Ballsy Russian Artist on Red Square
St. Petersburg artist Pyotr Pavlensky was called in for questioning by police in Moscow on Nov. 21 over a much-publicized artistic performance on Red Square that took place on Nov. 10.
In the course of the performance, Pavlensky nailed his scrotum to the paving and sat staring down between his legs as a protest against apathy and political indifference in Russian society. The performance took place on Russia’s Police Day.
In an interview with The St. Petersburg Times Monday, Pavlensky said he discovered that a case over alleged criminal misconduct (“hooliganism”) had been initiated against him via media reports on Nov. 18, and it was only during the Nov. 21 interrogation that he was served with papers.
According to a photocopy of that document made available to The St. Petersburg Times, Pavlensky "nailed his penis to the cobblestones" exhibiting a "gross violation of public order [that] expressed a clear disrespect for society" and was motivated by "political and ideological hatred as well as hatred for a particular social group."
Written by police investigator Lt. R.A. Kapnin on Nov. 13, the document described the performance as “provocative and offensive."
With hatred given as a motivation for an activity, the Criminal Code article 213 can be used, which can result in a prison sentence of up to five years. The same article was used last year against three members of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot and resulted into two-year prison sentences.
Pavlensky said that the investigator failed to specify hatred of which social group his performance had allegedly conveyed.
"There's nothing much they can use to build a propaganda campaign against me, and public opinion is on my side rather than against me," Pavlensky said.
"I found out about the criminal charges from the media, rather than after suddenly being arrested somewhere. I had every chance to flee, if I had wanted to. That's why I think that they have some reservations –— they're not very sure which measures should be taken against me. It looks like they’re being indecisive so far."
According to Pavlensky, he was questioned by police for approximately three hours in the presence of his lawyer Ramil Akhmetgaliyev, who had been provided by the human rights group Agora. "I simply told [the investigator] what I had already told journalists," he said.
“He was very interested to know if I had done it alone or if there was a specific organization backing me," Pavlensky said.
Although the investigator was interested in whose flat he had stayed at in Moscow, Pavlensky said he told him that he had arrived by train on the morning of the performance. He refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement when asked to do so by the investigating officer.
According to Pavlensky, last week's news reports about him being under orders not to leave the city were false. "It was first reported by Interfax, but I don't know who supplied the information," he said.
Titled “Fixation," Pavlensky's performance on the Red Square was about peoples obedience to a repressive regime, he said.
"To put it briefly, it's about a fixation on one's own helplessness," he said. "I am saying that it's not the authorities that have people by the balls, but rather the people themselves, and that the position they saw me in on Red Square was, in reality, the position that most people are in.
"Some did not like it because they saw a certain masochism in it. And it's very good that they did not like it because when people let their indifference direct them, that's true masochism. It's their own aggression directed inward, toward themselves. Society holds itself in such a state on its own and there should be someone to make them aware of this.
“It required expression in a precise visual code for them not only to see, but to feel the situation they are in – that people are not, in reality, sitting in their warm cozy chairs near computers in their offices, but are rather in this awkward position."
Pavlensky said he deliberately timed the performance to coincide with Police Day.
"That was very important because I was talking about the transformation of the country into a police state, about the development of a permanent Police Day, an endless holiday," he said.
"As long as people remain in this position, they are helping to bring this about."
The interrogation on Nov. 21 is the second attempt by police to press charges against the artist over the performance. After detaining and briefly hospitalizing him Nov. 10, police brought him to a Moscow judge the following day to have him convicted of disorderly conduct.
The judge dismissed the case on the grounds that the police documents didn’t demonstrate that Pavlensky had committed the offense, which is defined by being inebriated, the use of foul language and the harassment of passersby.
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