Natalya Sokol, nicknamed Koza, coordinator of the Voina art group and wife of Voina leader Oleg Vorotnikov, answered Life’s questions about the group’s new life in Europe.
The art group "War" became the curator of the a special dinner in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Kunstwerke Institute, organizer of the Berlin Biennale. Since 2013, the leader of the Voina art group, Oleg Vorotnikov, nicknamed the Thief, and his family have been living abroad. In November 2010 - February 2011, Vorotnikov was in a pre-trial detention center in St. Petersburg for participating in the "Palace Coup" action. , during which the participants of the “War” overturned several police cars in St. Petersburg.
In May 2011, Vorotnikov and his wife Natalya Sokol, nicknamed Koza, were announced in Federal criminal investigation. The reason was again their participation in the “Palace Coup” action, as well asparticipation in the opposition march on March 31, 2011 in the Northern capital.In July of the same year, Oleg Vorotnikov was put on the international criminal wanted list and arrested in absentia.
While abroad they went through many trials, they were arrested more than once as illegal immigrants, they were beaten by local human rights activists. At some point the Goat and the Thief, whom the Western media considered ardent oppositionists, became disillusioned with the myth of a free Europe and began giving patriotic and pro-Russian interviews.
Now the life of “War” is gradually improving: the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Karel Schwarzenberg came to their aid. Natalya Sokol told Life about the creative plans of “War”.
- You recently visited Berlin. What kind of project was there?
We were invited to Berlin as curators to a gala dinner in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Kunstwerke Institute - the organizer of the Berlin Biennale (we were curators of the seventh biennale in 2012) - and went with the goal of finding activists. I have already said that we are recruiting a team of inveterate actionists, like the one that was selected in “Treasure Island” - remember the cartoon? In three weeks of Berlin vacillation, they found one person, which is quite a lot for Europe. True, he turned out to be Russian, or rather Belarusian.
We were almost arrested twice on this train. The first time the police were called because we were drinking coffee while sitting in a cafe, but did not order food. The waiter warned us that he would call the police, and then he called. We couldn't believe our eyes! They left straight from the hands of the arriving squad, pretending to be stupid tourists.
The second time was on the train: according to the passengers, we were returning home too late. A typical bald German came up to us and began to threaten. Kasper (son, he’s seven) jumped up and hit him in the face with a mitten. The police were also called, but we got off at our stop before the squad arrived.
Children, families with children are driven into a kind of social ghetto, like dog walkers, from where it is better not to stick out. Are you a mother with children, especially since you have more than one? Ay-ay-ay, what a shame! Be careful and expect tricks from everywhere. You better become a predatory animal so that your children are not eaten by the childless creatures around you.
In this I see a monstrous transformation of feminism in our days: now the struggle of a woman in modern society is a struggle for the rights of her children, for their opportunity to develop creatively, to become people with a rich spiritual world. Otherwise, they will immediately make robots out of kids. Berlin only strengthened my thought: hey, you can trample on family values here in Europe as much as you like, but not at the expense of limiting the freedom of my children.
When I gave birth to my third child in Switzerland, my daughter Trinity, the doctor warned the police in advance, being for some reason sure that I was giving birth in order to sell the child for organs.
Natalya, on Voina’s Instagram, one of the latest photos is of the castle in Chimelitsa, which will house Voina’s studio. Have you started preparing any projects yet?
We are planning projects, but we are not making any announcements. Otherwise it simply won’t work: they will come and arrest you. The code name is GOU, in the sense of “Woe from Wit”. We will start preparing as soon as our activists from Russia arrive. Unfortunately, in Europe it was not possible to find activists brave enough to participate in the “War” actions. It is easier to discharge people from Russia.
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Karel Schwarzenberg, is actively helping you. How did you meet? Did he know about “War” before? Why do you think he decided to help you, because before that many people refused to help you?
Karel himself volunteered to help, and at a very difficult time for us. Oleg had just been released from prison in Prague, we were surrounded by the local press, we gave out patriotic interviews that shocked Czech society. After their publication, the local public immediately turned away from us. We lost everything: housing, lawyers, support.
Human rights activists circulated vile gossip behind our backs. The creative projects that were being prepared were immediately curtailed. Newspapers burst out with propaganda articles portraying us not as brilliant artists, as was before, but as inhuman maniacs who belong in prison or a mental hospital. Then Karel appeared and turned out to be a sensitive person and a great politician: he offered us a residence in Orlik.
And as a studio for creative experiments - a castle in Cimelice, where, by the way, he spent his childhood in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. So our family history of misadventures turned out to be close to him.
Karel loves Russian art, and at the banquet he quoted Blok, his father’s favorite poet.
