Pussy Riot Members Discuss Activism and Imprisonment at MoMA PS1 Event
On November 2, 2014, at MoMA PS1, Klaus Biesenbach led a discussion featuring Pussy Riot members Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, as part of the "Zero Tolerance" exhibition. Following their 2012 "Punk Prayer" performance, the duo spent 22 months in a Russian prison, facing physical abuse and a lack of privacy, before being released just prior to the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Committed to their activism in Russia, they intend to publish their experiences from incarceration and stage performances opposing homophobia, drawing from historical resistance and agitprop movements. They were honored with the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought in 2014.
Key facts
- Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot spoke at MoMA PS1 on November 2, 2014
- The event was part of the "Zero Tolerance" exhibition curated by Klaus Biesenbach
- Pussy Riot members were imprisoned for 22 months after their 2012 "Punk Prayer" performance
- They were released before the 2014 Sochi Olympics
- The artists endured beatings and wore unchanged clothing for nearly two years in prison
- Pussy Riot won the 2014 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought
- The collective was attacked in Nizhny Novgorod in March 2014 by nationalists
- Their work connects to historical resistance movements including Russian Futurism and the Paris Commune
Entities
Artists
- Maria Alekhina
- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova
- Yekaterina Samutsevich
- Klaus Biesenbach
- Petya Verzilov
- Vladimir Mayakovski
- Gustave Courbet
- Eugene Delacroix
- Guy Debord
- Taslima Nasrin
- Steve Lacy
- Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Theo Van Gogh
- Ai Weiwei
- Liu Xiaobo
- Salman Rushdie
- Hermann Broch
- Philip Barnard
- Alain Kirili
Institutions
- Pussy Riot
- MoMA PS1
- Liberation
- Russian Orthodox Church
- Guerrilla Girls
Locations
- Moscow
- Russia
- Queens
- New York
- United States
- Sochi
- Paris
- France
- Nizhny Novgorod
- China