We met Artur Żmijewski in St. Petersburg in the spring of 2011. That summer he invited us to become curators of the 7th Berlin Biennale. He told us he needed our help to transform art into politics. This doesn’t mean that as Biennale curators we are going to occupy ourselves with exhibition management, which in our opinion is rather useless: exhibitions harm contemporary art. All artists ever think about nowadays is what they can exhibit and where. Therefore the fewer art pieces the Biennale will have, the better. The basis of our curatorial activity in the Berlin Biennale is this: we work without any limitations, and the Berlin Biennale hasn’t mandated any kind of frame. We have a close exchange with Artur. He knows about the difficulties we face and how exhausting it is to live underground. Our work with the Berlin Biennale doesn’t mean that we are leaving our country for this. Our activities here in Russia make up part of our work for the Biennale. All our actions as curators have an official status; we act as associate curators of the Biennale, and the government has to accept this. Our most recent actions were radical. The rulers don’t dare to bring charges against us; they will probably not arrest the entire Berlin Biennale. Trying to leave the country wouldn’t be such a hard thing at all, but to live in St. Petersburg — where the “Commission on Fighting Extremism,” the criminal police, and the Russian department of Interpol search for us, and where our mug shots are even posted in the porter’s lodges of the museums—to live under such conditions is much more dangerous than the kind of elegant adventure of crossing a border. In principle, my position is: I’m staying here. The Russian government is at war against its own people. Many Russians, particularly those with a good education, have already left Russia. Millions of people have never been able to realize their life goals. This is the government’s fault. That’s why I can’t leave. My front line is in Russia. And this is also my aesthetic position: to stay in the most beautiful city in the world. In our opinion, it’s part of the ethics of an artist to resist against the ruling system and to make this goal accessible to the public as well. This is why we seek to make our aim shine in the best possible way. There is an anecdote or perhaps it’s just someone’s memory of Kazimir Malevich: after the revolution in Petrograd, armed with a pistol, he passed through artists’ studios asking who was still painting birches and demanded real art. Armed with a weapon. That is real art.

Aesthetics is the precondition of ethics. Today, ethics are much more important for art. Voina doesn’t tolerate cowardice nor greed—both are the source of betrayal which is the worst and most unforgivable thing for the art activist. I personally cannot deal with apathy or ineptitude. When both occur, moreover in combination with an inflated self-assessment, I become very unpleasant company.

We want to make a type of art that no longer inspires anyone to the idea of awarding us an art prize. But if the museums and institutions can’t let go and continue to suggest us for their idiotic competitions, they are going to regret it. It’s impossible to bribe revolutionary art, and playing games with geniuses is dangerous. It’s my friendly advice that one should take us very seriously. For us, art is not the measure of life. We create new life, new events, that one can refer to. Our rifles are charged and aimed at art so that it stays at a distance and will not spread its art stench over here. We hate PR. We are an underground group. Voina has become very popular. Books and films about us are everywhere, people copy our actions—and none of this has anything to do with us. It’s other people playing copycat. Lazy assholes that advertise for us…  this does not have anything to do with our future.

In the Russian press hardly anything has been published about us that paints a true picture of reality. Here, the dishonest writing of lackeys has become the ideology of journalistic work. If one third of what they write is accurate, it’s already a big success. A typical example of this is how the press wrote serious articles about our participation in the corrupt Moscow Biennale in spite of our loud and public boycott. Since 2005 when we have existed as a group there has been a substantial flow of disinformation about us. But sometimes this also has positive aspects: when the police investigated about our action “Palace Revolution” they couldn’t find any evidence, except the wildly contradictory media rumors and artistic interpretations on blogs. Thus the whole thing collapsed in on itself.

Now it’s our aim to present the people with a convincing impression of decisive actions. Passive protest and symbolic actions—now when it is again about “big history”—are immoral. The events in Russia of December 2011 and February 2012 show us: both the government and the opposition (which humiliates itself in front of the government) make fools of the people by degrading protests to the level of consuming Internet memes. There is laughter and ironizing rather than arming ourselves for street fighting. We have taken Berlin. The next thing is the Russian revolution.