Another noble Czech was the wonderful children's artist Petr Nikl. When Oleg and I were arrested, the children - Kasper and Mama - remained in his apartment in Holesovice, Prague, not knowing where we were or what was happening to us, and while waiting for our return, they drew alone on the walls.
Children's creativity is a guaranteed path to losing housing in Europe. People here have forgotten how to enjoy children.
But Peter was delighted with the drawings of Casper and Mom. He asked to leave everything as it is. In gratitude, we arranged a farewell opening day for him before leaving for Orlik. Peter and the children had a joint session - drawing and cutting out masks from paper.
Was it just an event “for our own people” or can it be positioned as one of the “War” projects? How often do you organize such events?
The children accumulated a large archive of creativity, but it was destroyed during an attack on us by a group of Swiss human rights activists on March 20 of this year in Basel. An armed crowd broke into our attic room at 21 Wasserstrasse.
Human rights activists kidnapped children and left them naked on the street, beat us parents, stole our computers, iPads, and stole archives, including the works of Kasper and Mama.
The arriving police were not interested in the attack; instead, we were arrested as illegal immigrants, then in a deportation prison, and then the whole family was escorted to an underground concentration camp in the town of Esch in the canton of Basel-Land, from where we managed to escape. We managed to take several photographs with a hidden camera at the Esch concentration camp.
In Prague we had to start all over again. The exhibition at Peter Nikl is the first after horror in Switzerland.
Oleg said in one of his interviews: “The artist, as you yourself probably guess, is just about the camps and arrests, and about unexpected ones.” Lately you have accumulated a lot of emotions associated with such events. Will they be reflected in the projects of "War"?
You are quoting a falsified interview published in Fur-Fur. Unfortunately, we were unable to influence this publication in any way, since we were outside the legal field, and Fur-Fura journalists took advantage of this by passing off fragments of email correspondence as interviews. Therefore, it is unpleasant for me to refer to this text. He is evidence of dishonesty on the part of this publication.
In an interview, Oleg said that many people know about “War”: “When we meet artists, they start writing with delight: “Oh, “War,” “*** in captivity,” “Punk in court,” that’s all you !" They feel like just lucky people who managed to communicate with those legends they read about. But when the conversation turns to a practical plane - is it possible to find housing or a lawyer - then almost everyone loses interest. We are good somewhere there - when in the Russian prison, then we are good." Maybe there are still artists in Europe who are interested in working with “War”?
- We initially did not intend to conduct any artistic activity in Europe, since we considered the European context uninteresting in comparison with the Russian one. We also didn't plan to stay here.
But the circumstances turned out differently: the channel of return to Russia slammed shut, and we found ourselves in Europe as if in a trap. If we ever take creativity seriously here, it will be very, very critical.
We don’t communicate with European artists, because they simply don’t exist in nature. We constantly receive offers from the West, but this is like an invitation to the grave. We're in no hurry.
Do you maintain relationships with any Russian artists? Are you interested in what contemporary artists are doing in Russia now?
In Russia we like the work of video artist Injoikin; he managed to capture the spirit of the times better than anyone else.
Quote from Oleg: “The image of the West that intellectuals in Russia paint is a fiction. People here are not violating anything - it’s not for nothing that the stagnation in European contemporary art is more powerful than under Brezhnev. Art is crammed into an entertainment ghetto for rich people. You can be a clown - and "Only then will you be interesting. They sit and wait for an idea to come from the third world. This is how I explain the success of Russian actionism, when the most basic actions are well read." Do you want to try to somehow change the situation with this “entertainment ghetto” with your projects? Or will it be very difficult or even dangerous to do this due to the specifics of the legislation?
Working in Europe and for Europe is a waste of time. The West groans from the meaninglessness of existence, but these groans are deserved. All that remained was for the barbarians to come and stop the protracted performance. A strange situation has developed in Europe. Like in war, almost no one has their own children, but they command how we should behave with ours.
Recently there was news that . Although this issue was already raised in September, and then the authorities stated that there were no grounds for extradition. Do you have an understanding of how the Czech authorities will behave now?
The actions of the Czech authorities are only their own headache. We healthy people are not interested in it.
As Storm learned, on February 12, a member of the Voina art group, Natalya Sokol, appealed to the children's ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova. In an official appeal to the website of the Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Sokol asked for assistance in “evacuating from Germany” and returning to her homeland.
She wrote that she could not return to Russia because of the criminal case “falsified” against her and Vorotnikov and related to their participation, in particular, in the “Palace Coup” action. Sokol noted that this case was closed four times due to exonerating circumstances, but in 2016 it was opened for the fifth time.
