxation and enjoyment of modern radical art on a holiday." This action also contained a reference to the protest activities of Western antiglobalists, for whom the McDonald's restaurant chain is one of the symbols of globalization,,,,. In the same year, "Mordovsky Hour" was recognized by the newspaper "Re: Action" as "the most hooligan performance" ...

Over the next months, Voina activists held several more actions, and also took part in a number of performances, the main organizer of which was the Bombils. In early July 2007, Voina was supposed to hold a joint performance with the well-known avant-garde figure Dmitry Prigov: it was assumed that the group's activists would bring a closet with Prigov sitting inside to the twenty-second floor of the Moscow State University student dormitory, who was supposed to conduct a verse dialogue with his own notes. However, the action did not take place - it was banned by the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University, and immediately on the eve of the performance, Prigov was hospitalized, a few days later he died. At the end of August of the same year, "Voina", with the participation of "Bombil", held the "Feast" action - a commemoration for Prigov, having laid the tables in the Moscow metro carriage,,. Subsequently, in February 2008, the "Feast" was repeated on three metro lines in Kiev, after the authorities of the Ukrainian capital initiated the closure of the "Common Space" exhibition, in which, in particular, a video was shown of the Moscow memorial service for Prigov.

From that time on, the political component of Voina's activities became apparent. In 2007, its activists participated in Saratov in the "March of Dissent" - a speech by opponents of President Vladimir Putin - with the slogan "I want to eat halva, I want to sit on the Putka" (attributed to the poet Alexander Brener). In November 2007, on the eve of the State Duma elections, "Voina" held an unauthorized action "PP (Monument to Prigov vs Putin's Plan)" at the opening of the Non-Fiction fair in the Moscow Central House of Artists: center with live rams in hands,.

In December 2007 (according to other sources, in February 2008), active cooperation between Voina and Bombil ceased. This was due to the fact that while Nikolaev's group planned to work outside Moscow with local teams, Voina preferred to work in the capital - in part, relying on the reaction of the press to its activities. In addition, Nikolaev himself admitted that by this time he was tired of engaging in "clown actionism." At the same time, the group was joined by the philologist and author of works on obscene vocabulary Alexei Plutser-Sarno.

At the end of February 2008, a few days before the presidential election, which was won by Dmitry Medvedev, "Voina" held one of its most famous actions - a group orgy in the Biological Museum in Moscow against the background of the slogan "F *** is for the heir to Bear ",,, (with similar slogans, members of" Voina "participated in the same days in a rally of the pro-Kremlin movement" Young Guard "and in the Moscow opposition" March of Dissent "). The members of the group described the action at the Biological Museum as "parting words to the young leader, feasible support of the Bear at the beginning of a long path." A photo report about the action was published in the blog of Plutzer-Sarno (there were also reports about the further activities of Voina), in connection with which a criminal case was opened against him for the distribution of pornography. No corpus delicti was found in the actions of the participants in the action, but later there were reports that the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation had reopened a case over the orgy in the museum.

Immediately before the inauguration of the new President Medvedev, in early May 2008, Voina organized a new action: its participants broke into a police station in Bolshev near Moscow, hung a large portrait of Medvedev and began reading Prigov's texts on the police.

In the future, the topic of law enforcement agencies occupied a significant place in the group's activities. So, in July 2008, the action "Cop in a priest's cassock" took place, during which Vorotnikov, dressed in a cassock over a police uniform and personifying an "ambivalent being who is allowed to do everything," collected a large amount of food in the Seventh Continent supermarket and took out with impunity them without paying; Subsequently, it was indicated that this action anticipated the story of police major Denis Yevsyukov, who in the spring of the following year staged the execution of customers in a supermarket. In May 2009, on the first day of the trial of the organizers of the scandalous exhibition "Forbidden Art 2006" Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Erofeev, the participants in "War" unexpectedly performed in the courtroom the song "All the cops are bastards!" , which was condemned by both the lawyers of the accused and the human rights defenders present, in particular Lev Ponomarev, (at the same time, Voina had previously held actions against the persecution of the curators of Forbidden Art; for example, in May 2008, the group staged a performance near the building of the prosecutor's office , where Erofeev was interrogated).

Two actions carried out by Voina at the end of 2008 received a significant response. On the night of November 7, several activists of the group projected an image of a skull and bones onto the Government House of the Russian Federation, after which other activists climbed over the fence of the government residence, freely crossed its courtyard, and then disappeared,,,,. The following month, Voina welded steel sheets into the entrance to the Oprichnik restaurant, which was allegedly owned by pro-Kremlin journalist Mikhail Leontyev; in January 2009, a criminal case was opened on this fact. During the same period, some LGBT activists joined the group; in addition, Voina began to cooperate more actively with Moscow anarchists and anti-fascists.

"Voina" also continued to use the theme of supermarkets (as Plutzer-Sarno later stated, this was due to the fact that "a supermarket is a public space, where a ready stage, a ready theater, a ready audience, a ready confrontation, and there you can play out certain situations "). In September 2008, the group imitated the hanging of homosexuals and migrant workers in one of the Auchan hypermarkets; it became "a symbolic gift to Moscow Mayor Luzhkov as a sign of his merits in spreading xenophobia, homophobia and nationalism in the city." In 2009-2010, Voina participants, who publicly admitted that they usually steal food in stores, carried out actions to consume or take out food in supermarkets in a number of European countries and the United States, posing as hungry illegal migrants from Russia, which was a kind of testing the tolerance of society in these countries,. In the summer of 2010, Voina carried out a ritualized takeout of frozen chicken from one of the supermarkets in St. Petersburg.

In June 2009, there was a scandal related to the participation of the Voina group in the Russian Lettrism exhibition, curated by Andrei Erofeev, at the Central House of Artists. On the eve of the opening of the exhibition, the director of the exhibition center Vasily Bychkov demanded to dismantle the exposition "Wars", dedicated, among other things, to the group's action in the Biological Museum. As a result, the participants in the "War" clashed with the guards, and, as reported, some of the exhibits were damaged; nevertheless, the exposition of "War" was removed.

