The exhibition focuses on Pussy Riot’s artistic protests in Russia, collected by Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, and it is curated by Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir, Ragnar Kjartansson and Dorothée Kirch, with John Zeppetelli and Marjolaine Labelle for the presentation at the MAC.

The performances, music, and videos created by the feminist punk art collective Pussy Riot, formed in Moscow in 2011, are characterized by provocative and politically charged lyrics and actions. Guided by the dictum that all protest art should be “desperate, sudden, and joyous,” Pussy Riot has courageously, and with a wry smile, shone a light on the brutal injustices that the Russian state inflicts on its citizens through political imprisonment, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions, mysterious poisonings, aggressive surveillance, and other means of suppressing critical voices.

Attack on Pussy Riot, 2014
Photo: Alexander Sofeev

Punk Prayer, 2012
Photo: Mitya Aleshkovsky

Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia, Pussy Riot’s first survey exhibition, was initially presented at Kling & Bang, an artist run space in Reykjavik. The exhibition documents Pussy Riot actions, street activism and the repressive Russian context in which they take place. It was an encounter in Moscow between Maria “Masha” Alyokhina and Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson that led to this project. Kjartansson, who curated the Reykjavik exhibition with Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir and Dorothée Kirch, has described the group’s work as having a “non-consensual relationship with the state.” Indeed, Pussy Riot has used the police state’s apparatus of repression and authoritarianism as a creative partner, engaging in an uneasy “dance with the devil.” 

Maria Alyokhina is a Russian artist and political activist. She is the author of Riot Days (2017), which describes her stay in a Russian penal colony following a widely covered show trial in 2012. She is currently working on her second book, as well as performing in the show Riot Days alongside other members of Pussy Riot. The Pussy Riot collective is the recipient of the 2012 Lennon Ono Grant for Peace and received the Hannah Arendt Prize in 2014. Pussy Riot was awarded the 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize, which honours the spirit of resistance through music, literature, dance, and other art forms.

The exhibition Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia is organized and circulated by Kling & Bang,  Reykjavik.

Opening Lecture of the exhibition Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia

To mark the opening of the exhibition Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal presented a conversation between Maria Alyokhina, Pussy Riot member, and Ragnar Kjartansson, internationally renowned artist and instigator of the original exhibition project presented at Kling & Bang, Reykjavik. The conversation was moderated by John Zeppetelli, Director and Chief curator of the MAC, who also curated the exhibition.

Can You Fight with Paper Planes?

The video Can You Fight with Paper Planes? presents an interview with Maria Alyokhina, a member of Pussy Riot, produced in the context of the exhibition Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Courtesy Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Espace M

Espace M

A space for participation and conversation

This project space has been created to encourage visitors to engage critically with the different issues raised by the exhibition Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia.

Have questions following your visit of the exhibition? Espace M brings together a selection of resources available for consultation. These resources are intended to help you further explore the ideas and themes present in the exhibition. In addition, they offer avenues for reflection on some of today’s urgent social issues.

Need to express yourself? You’re invited to discover the different participatory elements in the space that encourage you to express your opinions and ask questions. As the responses accumulate, they will form a record of the visitors’ collective experience of the exhibition.

Espace M is also activated with public events and regularly includes the presence of members of the art mediation team to encourage and enhance conversations about the exhibition. Consult our calendar of activities for more details about upcoming events.

Created to offer a convergence between cultural Mediation and the Museum experience, this dynamic space invites the public to participate in the conversations and debates provoked by contemporary art.

Espace M was created by Ohisse: Atelier de design social in collaboration with the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.

 

Image credit: Ohisse, 2023

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