Another difficulty, according to Sokol, is that her passport, driver’s license, Moscow State University employee ID and documents for her eldest son were seized in 2010 in Moscow and have not yet been returned. She explained that all this, coupled with the arrest in absentia and the wanted list, did not allow her to register her second child, born in 2012. The third child has only a birth certificate issued in Basel, Switzerland in 2015. Thus, only the eldest son of Vorotnikov and Sokol, Kasper Beloved, has Russian citizenship.
“In Berlin, where we are now, we have no place to live and are forced to huddle in a boat without electricity, heating, water, toilet and, due to our lack of legal status, without means of subsistence. In addition, my husband disappeared on January 27 of this year. after the police raid, and since then I have had no information about him. My attempts to find legal assistance here or to attract public attention are unsuccessful,” the artist wrote (the text of the statement is at the disposal of the editors).
Vorotnikov actually disappeared on January 27 after the police tried to detain artists who had unauthorizedly occupied one of the residential premises in Berlin. Sokol tried to find out where he was and even went to Moabit prison to donate food. However, they refused to accept a roe deer leg as a “transfer”. Journalist Olesya Gerasimenko, according to Sokol, sent 10 euros to Moabit addressed to Vorotnikov, but the money was not returned. From this we can conclude that the artist is still in prison.
Now in emigrant circles in Berlin they are actively discussing the possibility of contacting the guardianship service, which could take Sokol’s children away and transfer them to a specialized institution. According to the Russian-speaking intelligentsia, children cannot develop normally living on the street, learning theft and other criminal trades and learning from their parents “toxic Crimean nashi” worldview.
Vorotnikov and Sokol have been living in Europe illegally for six years because they do not want to apply for political asylum.
Sokol said that her Moscow acquaintances gave her a small amount through the doctor Dmitry Holland, who is passionate about modern art, but he chose to keep the funds for himself.
Vorotnikov and Sokol always led an antisocial lifestyle, elevating refusal to use money to the rank of a moral imperative. They stole, among other things, premium products, expensive equipment and designer clothes, teaching their young children to do the same. This did not irritate those around him until the artists began to declare their pro-Putin views.
In the late 2000s, Voina held several high-profile events, one of which was awarded the state Innovation Award in 2011.
To the War in Berlin. January 2018
Saykhan Tsintsaev 14 Feb Wed 13:36
- Natalya, hello. My name is Saikhan, I am a journalist for News.Ru from Moscow. I am interested in your story and would like to write about you. What do you say about this?
Goat:
- Hello, write.
15 Feb Thu 6:25
- Thanks for answering. Is your connection working? Could we talk on the phone?
Goat
- There is no phone.
— Can you send an audio message here? Well, so that you don’t write a lot.
- I don't mind writing.
- Yes, we would also like to help you a little. If you don't refuse, we'll give the kids 30 euros.
- I'll make do.
- Well, this is like a small gift for the kids. Actually, I would like to know where you are now?
- I’m sitting in the machka.
- Excuse me, but what is Machok?
- Makdachnaya, there is freewifi here.
- I still don’t understand what it is)
- McDuck.
- Ahh. What happened to Oleg? Is there any information about him?
— We were unable to obtain any information about Oleg. But my options are limited. And they have long been exhausted. I believe that he could have been escorted to Schweiz, this is one of the reasonable versions. Or he's trying to contact me through a half-assed lawyer, and that doesn't give a fuck.
- Look, I want to describe your problem in general. So I need more details.
- I've been here for half an hour.
- What city are you in?
- Berlin.
— What is your status there? Where do you live?
- In the boat. Illegal.
— Do you have money for children and food?
- Without funds.
- How many children?
-What age are they?
— I was told that you seemed to be turning to Kuznetsova. But I couldn’t find anything about this anywhere on the internet. This is true?
- Ahh, thank you. I assume no one has answered you yet? Was the appeal written on behalf of the art group or from you personally?
— People from Kuznetsova contacted me and offered to help if I wrote an application. I wrote. An appeal to the ombudsman is required as a formal reason for Kuznetsova to take up the case.
— An application for what? This is just what I'm trying to understand. Her people contacted you, asked you to write and you wrote, or did you first make an appeal yourself and they followed it up with a request to write a statement?
- So, how did they promise to help?
The goat parks a baby stroller on the roof, in which he lives with the children, hiding from the German police. Berlin, Rummelsburg Bay, February 2018
- “Natasha, there are people who would like to help you. Very high up your issue can be resolved. Through the Children's Ombudsman. Do you need help returning to Russia? Will you accept it? People here are very concerned about your situation. Think about it. And if you decide, then let’s get started.”
- Oh cool. I hope they still help you. Let's get back to Oleg before you leave McDuck. You said that he might be in Schweiz. Did you mean Switzerland?
—One of the versions, yes.
- Why there? And for what?
—We escaped from the concentration camp from there.
- Ahh. Have you contacted government agencies? In Germany. About the fact that he was taken away.