In early 2010, an activist of the opposition Solidarity movement, a member of the political council of its Moscow association Leonid Nikolaev (who appeared in the group's descriptions as Lenya E *** nuty), joined the "main composition" of the "Voina" group. In May 2010, in the midst of public protests against the excessive use of special signals on cars, Nikolaev went out with a blue bucket symbolizing a "flashing light" on his head on a road lane near the Kremlin and ran across the hood and roof of a car of the Federal Security Service (FSO) moving with a special signal; over the next days, the video of Nikolaev's speech spread widely on the Internet,. At the end of May, Nikolayev was abducted by FSO officers, but soon released after being charged with hooliganism. Although in the future the court refused to accept Nikolayev's case for consideration in connection with violations of the norms when collecting evidence of his guilt, the "Voina" activist himself since that time has actually switched to an "illegal position" and was hiding from law enforcement agencies.

In June 2010, a new resonant action "Wars" was held in St. Petersburg: in protest against heightened security measures on the eve of the International Economic Forum, activists of the group drew a huge phallus 65 meters long and 27 meters wide on Liteiny Bridge. After the bridge was opened, the raised image of the phallus appeared in front of the windows of the Office of the Federal Security Service in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region,,,,. Nikolaev was detained during the rally and fined for petty hooliganism. The campaign became widely known due to the dissemination of information about it in blogs: the message about it held the first place in the main ratings of blogs for several days.

In connection with Voina's activities, blogs and the press regularly discussed why the activists of the group were not detained by the police, and if they were detained, they would soon be released. The members of "Voina" themselves explained this by the fact that all their actions were carefully planned in order to avoid even a minimal risk.

In September 2010, the "Wars" action "Palace coup" took place in St. Petersburg, the purpose of which was "to show how the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should be carried out." During the action, the activists of the group turned over several police cars, and inside some of the cars at that moment there were police officers,,.

Pursuit "War" (since 2010)

Soon after the "Palace coup", a case was opened against the main activists of the "War" under Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hooliganism committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy), the members of the group were put on the wanted list. On November 15, 2010, Vorotnikov, Sokol and Nikolayev were detained in Moscow and interrogated at the Center E under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is engaged in the fight against extremism. Soon Sokol was released, and Vorotnikov and Nikolaev were sent to the detention center in St. Petersburg,,,. In the same month, it became known that Russia, fearing persecution, left Pluzer-Sarno.

The "Palace Coup" action and the subsequent arrest of Vorotnikov and Nikolayev sparked a heated discussion in the press about the boundaries of what should be interpreted primarily as art. Many artists and critics acknowledged that the action was a criminal offense. At the same time, a number of artists and journalists came out in support of "War", recognizing its right to radical actionism, and called for the abandonment of punishment, or at least for its mitigation,,,.

Already in December 2010, several events were held in support of the "War". In particular, the blogger Vagif Abdilov, who lived in Norway, organized the production of custom-made stamps of the Norwegian Royal Mail, which depicted the group's action on the Liteiny Bridge. In the middle of the month, British street artist Banksy arranged an Internet sale of reproductions of one of his works and announced the transfer of the proceeds from the sale in the amount of about 90 thousand pounds (approximately 4.5 million rubles) to help "War",,. On December 18, a small rally in defense of the group was held in Moscow, in which many famous artists and art journalists participated. Subsequently, in mid-February 2011, a well-known rock musician Yuriy Shevchuk published a video message in support of the Voina leaders.

The terms of detention of Vorotnikov and Nikolaev were extended until February 21 and 22, 2011, when the court of the Dzerzhinsky district of St. Petersburg agreed to release them on bail of three hundred thousand rubles for each,,,. A month after the release, Vorotnikov and Nikolayev said that they had transferred the money collected as a result of the shares of Abdilov and Banksy to help two political prisoners, as well as one of their former cellmates, whose accusation, in their opinion, was fabricated.

As it became known, on March 3, 2011 Vorotnikov, Nikolaev and Sokol in the center of St. Petersburg were attacked by persons who introduced themselves as employees of the criminal investigation department. At the end of March, a criminal case was opened in connection with this incident under the article "beatings".

On March 31, 2011, several Voina participants, including Vorotnikov, Sokol and even their little son, were detained for several hours during an unauthorized opposition march of dissent. On April 14, a second criminal case was opened against Vorotnikov: he was accused of hooliganism, the use of violence against a government official and insulting a government official. In July 2011, it became known that a criminal case under Article 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (insulting a representative of the authorities) was initiated against Natalya Sokol for behavior on the "March of Dissent".

In April 2011, the Voina group became a laureate of the Innovation Russian art prize: the action on Liteiny Bridge was recognized as the best "Work of visual art". The organizers of the award tried to exclude "War" from the list of nominees, citing non-compliance with the regulations, but under pressure from the public they were forced to return it to the number of applicants for the award. Received as the main prize of 400 thousand rubles "Voina" handed over to the interregional human rights association "Agora", which was going to use them to "protect civil activists." The association's lawyers also helped the art group itself.

Vorotnikov did not appear for interrogations and in July 2011 he was put on the international wanted list, arrested in absentia, and his bail of 300 thousand rubles was seized in favor of the state. At the end of August 2011, it became known that Sokol was put on the federal wanted list. Two months later, she was arrested, but released a few hours later, and disappeared again, after which, in early December, Sokol, who was eight months pregnant, was put on the international wanted list, and arrested in absentia (although on December 27 the decision to arrest was canceled) ... At the same time, in October 2011 it became known that on September 1, the criminal prosecution of Vorotnikov and Nikolaev, which had begun after the "Palace coup" action, was terminated due to the fact that the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation incriminated by him did not correspond to the actions he had committed,,,,. In this regard, on October 24, the decision to seize the bail for Vorotnikov was canceled. Subsequently, the investigation into the "Palace coup" case was repeatedly resumed and then suspended again,,,,.

On December 31, 2011, on New Year's Eve, Voina activists, as a "gift to political prisoners", held an action "Mento-Auto-Da-Fe", or "F ** k Prometheus" near one of the St. Petersburg police stations, during which they set fire to police car for transporting prisoners "Ural",,,. A few days later, a criminal case was opened in connection with this incident under Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Hooliganism".

