“The primary interest of this exhibition is to demonstrate how the territorial state of Vladimir Putin became a terrorist state which led to the war in Ukraine,” says Maria Alyokhina, who was present at the press visit of the exhibition Tuesday.
Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia features the documentation gathered by Maria Alyokhina on the protest actions of the members of the collective, in the manner of a logbook which unfolds in space, through words scribbled by hand, drawings created by artist Ragnar Kjartansson and photographs stuck with adhesive tape, not forgetting the sound of the videos presented.
The exhibition, developed by the team of curators made up of Ragnar Kjartansson, Dorothée Kirch and Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir, in collaboration with John Zeppetelli and Marjolaine Labelle for the Montreal presentation, goes beyond commonplaces: it shows that if Pussy Riot were noted for their punk prayer against Vladimir Putin in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow in 2012, the members continue their creative interventions until currently offering their support to Ukraine.
Each space shows cases of arrests of members, mainly those of Maria Alyokhina, but also of Nadya Tolokonnikova, one of the founders of the collective, an additional element compared to the version presented at the Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, the Louisiana . “Nadya [Tolokonnikova] heard about this exhibition. […] We are very happy to include her text which was published in the Guardian for her hunger strike, when she was in prison. And a video was [also] added,” says curator John Zeppetelli.
Pussy Riot’s depiction of his actions and arrests enters into dialogue with that of several other protesters, as ramifications that provide a more general portrait of the resistance prevalent in Russia. Between the members of the group and the different opposition groups, “there is great solidarity […]. It’s a very inspiring work,” according to MAC management.
“Pussy Riot’s perspective provides insight into the last decade [of the country’s history] and the growing authoritarianism that has resulted in a state marginalized by the world at large,” says curator John Zeppetelli. other exhibitions using artistic institutions as a place for denouncing and displaying politics, including Contagion of Terror in 2021, featuring Laura Poitras and Forensic Architecture.
The images and explanations of police maneuvers and prison punishments accumulate from room to room, resonating throughout the journey, until they become a hubbub, while generating an awareness, which is not without being emotional.
If the journey is chronological, the creations inside the rooms are more rhizomatic. “It’s so dense, there’s so much information, you could spend hours and hours there,” adds John Zeppetelli.
Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia is timely in the context of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine and, now, the conflict in the Middle East. It is not insignificant if the director of the MAC pushed back the dates of another exhibition to make way for this one in October.
From 10 to 20 depending on the period, the members have become famous thanks to their provocative performances which question the Russian political regime.
They became known for their actions in public spaces in colorful balaclavas.
Their punk concerts with sharp lyrics have largely earned them their notoriety.