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Marina Abramović - Balkan Baroque (1997)
The most famous performance about war. The Bosnian-Serbian War 1992-1995 was a result of the break-up of Yugoslavia. Scrubbing the bones of blood for days is what the war truly is. It is important that it is given by a person from within, not from outside, by an ex-Yugoslavin, natively Serbian, born in Montenegro Marina Abramović.
Regina Jose Galindo - La Sombra (2017)
This performance is the most powerful works made recently on the topic of war. This is a nightmare of any human being. The fragility of a human body against the killing machine. The increasing helplessness. It goes in rounds with no beginning and end.
Tima Radya - Figure 1: Stability (2012) and To Live by the Past (2022)
This is my favourite Russian street artist whose works are deeply rooted in the Russian political, historical and cultural reality. Each work is always a protest and political critique. In 2012 he made "Figure 1: Stability" as a reaction to the massive anti-Putin's protests in 2012 that were brutally suppressed by the police.
Just a couple of days ago on the 12 of June 2022, on the celebration of the day of Russia, Tima Radya showed his new work "To Live by the Past" in his home town Yekaterinburg, which is the closest city to mine in the Urals. It was removed by the local authorities on the next day. The artist has been fined and incarcerated multiple times.
Polina Kanis - Workout (2011) and Lesson (2011)
My favorite Russian performance artist who expresses the Russian social reality ever so on-point. "Workout" shows how an innocent physical exercise in fresh air with elderly turns into a military marching. In "Lesson" the artist was teaching school children about Russia with a whistle in her mouth. The strong metaphor for today's school education and propaganda in Russia. Please follow the links to see the videos.
Elena Osipova - The Conscience of Saint-Petersburg
This old lady was born in 1945 in Saint-Petersburg during the blockade. People call her The Conscience of Saint-Petersburg. For many years she has been painting her paintings against Putin's politics and going to the streets with them. Elena has been taken to the police many times. Her little pension was "miraculously" cut down by the government. She lives in poverty but refuses to accept money or sell her paintings. She wants her art to serve the protest and not money.
Aleksandra Skochilenko - up to 10 years in prison (2022)
In the first weeks of the war the artist changed the price labels in a groceries shop to the ones containing the facts about the war in Ukraine. She's been arrested and is facing a charge up to 10 years in prison.
Anton Karyuk - Empire Collapsed (2022)
The Ukrainian artist made this work during the bombings in Kyiv. He gave shape to the thoughts many people in Russia have been having for a long time. The federalism in Russia doesn't work properly. All the money the Russian provinces earn are sent to Moscow and stay in Moscow. The provinces receive back "crumbs" of their initial income. Separatism was only a thin idea but with the sanctions that are being implemented as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine it became more tangible.