"Moscow faction" art group

At the end of 2009, one of the most active participants in the project, Pyotr Verzilov, was expelled from Voina, who allegedly condoned the arrest of the actionist Alexander Volodarsky (known by the nickname Shiitman) during imitation of copulation near the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in protest against the activities of the National Expert Commission on the protection of public morality (according to the activists of the "Voina" Verzilov proceeded from the fact that the conviction of Volodarsky could become "cool PR" for the art group),. In the future, Verzilov and the actionists who joined him (including his wife Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, nicknamed Tolokno) continued to act under the name "War", which actually led to the opposition of two projects of the same name. In relation to Verzilov's group, the name "Moscow faction of the" Voina "group was also used.

One of the most notable actions of the "Moscow faction" was the "Cockroach Court": on the day the verdict on the case of the organizers of the "Forbidden Art" exhibition began in July 2010, Verzilov released 3.5 thousand large cockroaches in the courthouse in protest, (Pluzer -Sarno claimed that the idea of \u200b\u200bthis action was stolen by Verzilov from Vorotnikov's group). In addition, activists of this group in the summer of 2010 took part in protests against the construction of a high-speed highway through the Khimki forest.

Timed to coincide with the entry into force of the new law "On the Police" on March 1, 2011, the action of the "Moscow faction" "Lobzai garbage", during which in two months at the beginning of the year, activists of the group kissed about a hundred female police officers in Moscow, in September of the same year was presented at the fourth Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. The presentation of the action drew sharp criticism from Plutzer-Sarno and some other artists, who in this regard even called for a boycott of the Biennale.

At the end of August 2011, the "Moscow faction" also carried out a notable action "The Way of the Nurse". During the action, activists stopped cars and collected help for re-certified police officers who, as a result of the police reform, allegedly lost the ability to collect money from drivers.

Some of the members of the "Moscow faction" were also members of the feminist group Pussy Riot, which gained fame for the provocative "punk prayer" in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February 2012.

General ideology and composition

The Voina group constantly emphasized a special way of life, in particular, the maximum refusal of money (with which the practice of stealing food in stores was associated) and "aggressive squatting" - living in unoccupied apartments in new buildings,,. In addition to the promotions, information about which was disseminated, the members of the group were also engaged in "daily performances", that is, they presented actionism as the norm of life.

Over the period 2007-2010, more than two hundred people took part in the "War" actions. At the same time, as of autumn 2010, the core of the group was made up of Vorotnikov, Sokol, Nikolaev and Pluzer-Sarno; according to some information, about sixty people were unofficially in the "War". The former members of the group called Vorotnikov the "one hundred percent author" of "War", while the main performances of the group were invented by Natalia Sokol.

Both critics and Voina participants noted that in their work the group continued the traditions of political actionism associated with American activists of the late 1950s, as well as Moscow Actionism and the art of Sots Art,,,. As an important part of the group's activities, the semantisation of the action was noted, the attribution of interpretations to it (albeit multiple ones), which the group tried to control in the media environment. At the same time, Vorotnikov and other members of the "War" criticized their predecessors, as well as contemporary actionists for insufficient radicalism and "lethargy", accused them of being engaged exclusively in imitation of action. Representatives of the group specifically focused on the reality and non-artificiality of their activities: "The fact that there is almost no art in the actions of" Voina "makes them ultra-modern new art",. However, the minimum task of the group was "not to arrange bright shows, but to form a circle of people who are interested in such activities."

In mid-February 2012, the film "Tomorrow", directed by Andrei Glazyev, was presented at the Berlin Film Festival, dedicated to the lifestyle and actions of "War". Glazyev himself took part in the group's actions for some time; however, some critics accused the film that the philosophy of "War" was not reflected in it to the extent necessary.

Used materials

"Pussy Riot" are officially accused. - Interfax, 12.03.2012

Dmitry Marakulin... The "Palace Coup" case has been suspended. - Kommersant-Online, 12.03.2012

The two Pussy Riot members have been arrested until the end of April. - Grani.Ru, 05.03.2012

The investigation of the criminal case on the action of the art group "Voina" with the overturning of police cars has been resumed. - Interfax, 20.02.2012

Alexey Medvedev... The audience is only interested in "War". - Moscow news, 18.02.2012

Denis Kataev... The secrets of the "War" art group are revealed. - Rain, 17.02.2012

Elena Kostyleva... Battle in Heaven. - Session, 15.02.2012

Art group "Voina" announced the end of the persecution of its activists. - RIA News, 08.01.2012

Ivan Skirtach... A criminal case has been initiated into the arson of a police car in St. Petersburg, which was undertaken by the Voina art group. - ITAR-TASS, 07.01.2012

Vera Kopylova... Arson of the third degree. - Moscow's comsomolets, 05.01.2012. - №25837

New action-training of the Voina group "Mento-Auto-Da-Fe", or "Yo *** any Prometheus". - plucer.livejournal.com, 02.01.2012

The art group "Voina" burned down a paddy wagon of the St. Petersburg police. - BBC News, Russian Service, 02.01.2012

"War" fought. - Fontanka.Ru, 02.01.2012

The City Court of St. Petersburg overturned the decision on the absentee arrest of the Voina Sokol activist. - Interfax, 27.12.2011

The court in absentia arrested Sokol, a member of the Voina art group. - Fontanka.Ru, 07.12.2011

The Voina activist has been put on the international wanted list. - BBC News, Russian Service, 06.12.2011

Ivan Skirtach... A member of the Voina art group has been put on the international wanted list. - ITAR-TASS, 06.12.2011

Sergey Shabohin... Interview with the Russian art group Voina. - Art Aktivist, 03.11.2011

Voina activist Nikolayev again became the accused, the prosecutor's office canceled the decision to dismiss the case. - Gazeta.Ru, 02.11.2011

The prosecutor's office canceled the decision to terminate the criminal case against the activist of "Voina" Nikolayev. - Open news agency, 02.11.2011

The court canceled the seizure of the bail made for the activist of the art group "Voina". - RIA News, 24.10.2011

The Voina activist did not come to the investigator again. - BBC News, Russian Service, 19.10.2011

