Fotograf Magazine

Voina Wanted – Political “Action” Using the Photographic Image

“Moscow Actionism”[ref]A. Kovalyov, Russian Actionism 1990–2000 (Российский акционизм 1990—2000). “World Art Muzei” n. 28/29., Moscow, Knigi WAM, 2007.[/ref] is back. This forgotten tendency of the “Wild Nineties” in the Russian art scene has once again become an important trend over the last two years, after Voina’s “action” Dick Captured By the FSB (Хуй в ПЛЕНу у ФСБ) on June 14, 2010. At this point, with the conclusion of the Pussy Riot trial on August 17, 2012, the post-Soviet radical performance art of the last two decades has taken on a completely different meaning, both in terms of the media and political life.

Voina Wanted is thus far one of the few examples of Russian radical art groups being active abroad. On September 21, 2011 the “action” kicked off in the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna with the support of the local art community. In every city where it takes place, Voina Wanted invariably enlists local activists, both from the art scene and the political left. The “action” constitutes a political media performance.