Author Archives: Marita
Figure #1: Stability
In a mockery of “stability”, the prized acheivement of the Putin regime following the “wild 1990s”, the pyramid built by Tima Radya and his crew in this video is a precarious stack of heavy metal riot shields. Slightly angled on … Continue reading
Monument
2:30 min, video loop, 2012. Re-Reading Room. The documentary short-film Monument shows the hard labour of jackhammer-workers dismantling an enormous Soviet-era monument in Kharkiv, Ukraine. As part of the programme of modernizing public space for the EURO 2012 football championship, … Continue reading
P.S.
Acrylic on 10 Sheets of plexiglass and wall, 2m x 3m x 5mm, 2013. (first realised in 2011) The penitential system of Russia has not changed significantly since Soviet times. There are more than 10 types of different penal institutions, … Continue reading
Voina
is widely known for its provocative, politically-charged actions; most famously, perhaps, the monumental phallus they painted on a drawbridge in St. Petersburg which rose to stand erect facing the F.S.B. (KGB) headquarters. ////////////////////////////////////////////// Voina (Russian: Война = War) is a … Continue reading
Viktoria Lomasko
Victoria Lomasko is probably most famous in the West for her drawings from the frontlines of the Pussy Riot trial. Starting with fraudulent Duma elections on December 4, 2011, and until November 2012, she kept a graphic “chronicle of resistance” … Continue reading
Monstrations
(Artyom Loskutov and Maria Kiselyova, organisers)are rallies whose participants shout and carry absurdist slogans, like “Wear a mustache!”. Starting in their native Novosibirsk, Monstrations have become a popular ‘genre’, combining the habitus of political activism with legally harmless slogans, confusing … Continue reading
Anatoly Osmolovsky
has been a figure of reference in the Russian art world since the early 1990s, co-founding and leading several groupings, including Radek Magazine (1995), which sought a space for intellectual resistance and anarchist tactics. Currently, he runs the BAZA Institute. … Continue reading
MediaImpact
is a platform of activist art which has, since 2011, organised the first festivals of their kind in Russia. Coordinated by Tatiana Volkova of Zhir Gallery, it has developed exhibitions, international cooperation, and the discourse and practice of activist art … Continue reading
Marina Naprushkina
is a Belarusian artist and activist in opposition to the regime of Alexander Lukaschenko. Her Office for Anti-Propaganda (founded 2007), continuously invents new strategies and tactics for countering the oppression of freedom of thought and action in Belarus today. //////////////////////////////// … Continue reading
Kirill Medvedev
is an internationally renowned Russian poet, translator and socialist from Moscow. An English anthology, “It’s No Good” was published by Ugly Duckling Presse in 2012. Medvedev is the founder of the Free Marxist Press and the riot-punk-folk band Arkady Kots. … Continue reading