St. Petersburg police detained Natalia Sokol, an activist of the Voina group, together with her son. - Gazeta.Ru, 18.10.2011

The detained Voina activist was released from the police, the lawyer said. - RIA News, 18.10.2011

The case against the leader of the Voina art group Vorotnikov was dropped. - Interfax, 13.10.2011

Maria Moskvicheva... "War" forgiven for "Palace coup"? - Moscow's comsomolets, 12.10.2011

The case against the activist of the art group "Voina" Leonid Nikolayev was closed. - Interfax, 11.10.2011

Nikita Zeya... The police are not a social group. - Gazeta.Ru, 11.10.2011

Voina's participation in the Moscow Biennale caused a conflict. - OpenSpace.ru, 26.09.2011

The War group in the action "The Nurse Road": the lawlessness of cop families. - wisegizmo.livejournal.com, 12.09.2011

A blow to poverty. - Kasparov.Ru, 12.09.2011

Resolution on the termination of the criminal prosecution of the investigator of the Investigation Department in the Central District of the Main Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in St. Petersburg (criminal case No. 276858), 01.09.2011

The wife of the leader of the Voina art group was put on the wanted list. - Interfax, 30.08.2011

Members of the art group "Voina" are preparing a new action for the authorities. - RBK, 22.07.2011

The court arrested the Voina activist Vorotnikov in absentia. - Infox.ru, 22.07.2011

Vorotnikov, an activist of the Voina art group, has been put on the international wanted list. - RIA News, 21.07.2011

An activist of the Voina art group is suspected of insulting government officials. - BaltInfo, 13.07.2011

Voina activist Sokol is suspected of insulting police officers. - RIA News, 13.07.2011

Yulia Vinogradova... Art for political prisoners. - Independent newspaper, 05.07.2011

In St. Petersburg, a criminal case has been opened against a native of the Perm region, suspected of committing hooliganism, the use of violence against a government official and of insulting a government official. - Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg (sledcomspb.ru), 14.04.2011

The "War" case. - Interfax, 14.04.2011

Svetlana Yankina... Art group "Voina" received the "Innovation" award. - RIA News, 08.04.2011

Tatiana Voltskaya... "War" suffered for the Constitution. - Radio Liberty, 01.04.2011

Maria Tsvetkova, Denis Pinchuk... In the struggle of the authorities with the opposition in the Russian Federation, a baby suffered. - Reuters, 01.04.2011

State Prize "Innovation". Reference. - RIA News, 29.03.2011

The case was instituted in St. Petersburg on the attack on the activists of "Voina". - RAPSI, 25.03.2011

The "War" group donated money collected by Banksy to help the prisoners. - RIA News, 22.03.2011

On the fact of yesterday's attack by unknown persons, the artists of the art group "Voina" turned to the police. - Echo of Moscow, 04.03.2011

"War" ran into people in civilian clothes. - Interfax, 04.03.2011

The ideologist of the Voina art group: we didn’t kiss the police. - BBC News, Russian Service, 02.03.2011

Girls from the Voina art group are forcibly kissing female police officers. - NEWSru.com, 01.03.2011

Vladimir Kostyushev... How was it? Comments and photos to the trial of Oleg Vorotnikov on February 21, 2011. - Cogita! Ru, 22.02.2011

The court ruled to release Leonid Nikolaev on bail. -, 22.02.2011

The second member of the Voina art group was released on bail. - BaltInfo, 22.02.2011

The court ruled to release Oleg Vorotnikov on bail. - Free War (free-voina.org), 21.02.2011

The activists of the Voina art group were kept under arrest. - Art of TV, 15.02.2011

War with society. - Kasparov.Ru, 11.02.2011

The Petersburg court did not release Lenya Nikolayev and Oleg Vorotnikov from the Voina art group from custody. - NEWSru.com, 14.01.2011

The rally in support of the Voina art group gathered about two hundred participants. - Grani.Ru, 18.12.2010

A rally in support of the arrested artists was held in Moscow. - Radio Liberty, 18.12.2010

Banksy's sale in favor of the "War" group went off with a bang. - BBC News, Russian Service, 14.12.2010

Banksy raised over 4 million rubles for the Voina art group. - Novye Izvestia, 14.12.2010

Tom parfitt... Banksy pledges £ 80,000 to Russian radical art group Voina. - The guardian, 12.12.2010

In Norway, stamps with "St. Petersburg phallus" were released. - Salt, 08.12.2010

Stamps with the image of the action of the "Voina" group were issued in Norway. - RIA News, 08.12.2010

Nina Petlyanova, Elena Racheva... War losses. - New Newspaper, 29.11.2010

Mikhail Bokov... "War" is on the run. - MR7, 29.11.2010

Anton Kotenev... What is the War group. - Liberty.ru, 22.11.2010

Should we show solidarity with the Voina group? - OpenSpace.ru, 22.11.2010

“We are an art gang! Our idol is Andrey Monastyrsky! ": Informal interview with the" Voina "group
The second part of the conversation between Alexey Plutser-Sarno and the participants of the action Fuck for the heir of the Bear Cub! at the State Biological Museum. A.K. Timiryazeva by Oleg Vorotnikov and Petr Verzilov (art group Voina)

Pluzer: Oleg, tell us about yourself.

Vorotnikov: My origin is purely Russian. My mother is a peasant. She was born on the stove before reaching the hospital. All relatives from the Tula region, and all the peasants. They all had six to ten children. My great-grandfather was dispossessed because he raised sheep and goats. He was exiled despite the fact that he was not rich. The ancestors came from neighboring villages and married each other for reasons of good neighborliness.

Pluzer: And the father?

Vorotnikov: My father is a miner. He was a builder and then a mine repairman. They were sent to the mine in case of an accident. There they spent several days without getting out. Heroic profession. He was the commander of a small rescue brigade. My mother considers herself smarter than my father, an intellectual. She gave birth to three children. Formally, we are a large family. All my childhood was spent in the region, where the consequences of the Chernobyl accident penetrated. We even had certificates that we were victims. We were given small benefits. Including I had a privilege for admission to a university. All other things being equal, they should have taken me. It didn't work for me. Because I passed all the exams at Moscow State University with excellent marks.

Pluzer: Did you do anything since childhood?

