The separation between art and power in Russia’s recent history has never been clear-cut. Soon after the fall of the USSR, contemporary art, namely actionism in the 90s, openly criticized society and entered the political sphere. This trend continued after Vladimir Putin’s election in 2000.
Expressed by Putin’s Deputy Chief of the Russian Presidential Administration from 1999 to 2011. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116646992809753610
“The Chronicles of Russian Art”, in Peter Weibel, Global Activism, The MIT Press, 2014.
Tiziana Villani, Camilla Pin, Voina : art / politique, Paris, Eterotopia, 2014, p. 5.
Petr Pavlenski, Le cas Pavlenski. La politique comme art, Paris, Louison éditions, 2016, p. 52-53.
Andreï Erofeev, « Compétition entre politiciens et actionnistes », Iskusstvo, 18 mai 2016.
Boris Groys, “Becoming a Meteorite,” in Silvia Franceschini, Boris Groys, Arseniy Zhilyaev, M.I.R.: New Paths to the Objects, Paris, Kadist Art Foundation, 2014, p. 6.
Andreï Erofeev, “Contemporary Russian art under the authoritarian regime,” in Lena Jonson, Andrei Erofeev (éd.), Russia: Art Resistance and the Conservative-Authoritarian Zeitgeist, Routledge, 2018, p. 130.
Lena Jonson, “The new conservative cultural policy and visual art,” in Lena Jonson, Andrey Erofeev (éd.), Russia: Art Resistance and the Conservative-Authoritarian Zeitgeist, Routledge, 2018.
Andreï Erofeev, “Contemporary Russian art under the authoritarian regime,” in Lena Jonson, Andreï Erofeev (éd.), Russia: Art Resistance and the Conservative-Authoritarian Zeitgeist, Routledge, 2018, p. 131.
Russian identity politics in the 2000s were based on four pillars: state nationalism with the Putin’s “power vertical”, the vision of Russia as a nation-state, Orthodox religion, and the myth of the Unique Russian Path, reinforced by the notion of “sovereign democracy” and the idea of the omnipresence of a fifth column inside the country.1…
