An exhibition space at an Austrian contemporary art museum was damaged on Saturday, December 7, by an apparent act of vandalism targeting a feminist art installation by Nadya Tolokonnikova, the founder of Russian activist and performance art group Pussy Riot.
The installation, a set of balaclava-clad red mannequins in black punk boots titled ‘Pussy Riot Sex Dolls’, is part of Nadya Tolokonnikova’s exhibition FURY at the OK Center for Contemporary Art in Linz, Austria (OK Linz). Images reviewed by Hyperallergic show a shattered glass door at the entrance of a former Marienkapelle, a long desecrated chapel that the museum uses as an exhibition space.
OK Liz described the incident as “an act of violence” in a post Instagram after. The museum said a rock was used to destroy both the door and the glass floor of the exhibit. No surveillance footage was captured and there were no witnesses to the suspected person or individuals, Tolokonnikova said Hyperallergic.
OK Linz has not yet responded Hyperallergic’s request for comment.
Although the artwork was unharmed apart from some glass fragments that landed on the dolls, Tolokonnikova, who lives in geographical anonymity because she is on a Russian wanted list, said Hyperallergic in an interview that the incident does not appear to be a “random act” but rather a “fundamentalist act against feminist symbols.”
The mannequins, the artist said, are second-hand sex dolls that she bought on Facebook Marketplace and dressed up to mimic Pussy Riot members.
“I placed the dolls in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin because I believe that feminists are holy, and I am convinced that the Virgin Mary is also a feminist,” Tolokonnikova said in a speech. statement.
The title of the exhibition comes from a Pussy Riot from 2021 song calling for the release of political prisoners, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in disputed circumstances while in prison earlier this year and who described Tolokonnikova as a friend.
The exhibition features a four-metre-long Damocles sword hanging above visitors’ heads, intended to evoke the danger activists live under, and an installation dedicated to the performance.Putin’s ashes” (2022) which puts Tolokonnikova on a Russian wanted list. Tolokonnikova and Pussy Riot’s exhibition also includes the new Icon series of portraits of women in balaclavas decorated with 13th-century Slavic church calligraphy.
Russia arrested Tolokonnikova in absentia last November for her role in Pussy Riot’s “Putin’s Ashes” (2022) performance, in which she and eleven other balaclava-wearing women burned an image of Vladimir Putin and bottled the ashes of the dictator’s image. She was previously sentenced to two years in prison for Pussy Riot’s 2012 anti-Putin feminist punk performance, ‘Punk Prayer’, at the Orthodox Christian Christ the Savior Church in Moscow.
The incident at OK Liz occurred the evening before the holy day of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Blessed Mary, celebrated on December 8. Earlier this year, a sculpture in a Linz cathedral was included in a show by female artists depicting the Virgin Mary’s Birth, titled ‘Crowning’, was beheaded after conservatives denounced it as blasphemous for its depiction of the birth of Christ, which is considered a mystery of faith. The head of the statue has not yet been found.
Tolokonnikova believes that these seemingly reactionary incidents stem from a desire “not to have artists question or even think about these deeply ingrained roles of female religion and the broader culture.”
“It’s something I saw in Russia,” Tolokonnikova said Hyperallergic. “We carry out purely symbolic protests, and even for that we ended up in prison. It is disturbing to see this happening in Europe.”
Tolokonnikova said she will leave the glass unchanged for the rest of the exhibition, which has been extended twice due to its popularity and will now close in June. She said one of the exhibit’s curators, Michaela Seiser, suggested leaving the remains of the incident as a “message.”
Tolokonnikova also attributes the incident at her exhibition to the rise of right-wing movements worldwide. In September’s preliminary elections for chancellor, the Freedom Party, which has its roots in Nazi ideology and is described as Russia-friendly, won its first national election. since the Second World War.
Since being added to Russia’s wanted list, Tolokonnikova says she has been unable to travel to countries that have extradition treaties with her home country.
“This kind of art has real life implications,” Tolokonnikova said.