Vorotnikov: I wrote poetry since childhood. And he was a famous poet in his city - Novomoskovsk, Tula region. The largest chemical plant in Europe is located there. And a terrible environmental situation.

Pluzer: Where did you study before Moscow State University?

Vorotnikov: I studied at the best lyceum in the region. But I did not teach science of natural and mathematical bias. I didn’t even know them by three. It was the writing of poetry that saved me. Everything was forgiven me as the best poet of Novomoskovsk. Sounds funny. And I came to the lyceum, on the contrary, from a gangster school, the worst in the city. There I talked with the repeaters, and I really liked it. I fought with them. They are all sitting now. There were two entertainments. If you were small, and I was small, you had to get into a confectionery factory and steal a barrel of chocolate there and how much sherbet you could take away. For some reason, the chocolate was rolled into barrels. The elders hijacked mopeds. I did not steal, I only rode. They rode on such low plank frames on ball bearings, called "wheelbarrows". They organized entire knightly tournaments on wheelbarrows.

Pluzer: Have you abandoned your poetry career?

Vorotnikov: I applied to Evgeny Rein at the Literary Institute as a first-year student in philosophy. And Rein told me in all seriousness that there was no need to change the philosophy department to the literary one, and I stayed at Moscow State University.

Pluzer: Petr, tell me something about yourself too.

Verzilov: I am an activist of the War. I have two nicknames - Piglet Peter and Hueplet. I was born in Moscow in 1987. He spent his childhood in Japan. The events of December 14, 2004, when members of the NBP seized the reception of the President's administration, prompted me to return from emigration. Since 2005, he has been absorbed in radical activism aimed at combating the glaringly symbolic economy. He commanded the "Mordovian Hour" action at McDonald's. Before the war, he was a volunteer in the information department of the Museum of Cinema, where he started as an assistant to the head of the department for posting movie posters. He studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University, was engaged in ancient philosophy, the study of Plato's dialogues "Phaedrus" and "Fileb", participated in the ontological circle "Announcement" under the leadership of Vyacheslav Evgenievich Dmitriev. He was a member of the theater studio "Tararam" and an actor of the student theater of Moscow State University "MOST". I am responsible for the growth and development of the War, that is, for the spill and polyphony. I am also responsible for contacts with the liberal and humanitarian community. He is married to Nadia, you already have an interview with her in LJ, we have a daughter, Hera, was born on March 5 this year.

Pluzer: Why was it decided to arrange a sexual action Fuck for the heir of the Bear Cub !?

Vorotnikov: It is known that everybody uses sex as a way to attract attention. And artists, and environmentalists, and "nashists". This is a common PR trick. And we are being told now that we used paints not from our palette. But you know, there are not many colors at all. Maybe in Russia now there are only black and white. And no semitones. And there are no such voluminous multidimensional people. And there are only good and bad. Only those and these. The further you live, the clearer it is. And it is criminal to seek compromises.

Pluzer: For an artist, using old media means a lack of originality, isn't it?

Vorotnikov: This is certainly not a question of the originality of the work, of a unique gesture, of course. Modernism cannot be brought back artificially. We have chosen a well-known way to draw attention to the problem - the problem of the absence of elementary elections. Because otherwise, the attention of the so-called citizens is not concentrated. Despite the fact that they fuck in public for this or that everywhere, it was in conjunction with the fucking of today's state supervisor that this gave the effect of an information explosion and the subsequent buzz on the Web. Where editors-in-chief can't find enough. Sorry about all this rhetoric, but it's time to fuck.

Pluzer: So you want to say that your action is a voice of protest from the art community? Then, perhaps, precisely because it is the only voice of protest, it was heard by the artistic community itself?

Pluzer: Back to art. Let's talk about contemporary Russian performance.

Vorotnikov: We felt that the artistic response in the language of actionism to what was happening would again be central. In the 1990s, artists described situations very beautifully. No one spoke more precisely than them about what was happening. Kulichushkin ran out as a dog, for example.

Pluzer: What kind of Kulichushkin?

Vorotnikov: We call Kulichushkin Oleg Kulik. He used to be Kulik, and now he juggles with Tsereteli's granddaughter. For us, he is now Kulichushkin. Previously, he was an intriguer of space. He took space and did a lot with it. Kulichushkin muddied the intrigue. And he dodged to the point that he was now discussing with Vasya what candles they would put on, what seagulls to brew. This is no longer the great artist Oleg Kulik. This is Kulichushkin. Apparently, Kulichushkin, like the dean Mironchik, also received a call from above and explained that there is discourse in Russia. And the artist started talking about God.

Pluzer: But what he has already done, still leaves him forever in the ranks of the masters of Russian actionism. And in the future, I think he will show himself. Maybe it's just a creative crisis?

Vorotnikov: I don't argue that "dog" is the main performance of the 1990s. When Kulichushkin stripped naked and ran into the street to bite people, this was a statement about the time and about a person who found himself in this time, about a person who longed for the arrival of non-Soviet times. This is 1994. And when a person found himself in the desired time, which he, as it were, made himself, he realized that he was lost and that less and less human remained in him. And what predominates in him is not something beastly, but confusion. A domestic dog, once on the street, barks and rushes not only because it is angry, angry, but because it is trying with what it can, in this case with its teeth, say something. The situation with this performance: Brener almost invented it. He wanted to read poetry in his underwear, and lead one of his co-authors on a leash. Kulichushkin did everything differently, much more spectacularly. In a sense, he removed Brener from this performance. And the figure of Brener became simply incomprehensible: why did he stand in his shorts and read poetry?

Pluzer: Usually the performance "man-dog" is perceived as an image of a kind of "Russian wolf".

Vorotnikov: Yes, the performance with the dog, perfectly described the situation in any of its refractions. Now they sometimes talk about him as about zoophrenia, about something animal, but in fact, here the animal is not because of increased aggressiveness, but because of complete and sincere confusion. If you drive a domestic dog out into the street - and a Soviet man was still a domestic creature - it rushes about, and you won't even say that it even bit someone. She is confused. This is a man who wanted it himself and ended up in this situation, which put him on all fours naked. The situation is captured in such an artistic image.

