Critical Studies
Transgression and taste talk
After our talk on transgression and taste we were asked two find two artists dealing with this idea, I'll be discussing a performance by Pussy Riot.
Pussy riot is a Russian non-violent feminist activist art collective spanning a range of medias and creative fields. Pussy riot formed a punk band, create poetry, do speeches, performance, publish books and more, originally a small collective the group and name pussy riot now stands for a much larger movement. The group originally formed in 2011 in response to Russian government and the idea of Vladimir Putin's re-election. The number of member varies but is usually between 11 and 15 people, the original idea was that the members of pussy riot stay anonymous, wearing brightly coloured balaclava's to hide identity.
In 2012 Pussy riot did a performance called punk prayer. This performance was a self written punk song performed in Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Along with other things the song pointed out the alliance between the Orthodox church and state during Putin's election campaign. The whole performance being non violent but challenging the Russian regime. As a result of this performance three of the groups members were arrested and sentenced to two years in prison and charged with Hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.
I do think this group and piece could of been applicable when writing about the politics and identity talk due to the influence and motivations behind the group but I thought the result of the arrests made it more fitting to be written about for this talk. Personally I do not know too much about Russian society or government but from what I can see from briefly researching on line, laws on protest and just in general seemed to be much stricter and have a higher level of censorship than that of the uk or other countries. So yes the performance was an act of rebellion and resulted in prison time but due to there physical location and the governing laws I think this is something they could of been expecting. Like I said I don't know much about laws but from what I can see online I don't believe the result would of been as drastic if the were simply in another country under different laws. Since this, the three members served time and were released, many members fled Russia for other countries and there's even been other arrests within the group and such since.
I mean I personally think there performances are pretty cool, I don't know enough about all affairs to have a solid commentary but I definitely stand with some of their messaging. I think they are evidence that even if there's support for a piece or message its still governed by the law of the place your in and will be judged by this.
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