VOINA

Anna Nemtsova Jan 6, 2012 4:45 AM EST

An art collective put a phallus on a bridge and burnt a police truck on New Year’s Eve. Can they truly call their protests art?

For a group of artists, academics, and philosophers from Moscow and St. Petersburg, the war against the Russian government started six years ago, when the group formed an underground art club called Voina (which means “the war”). Their aim: declare war against police abuse and the government’s highly publicized authoritarian methods.

On May 29, 2009, Voina’s members carried guitars, amplifiers, and microphones to a federal courtroom during the hearing of Andrei Yerofeyev, a Russian curator being prosecuted for his Forbidden Art exhibition. They then performed a song called “All Cops Are Bastards” in front of the judge. Later, they projected a 120-foot-high skull-and-crossbones symbol onto the Russian White House, in what they called a warning message for corrupt authorities. In the summer of 2010, Voina artists painted an enormous phallus on the 200-foot-tall Leteyny drawbridge in St. Petersburg a few minutes before it elevated—in full view of the headquarters of the FSB, the successor of the KGB Voina proclaimed that the phallus was aroused by the hierarchy of Putin’s power.

Voina sees its role as a bellwether for Russia’s mass conscience, and by all accounts, Russian hipsters have enjoyed the group’s radical freedom of expression, with other guerilla performance artists joining in the subversive protest mission. In fact, for the past six years, many members of Russia’s more mainstream political opposition groups have sympathized with Voina’s unconventional methods.

That changed on New Year’s Eve, when Voina’s activists dedicated what they called “a street performance” to the group’s imprisoned members and all Russian political prisoners. They burned a police truck in the courtyard of a St. Petersburg police station, devoting their “fire gift” to Russian political prisoners.

A video claims to show members of Voina setting vehicles on fire in the courtyard of a St. Petersburg police station

As with all the previous projects by the art guerillas, a detailed description, photos, and a video of the act (arson, in this case)—was uploaded to a Web page by one of Voina’s ideologues, Alex Plucer–Sarno. In an email interview with The Daily Beast, the underground artists confirmed that on New Year’s Eve, Voina’s leader, Oleg Vorotnikov, took his 9-months-pregnant wife, Natalya Sokol; their 2-year-old son, Kasper; and Voina activist Leonid Nikolayev, dressed in a Russian Santa Claus costume, to burn the police truck. These are the same types of trucks that have transported each of the protesters to jail at least once.

“What do people normally get for a New Year’s gift? Shampoo? Or a bottle of whisky? Imagine, you are powerless, locked up in jail, and somebody gives you a gorgeous, fiery present,” Vorotnikov explained. As many as 20 legal cases have been filed against Voina group activists, and yet, says Vorotnikov, “We are up for the war. The war begins right now.” If burning a police truck is art, one might ask, then what is war?

Russian opposition leaders and civil-society figures see Voina’s act of arson as damaging and disturbing to the current political situation. Over the past few weeks, tens of thousands of Russian activists have taken to the streets in Moscow and other cities to protest against Putin’s domination of Russian politics. To Boris Nemtsov, one of the more conventional opposition leaders, Voina’s radical act has served to undermine the peaceful movement that has awakened in Russia since last month’s reportedly falsified election results.

“Half a year ago, when the country’s protest was deeply asleep, I would understand Voina,” Nemtsov says. “But today, when 100,000 people protest against the Kremlin on the streets, Voina gives Putin good reason to say, ‘See, they are nothing but criminals,’ about the opposition in general.”

One of the inspiring figures behind Moscow’s mass anti-Putin protests, theater critic and satirist Victor Shenderovich, long ago stopped seeing the antics by Voina as aesthetically attractive. “Voina’s latest performances—turning police cars upside down on Palace Square, spraying police with urine, or burning police trucks—look tasteless from an artistic point of view, unlike their previous art projects.” Shenderovich said that by burning the police truck, Voina performed an act of trivial hooliganism at a delicate historical moment for Russian opposition.

