Pussy Riot sex doll work vandalized in Linz chapel
In Linz, Austria, Nadya Tolokonnikova's installation, Pussy Riot Sex Dolls, was defaced while exhibited in a repurposed chapel at the OK Center for Contemporary Art. The artwork, which features used sex dolls designed to resemble members of Pussy Riot, had its glass enclosure shattered on December 7, just prior to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The museum reported the incident to the police, but no witnesses were present. This piece alludes to Pussy Riot's 2012 Punk Prayer performance. Notably, this incident represents the second act of vandalism against religious-themed art in Linz within the year; a sculpture by Esther Strauß was decapitated in June. Tolokonnikova, who co-founded Pussy Riot in 2011, served a year in prison following the Punk Prayer performance.
Key facts
- Nadya Tolokonnikova's work Pussy Riot Sex Dolls was vandalized in Linz, Austria.
- The work was installed in a deconsecrated chapel at OK Center for Contemporary Art.
- The glass partition was smashed on Saturday, December 7, before the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
- The chapel retains icons of the Virgin Mary on the ceiling.
- The museum filed a police report; no witnesses were present.
- This is the second iconoclastic attack on religious-themed art in Linz in 2024.
- In June, a sculpture by Esther Strauß of the Virgin Mary giving birth was beheaded in St. Mary's Cathedral.
- Alexander Tschugguel passed a statement from the vandal calling the work 'abominable and blasphemous caricature'.
- Tolokonnikova co-founded Pussy Riot in 2011 and spent a year in prison after the 2012 Punk Prayer action.
- The Linz exhibition includes her last work made in Russia, RAGE, created after Alexei Navalny's arrest.
Entities
Artists
- Nadya Tolokonnikova
- Esther Strauß
- Alexei Navalny
- Alexander Tschugguel
Institutions
- Pussy Riot
- OK Center for Contemporary Art
- Voina
- Cathedral of Christ the Savior
- St. Mary's Cathedral
- Linz Diocese
Locations
- Linz
- Austria
- Moscow
- Russia