Pyotr Pavlensky

Pyotr Pavlensky is a Russian political artist whose radical actions use the body, public space, fire and state repression as artistic materials. From sewing his mouth shut in solidarity with Pussy Riot to nailing his scrotum to Red Square and setting fire to the entrance of the FSB headquarters, Pavlensky creates images intended to expose how power disciplines bodies and transforms dissent into criminal evidence.

This archive examines his political actionism, his exile in France and the controversies surrounding his interventions. Pavlensky’s practice occupies an unstable territory between performance, resistance, provocation and self-endangerment, asking whether an artist can attack systems of control without reproducing their violence.