Artists Behaving Badly
An art group that stages orgies, throws cats at cashiers and has Banksy as a fan has enraged the Russian authorities to the point of violent repression and censorship of their work.
The artists’ collective Voina first came to prominence in February 2008, two days before the carefully choreographed elections that brought President Dmitry Medvedev to power. About 12 activists, one of whom was a pregnant woman, entered the Biology Museum and staged an orgy. The most notorious Voina action was last June, when several members of the group painted a penis on the Liteiny Bridge in St Petersburg. Evading and fighting off security, the 65-metre high image was completed just before the bridge opened, as it does each evening to let ships pass through.