Verzilov: Now we understand that we can again speak in artistic images that will work.

Pluzer: Kulik, by the way, rebelled against your beloved conceptualism.

Vorotnikov: I think Kulichushkin's protest against the conceptualists was a public relations protest, entirely in the media - and a formal step from the lack of his position in order to push off, to get a vector. He barked at them, it's true. And what was left to the uninvited in the circle of "aristocrats"? But now the Kulichushkin huylo has manifested itself in full. From an intriguer to a party-goer, to juggle a granddaughter. He intuitively grasps that the time for working with media as with material has passed, and finally it is time for a modern artist to work with capital. And that this finally closes the theme of humanism in art. Despite all the assimilation of such a message, in practice it has just begun to play out in full sound, only ten years ago. I mean Hirst first of all. But Kulichushkin will not be able to do this now: he somehow terribly old-fashioned vulgarized in his outfit as a tourist in Tibet.

Pluzer: We talked about Kulik, about Brener, but they forgot Avdey Ter-Ohanyan. Also an honored actionist.

Pluzer: Oleg Mavromatti is also among the masters of Russian actionism.

Vorotnikov: I do not think that the extreme is the only thing to strive for. And Mavromatti is focused on this. Mavromati, in extreme ways, declares exclusively his own individualism. This, of course, was relevant here in the 1990s. And this is what, in a strange way, makes the various artists of those years related. For me, Mavromatti's performances have a lot in common with the "mysteries" of Herman Vinogradov. This is such an individual creativity, individual fucking.

Pluzer: I think that's how he sees the world. To me, his statements seem deeply sincere. He differs from Garik Vinogradov in that Garik is a performance artist. And he does everything in a streamlined, calm, balanced way. And Mavromatti is an actionist with rather tough and unbalanced statements. And he's straightforward. He sometimes lacks completeness, but I am pleased with what he does.

Vorotnikov: He says: “I am an artist! This is my vision! I have an interesting inner world! Interesting fate! Do you want to listen? " I believe that such a position is rather weak for an artist. When a poet talks about his personal fate, his poems immediately lose their power. The artist should distance himself as far as possible from the specific events of his private biography and not consider them as unconditional interesting material with which to work. He must move away from himself and go into the public. First of all, being an artist is uncomfortable for yourself.
Mavromatti is a reference example of individual ebanism, to which individualistic performance often boiled down. The history of Russian performance knows only a few cases of really overcoming such fucking: the Klichushkin dog, Brener with a dollar, Avdey and icons.

Pluzer: Vlad Mamyshev-Monroe also works in the performance genre.

Vorotnikov: Yes, Kovalev also enrolls Mamysheva as an adherent of high performance. And such a record hurts the infinitely sweet Vladik, and you need to deal with him without the mediation of a blunt critical plane. Well, what kind of a performance artist is he when he has an emphatically critical position in relation to performance and actionist activities; when does he constantly profane these activities? Vladik has one hundred percent classical vision of the arts.

Pluzer: There is a palette of actionism. You can choose the means. What material do you work with?

Vorotnikov: This question embarrasses me. You make it sound like I'm getting orders. I have not prepared a special palette. It seems to me interesting when an artist moves away from himself and dissolves in public space. He becomes less of his own, more iconic, public appears. This is bone and blood loss. But this loss is justified if these bones are melted into symbols readable by society.

Pluzer: Your action has generated thousands of reviews in my LiveJournal, in which hatred of contemporary art is shown. People sometimes evaluate the action from a purely sexual position, like, "fuck up!" or "the topic of boobs is not covered!" But most write with disgust and anger that this is pornography, and immediately transfers the conversation to the plane of discussion of the immorality of artists.

Verzilov: And this flurry of hatred is mixed with the whole palette of public shit. It is a mixture of xenophobia and nationalism. And the last elections are pure pornography.

Pluzer: And what kind of understanding of contemporary art can we talk about here?

Verzilov: This reaction became part of the action and portrays the social situation in the country very well.

Vorotnikov: The social situation is the opposite of what we have done. We just painted on the missing minus sign.

Pluzer: That is, I correctly said that your action is a portrait of society?

Vorotnikov: Yes, this is a very correct definition.

Pluzer: Can you tell us about your favorite artists?

Vorotnikov: I like a lot of artists. I bow to Yuri Albert, who is no different in any extremism. It's subtle, interesting. I enjoy this art. I have nothing against artists who paint, I love to watch their pictures. I like the artist Vadim Zakharov. Zakharov worked very successfully in the genre of photo performance. I don’t know better photo performances. "Kissing and caressing make people ugly", "Elephants interfere with life." This is amazing.

Pluzer: So you like conceptualists?

Vorotnikov: I generally like conceptualists. I do not base my identification, unlike Kulichushkin, on the fact that conceptualism is “not that” and actionism is “that”. I believe I am a conceptualist student. I believe that Russian conceptualists are better than Western ones. Despite the fact that conceptualism is a Western phenomenon and it started there, conceptualism in the Soviet situation acquired its features and here it is stronger. The Collective Actions group was a project of one person - Monastyrsky, and the rest, who received communion, were replaceable. Moreover, the group. Why is this a group? And why is this the standard of the group? Because they gathered more than three, and more than three in Soviet times - this is already an article. And Monastyrsky could not be alone, even if he thought of everything alone. This is a group! Not a flow, not a movement, but a group! Institutionally a separate unit. It turns out that we are such a gang with idols like Monastyrsky ... Something like that.

Pluzer: Will you whip Russian art?

Verzilov: The fact that Russian art emerged from infancy is a fact; which means you can flog, here I am in solidarity with your action.

Pluzer: In general, what do you think about the Russian art community?

Vorotnikov: We have never been inside this party, and we know many characters only from magazine publications, we do not know personally, they are not offended by anyone, they will not even notice us, perhaps we are at Opening Day. And we do not associate ourselves with this art party, but deliberately try to distance ourselves.

Verzilov: We consider the title of such an artist a shame.

Vorotnikov: At the same time, I love many artists in absentia, in my heart I listen to them, and somehow emphatically uncritically. Perhaps, the impressions of the time when I studied contemporary art lovingly, from the outside, have an effect.