To Vorotnikov and his wife, aesthetics and diplomacy have long ceased being a part of the discussion. Since they take their 2-year-old son with them to each “action,” Kaspar has been detained by police three times; once, last spring, Kaspar was injured when a police officer grabbed him out of his father’s hands. Vorotnikov said that on Nov. 15, 2010, several police officers broke into the Moscow apartment where the Voina family was staying with friends and threatened to send Kaspar into social services. According to Sokol, police confiscated her passport, medical insurance document, driver’s license, and her Moscow State University employee’s certificate—leaving her without any legal documents or access to neonatal care when she gives birth later this month.

Despite the arrests and public outrage, Voina’s war goes on. The group deals selectively with unknown underground civil leaders and anti-fascist and anti-Kremlin Left Front–movement activists, sticking to its agenda of overturning Putin’s regime. It would seem that Voina should be happy about the mass rallies all across the country and opposition declaring the same goals as Voina. But that’s hardly the case. The group’s activists feel frustrated with the opposition. “The opposition leaders compromise with the Kremlin, they discredit the spirit of protest, people’s anger. The opposition’s goal is to become a part of the existing system and not to fight it,” Vorotnikov says, sarcastically complimenting the authorities for “allowing” the protests, so people’s anger “flies out of the chimney, like a puff of steam.”

If burning a police truck is art, one might ask, then what is war?

Internationally, Voina’s ideology—defined by the group as “an anti-consumerist lifestyle marked by alternative living strategies, such as dumpster diving”—is publicized more significantly worldwide than it is at home. Giant “Voina Wanted” banners can be seen in the U.S., the U.K., and Germany. As German film director Artur Zmijewski, a Voina supporter at the Berlin Biennale, put it, “Art is free, and Voina activists are not just saying words, they act to prove the idea.”

Last November, the Berlin Biennale appointed Voina’s activists, including Vorotnikov,  Sokol, and their son, as the festival’s curators. That, of course, was before they burnt the police truck.

Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/06/russian-protesters-use-art-as-act-of-war.html

2012/01/03 7th Berlin Biennale: Newsletter

Political Prisoner Taisiya Osipova

ANOTHER FRIEND OF VOINA SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS OF PRISON

On December 29th, 2011, after having waited 13 months in prison in Smolensk expecting a sentence, Taisiya Osipova, a 27 years old opposition activist, was made to wait another 12 hours in the court building. Then she was sentenced – to 10 years of prison.
 
Taisiya Osipova is a political activist of the oppositional party “Other Russia” and the wife of Sergey Fomchenkov, a member of the executive committee of “Other Russia”. They have a five-year old daughter, Katrina.
 
According to reliable sources, the criminal case of Taisiya Osipova has been trumped up and does not contain objective evidence. The sentence was read in the absence of the media and the public, a practice completely contrary to the Russian rule of open trials.
 
Taisiya Osipova was arrested in November 2010 in Smolensk, after the police broke into her house and supposedly discovered suspicious money and five parcels with white powder.
 
Normally, such police break-ins require the presence of neutral witnesses. In this case, the police seems to have selected the witnesses beforehand, making a planting of the evidence possible.
 
Members of the police force openly expressed towards Taisiya Osipova that they were mainly interested in her husband Sergei Fomchenkov. She was given the prospect of avoiding criminal punishment if she would cooperate.
 
Many Human Rights organizations, like the Committee for the Civil Rights and for Human Rights in the Smolensk region, the Committee for Children’s Rights of the Smolensk region, the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia and others, tried to protect Taisiya Osipova by stressing that neither the public nor the prosecutor’s office nor the Commissioner can reliably prove Osipova’s involvement in drug trafficking.
 
The whole charge is based on the testimonies of the witnesses of the break-in. These witnesses are classified as “top secret” and did not appear in court, making it impossible for the defense to disprove their allegations. In addition, the court under Judge Dvoryanchikov ignored a number of proven inconsistencies in the case.
 
Since Taisiya is suffering from a number of serious diseases, like pancreatitis and diabetes, the overly hard sentence means death for her. There was no initiative to transfer her to a prison hospital or to give her a normal medical examination.
 
