From Futurism to Pussy Riot: Russia’s tradition of aesthetic disobedience

Abstract

Russian art collective Pussy Riot gained worldwide attention in 2012 for its guerilla public performances and the subsequent imprisonment of three group members on charges of criminal hooliganism. While the group’s actions (and especially the response that they provoked) have been widely examined, Pussy Riot has not been considered within the context of Russia’s long tradition of political art. In particular, the group’s use of aesthetic disobedience – an avant-garde strategy originally championed by Russia’s Futurists 100 years earlier – provides a useful vantage point from which to reconsider the actions of Pussy Riot, and to re-evaluate the role of avant-garde ideas in contemporary society.This article has been peer reviewed.