Pluzer: There are also "curators".

Vorotnikov: It's even unpleasant to talk about them. Backshane has long been a caricature, and he knows it himself. Former "gallery bastard", and now just a funny pawn in secular photo reports with celebrities. Communicating with his students - that is, young artists of the future - would never occur: these are ridiculous, inept managers who hope for courses in modern art as a real way out of the situation of general uselessness. They are embarrassed by their desire and a priori willingness to speak out on any topic, within the framework of any group exhibition. It seems that this is what they call aptitude now.

Pluzer: There are also art journalists: Kovalev, Tar.

Vorotnikov: I don't want to scold Kovalev - only because of the scale of the work he has done. I do not like his silver volume. His desire to give a look of the era of the 1990s, mixing everything into a chronological heap, and hacked the project: in the book through the page VAVA da Mavromatti - making themselves another microcut. And this is not a picture of the time. Despite the fact that there is no selection, the school of Yuri Sobolev did not get into the book at all.

Verzilov: Yes, and shares of dozens of other wonderful artists were not included either.

Vorotnikov: Kovalev writes weak texts, albeit detailed ones, and from the obsessive position of an insider - but he has not learned to write in Russian - everything is boring and mannered, with a touch of Soviet art history. This is eternal confusion in modernism, journalistic pushing of indisputable inferiority into the front ranks.
Tar is an armor-piercing woman of self-promotion, if it has a weak point, it is based on an ineradicable concept: often her truly breathtaking interpretations reveal not the current state of affairs in art, but only her personal talent.
As a journalist, Agunovich did a job that no one had undertaken. Single-handedly instilled in the magazine reader - the mild-nutty office locust coming from the provinces - an organ for distinguishing contemporary art. Now he is not in the Moscow Afisha, and the gap is palpable.

Pluzer: What about the gallery owners?

Vorotnikov: Gallery owners? I don't know these people! The time for galleries has passed. Fucking in galleries - even if it's possible - is simply not interesting: there is no real feeling. To work at the state institution is even more decent, but for many mediocrities this is the only direct path in general. But galleries are kaput. A creator plotting a new work for the format of the gallery that has sheltered him, carrying his work there in excitement is a sad anachronism.

Pluzer: What is your view of Andrei Erofeev?

Vorotnikov: No matter how much the ancient intellectuals blame at Erofeev, no matter what affairs the ministers' corpses are filed with, what kind of abuse is this and against whom? Against the most competent person among the officials in contemporary art. Well, they will remove Andrey, but how will they orient themselves, without Virgil?

Pluzer: Anatoly Osmolovsky was forgotten.

Vorotnikov: Tolik Osmolovsky is a very local, local personality, proportionate. A dude without education, special plastic gift and theoretical flair inspired an entire era of art. For that matter, he's the main figure. He started and showed how you can; and then ambitious talented creatures-artists came running - Brener - a romantic poet, Kulichushkin the intriguer, Avdey-sticky. And soon they ran further, about their business. And Tolik began to engage himself in sad object-related art, which, by the way, was also worthy - but the artist's present appearance shows what.

Pluzer: Why is Brener a poet, he's an actionist, isn't he?

Vorotnikov: Yes. Brener - it's a pity, if only because of his remoteness - now seems to be the most his own, and his poems are primarily poetry. Behind these poems, an unpleasant type, this Brener, flickers - and this poetic situation provides the poetry with some kind of boringness. Distinguishing from the young and boring Rodionov and even smaller Rodionovs, in their literaryism is absurd, and from all these book rappers who wake up and fall asleep in their apartments.

Pluzer: What other actions are you thinking of doing in the near future?

Verzilov: I can't tell you, because of the high percentage of provocations. Three men in civilian clothes were waiting for us at the Mordovian hour. An acquaintance posted an announcement of the enterprise in LJ, made me feel better! Fuck for the heir to the Bear! I had to change the museum - Zoological to Biological. With all the caution in preparation, the information leaked, and we were met not only by the museum security, but also by NOMO. And everyone was informed about the action in detail. The security guard warned without unnecessary phrases: "Now the avant-garde will come here naked to be photographed."

Vorotnikov: Let's just say that we will continue to introduce the public to the new hero of the nation, Bear Cub.

Verzilov: And we are going to ban Moscow clubs.

Pluzer: Thanks to your art gang. Much has become clear.

Material prepared by A&Z Pluzer-Sarno.

Liberal activist Andrei Sokolov, who escaped from Russia, describes his impressions of life in Europe with horror

Several years ago, Oleg Vorotnikov, previously scandalously known in Russia under the nickname "Thief", the leader of the no less scandalous art group "Voina", cursed to leave our country, announcing that he was fleeing a dictatorial and repressive regime. But now, having pushed around in the vastness of "civilized Europe", he was horrified, and announced that he is a "fan of Putin", and in Europe he feels "like hell."

Such an incredible, it seemed, pirouette, of course, is hard to believe. That is why his former liberal friends, having heard about what their former idol is now broadcasting, went to Europe in the hope of proving that this is just "Putin's propaganda." And suddenly - lo and behold! It turned out that all this is in fact - the purest truth. A certain Dmitry Volchek published a report on the meeting with Vorotnikov on the website of the American "Radio Liberty", and such that one involuntarily begs the question, weren't "Putin's propagandists" recruited too?

With a phallus on the bridge

But let's start in order. At first, Volchek, with undisguised sympathy, describes the previous scandalous deeds of the Voina art group, dear to his liberal heart, which became famous most of all for the image of a giant phallus on the bridge raised in St. Petersburg. For this they were raised on the shield by the liberal press and crowned with numerous awards.

“The last action of the art group“ Voina ”took place on December 31, 2011,” writes Volchek, “on New Year's Eve, a police paddy wagon in St. Petersburg was cleverly burned. For Mento-Auto-Da-Fe, Voina received the Russian Activist Art award from fans, and from the state - a criminal case under Article 213 (Hooliganism). After that, Oleg Vorotnikov and his wife Natalya Sokol (nicknamed Koza) crossed the border and ended up in Europe, where their life was not the best: tiresome information about scandals, detentions, beatings and other incidents can be found on the group's website.