In addition to the above charges, both Taisia Osipova and her husband Sergei Fomchenkov are being investigated with the aim to remove their parental rights over their daughter Katrina. This removal of parental rights has no legitimate reason and should be perceived as way to put pressure on Fomchenkov in connection with his political activities.
 
Before the trial of December 29th, there have been attempts from human rights organisations all over the world to interfere with the case. Defense attorney Svetlana Sidorkina’s complaint regarding the case of Taisiya Osipova has been accepted by European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The complaint was filed under application number 41366/11 and has been classified as urgent.
 
The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) in Geneva has demanded a prompt medical examination and treatment for Taisiya Osipova, as well as her release in the absence of valid legal charges.
 
As it turns out now, none of these appeals did help.
 
Further information:
http://en.free-voina.org/post/14763633893

2011/12/19 7th Berlin Biennale: Newsletter

Human rights activist Pusha (Philip Kostenko) has been on hunger strike since his arrest on December 6, 2011. Activist Victor Demynanenko, also wrongfully arrested, has joined Pusha in his hunger strike. Their demand is to release all activists jailed as a result of the December 4-6 protest rallies.

Pusha leads a column of anarchists on the march of War. Photo: Vladimir Telegin

Pusha was arrested near Gostiny Dvor in St. Petersburg during a peaceful rally against electoral fraud. He was charged under Article 19.3 (non-compliance with police orders). The case was heard by judge Alexei Kuznetsov, who is notorious among the opposition for accepting false police statements and for handing down harsh punishments.
 
Pusha is currently also facing criminal charges under Articles 214 (vandalism), 318 (using violence against a public official), 319 (insulting a public official).
 
Pusha (Philip Kostenko) is an activist, artist and organizer/participant in numerous protest actions. He is a member of the human rights organization Memorial and is active in the Food Not Bombs movement. Philip, who is an orphan, has faced regular harrassment from the law enforcement because of his protest activity. In 2011 alone, he
was subject to 8 unlawful arrests. Philip was recently forced to abandon his home in St. Petersburg due to repeated searches and physical threats from the police.
 
Voina calls on everyone to help support Philip Kostenko by spreading this information.

Source: http://www.berlinbiennale.de/blog/en/?p=17333

Kozlenok and Kasper

Oleg Vorotnikov states:

“My wife and Voina activist Natalya Sokol lives without any ID for one year now. Her passport was confiscated by policemen from the Special Service against Extremism North Western Federal Department. They also confiscated her travel passport, her driver license, her Moscow State University ID as scientific assistant and her health insurance ID.
 
Besides countless minor problems, this means that Natalya cannot get medical care for her two year old son Kasper, because there is no written proof that she is his mother.
 
She cannot vote. On the 4th of December there was a parlament election she couldn’t take part in.
 
Her fundamental rights are being violated. To move within the country and even use public transport is impossible for her and her son – IDs are necessary everywhere.
 
The child’s benefit for Kasper was also withdrawn.
 
All petitions were rejected by the investigating officer and by the Department of Public Prosecution.
 
The reason given for the rejection of all the petitions: the confiscated documents and objects are of interest for the investigation of criminal case number 276858.
 
Since neither Natalya nor Kasper were officially involved in this criminal case, it seems to be illegal to confiscate their documents, and this confiscation appears to be a form of pressure on the relatives of the accused.”

 
Natalya Sokol states:

“A lawyer petitioned on my request to the investigating officer Mr. Borodavkin for the return of my documents and for the return of benefits for my son Kasper.
 
The petition was rejected (there should be a copy among all the materials of the case at the police).
 
I sent a second petition to the investigator officer Mr. Petrov in early February via regular mail and still haven’t got a reply.”

Source: http://www.berlinbiennale.de/blog/en/?p=17361

Artur Żmijewski appointed the Voina group from Russia and Joanna Warsza from Warsaw as Associate Curators, who will work together to develop the concept and program of the 7th Berlin Biennale.


Vor and Żmij on the Neva River

Read More