“The campaign in support of actionists, organized by the philologist Alexei Plutser-Sarno, who calls himself the 'media artist of' Voina,” continues Volchek's narrative, “took place in Europe, America and even the Philippines. I myself took part in one of the actions when a huge portrait Oleg Vorotnikov with the inscription Voina Wanted was hung on the Charles Bridge in Prague, when the same poster was hung on the Tower Bridge, the London police intervened, and in Bucharest Oleg Vorotnikov's defenders were beaten and detained.

In 2014, reports emerged that Vorotnikov supported the takeover of Crimea and became a supporter of Putin. It was hard for me to believe this: how could such a metamorphosis happen to an urban "partisan"?

He also invented actions that scoff at Putinism - in the role of Mentopop he went to the supermarket, drew a huge penis on a drawbridge in front of the FSB building in St. Petersburg, overturned police cars, projected a skull with bones on the building of the Russian government and was imprisoned for this.

The disgruntled Volchek set off "to Europe", apparently, with the laudable aim of exposing the vain that is being erected on his liberal idol. “And so,” he writes, “in one of the European cities I meet with Oleg and his wife. They have three children, the youngest are sleeping, the eldest - Kasper, whom I remember as a baby, grew up and had to go to school. But where will they take him? The parents are in an illegal position, they have no documents, let alone medical insurance, and a daughter named Mama, who was born in St. Petersburg when her parents were hiding from arrest, is not registered at all. When Koza went to the antenatal clinic for examination, doctors identified her and wanted to call the police, as if repeating a story from the TV series about Stirlitz. The goat ran away and prudently gave birth at home without the involvement of midwives in uniform.

Oleg immediately warns that he will not give me an interview because he does not want to deal with the "liberal" media. Yes, everything turned out to be true, - Volchek throws up his hands in amazement, - he is now a "Putinist". And he is not just a supporter of the seizure of Crimea: Oleg believes that Putin "has successfully completed the work to save Russian statehood", Vyacheslav Volodin is a "brilliant leader", Sergei Lavrov is an outstanding diplomat who knows how to win in a hostile environment, "Dima Yakovlev's law" is fair, and in general, "there is nothing more beautiful than national unity" ... He is sure that Western propaganda is worse than Russian propaganda, since a taxi driver in Europe can say that he likes Putin, but an intellectual is afraid.

"Good Russian propaganda is a ray of sunshine on the last page of Pionerskaya Pravda on a July day," Oleg says, and I suspect this is a quote from Prokhanov's article.

He has never seen anything worse than Switzerland

After spending several years in Europe (and he visited many cities - Venice, Rome, Zurich, Basel, Vienna and even Cesky Krumlov, where Egon Schiele vegetated a hundred years ago), Oleg was unconditionally disillusioned with the West. "I've spent years of my life and haven't found anything interesting." People here are intimidated by the system, make a "positive bet on hypocrisy," the left movement is helpless and there is no art. Most of all he does not like Switzerland: "I have not seen anything worse than this country" ... It all ended in a conflict with squatters, which Oleg described in an interview with Furfur:

“We managed to capture the massacre, but when they told the police, we snatched the camera out of our hands and hid it. Then we visited a human rights organization that helps victims of violence. We provided a lawyer for four hours - so much they are ready to pay for a lawyer, and they are expensive here. prison, I had a conversation with the police, they drew two possibilities: either to the camp and ask for political asylum, or we will be separated from the children and separately deported to our homeland as illegal immigrants. Plus, in my case, at the request of Interpol. The usual police manipulation of children began, and we We are not emigrants, not refugees, it was not a gesture like our friends had. We arrived for a while, and then the return channel was shut down. Traditionally, the Swiss authorities call to leave the country by a certain date. If not, then repressive mechanisms are turned on. Us We were taken to the camp, issued the documents and literally left lying on the floor in the aisle. We were told that this is the best camp for families with children. "

Oleg describes the refugee camp as an underground hell, where the terrified inhabitants are allowed to go out on a scheduled walk, like prisoners. According to Oleg, only a lawyer who became famous for his defense of Roman Polansky agreed to help them, but he also failed to do anything due to bureaucratic resistance.

Before that, there was a similar conflict with his squat neighbors in Venice ... Oleg colorfully describes how, in front of the stunned Japanese tourists clicking cameras, the police took him in handcuffs, with a bandaged head on a boat along the Grand Canal. He spent only a few days in prison, and from Venice - "this is not a city, but a cemetery, what to do there?" - moved to Rome. "The best years of our children were spent in hell," he complains bitterly now. "I am a Russian, why do I need their values?"

“On principle, I refuse to organize actions here, to participate in artistic life. You can criticize Russia only from within, and not sitting in the West,” says Oleg. He doesn't like everything that happens in European art ...

Disappointment in the West led to the fact that what was happening in Russia began to seem wonderful to Oleg and his wife. “Most of all,” Volchek admits, “they dream of returning to their homeland. "If they told me - we sit in a taxi and go to the airport, I would not even collect things."

But it is impossible to return: Oleg is on the international wanted list, Koza is on the federal one. And where to go with three small children? Relatives are not interested in their fate, a significant part of friends turned away, nowhere to live.

"There is no such freedom anywhere in Russia"

“Oleg, - Volchek grieves, - praises the wisdom of Putin, who "perfectly beat" the liberals in 2013... In his opinion, Putin dealt with his enemies gently, "there was so much paternal concern in these decisions!" A reminder of the fate of Udaltsov (who also supported the annexation of Crimea), Oleg Navalny and Boris Nemtsov does not impress him - all this is Western propaganda. Oleg recalls his time in prison in Russia with delight. "This is one of the best experiences in my life. I have three or four radiant memories, and one of them is prison." During the years spent in the European hell, his homeland began to seem to him the promised land. He is convinced that there is no such freedom anywhere in Russia. “When I was wanted, every day I rode my bike past the main entrance to the prosecutor’s office, where they were waiting for us, and nothing.”

“But what to do now? The Vorotnikovs are really in a desperate situation ... How to help people without documents who are on the wanted list? Nobody needs them in Europe ... ”, - Volchek writes in conclusion and does not find an answer to his questions.