“It’s useless and unsafe without a lawyer.” I tried through different people, but there is a version that he did not give his name.
- Didn’t give your name?
- He was not identified.
— If they didn’t identify him, then what’s the point in detaining him?
- Like an unidentified illegal immigrant.
- And he probably won’t name himself, right?
- There is, I say, such a version. I'm trying to understand why he didn't get in touch.
— Regarding the actions that you carried out in Russia. How do you feel about all this now, after so many trials and shocks? You probably remember the past. Do you regret the past?
The Goat, the Thief and Prince Karel Schwarzenberg at the Louvre Restaurant, Prague, October 2016
— What we did is the golden pages of modern art.
— Well said) What I mean is that they told me that you and your husband seem to have changed your views.
“We refused to give a shit about Russia over the hill, and this became a problem.”
- How did this become a problem?
“We are isolated here.”
— Have you been told to continue actions against the Russian authorities in Europe?
— We received an offer from the special services.
- American or?
- No. Local ones, and there I don’t know.
- What did they want?
— So that we stage attacks on Russian embassies.
- But in exchange?
- There will be money, a house in Chicago, a lot of women and cars.
— Do I understand correctly that you refused to do this due to your moral considerations? So as not to attack Russia at the request of other countries. And here you did it - because thereby you expressed yourself. And it was art.
— We are a patriotic group, as can be seen from the name.
— If you manage to participate in the upcoming elections, who would you vote for?
- What do you mean if we come back before March?
- Well, yes.
“We have been dealing with this issue for several years, and the audibility is not very good yet.
- Well, even if you don’t come back, who would you vote for? Would you go to the polls at all?
— Let's assume that you still went to the polls this year.
- And this time there is no need at all.
— Do you have an opinion on who you might vote for? Do you believe in the legitimacy of these elections?
- Yes, everything is fine there even without legitimacy.
- In what sense?
- The issue is resolved.
— I’m asking you, the founder of the patriotic group. That's why I ask these questions. Do you support that the issue has already been resolved?
- Definitely.
— And if you return to Russia, will you continue the actions?
— There are two options: either actions or the Minister of Culture.
— Do you want to become Minister of Culture? Did I understand correctly?
- Collective.
- How is that?
- We're a group.
— But according to the law of the Russian Federation, only one person can head the department. Not a group. Unless you can all work in the ministry itself.
- We'll see.
- Why do you want this? What, for example, will you offer to me, an ordinary citizen, if you become a minister?
— A very interesting cultural situation has arisen in Russia now.
— Fundamentally different from the West, for example.
-What kind of situation is this?
— If we talk about actionism, then we can plan actions on a national scale
— What will be the ideas for the shares? Their essence, thought?
— Russian society is forming an identity.
- Yes, I agree with you.
— These could be ideological projects that capture broad sections of the population.
— You are against the identity of everyone and for people to develop as individuals with their own opinions. Yes?
“As a collective, we are more interested in collective action.”
— Yes, but I’m trying to understand the essence of these collective actions. Or their essence is that they are collective. What is the meaning, content and ideas of the shares without a difference?
— Since artists are now somewhat out of touch with society - for various reasons - an overly negative ideology is being formed, mainly against something. This is because the work is not trusted to artists and officials, technologists, and all sorts of entertainers are forced to do it, but these people have a different type of talent - not artistic, not plastic. And the result is grandiose projects, but from the point of view of form, plasticity, they are not completed, half-formed, half-thought out. An example is the immortal regiment.
— A wonderful, unifying idea. But in form this is a walking cemetery, that is, translating into the language of mass culture - and we all live in mass culture - it is a parade of zombies. This is clearly a flaw in purely artistic terms.
— How would you propose to conduct it?
— We are not so interested in parades. I gave it as an example.
— An example when artists are removed for some reason. What for? After all, it is an inexhaustible resource. And completely inexpensive.
— Suppose you don’t succeed with the Ministry of Culture and you start protests again. Aren't you afraid that in this case they will stop helping you?
- But they don’t provide it to us.
- Well, it looks like they are going to.
- Fuck knows.
— I mean that if they start providing assistance, it won’t work out with the Ministry of Culture and you will start actions.
“They are very afraid that this is our next provocation and they will get into trouble, and then everyone will laugh.”
— What is the point of the authorities helping you if you are carrying out actions against them?
- Art is not against it. You can’t say so: against.
- Which is better?
— Art is the creation of a new cultural situation that simply did not exist before. Look: we, without a penny of money, on our knees, scurrying through basements, raised the civil society of 2012. But you can move in different directions if the state has an interest.
- I understand you. Why do you think that “they” are afraid of you? Do you believe that the Russian authorities are afraid of you? Your shares?
“They are not afraid of us, but they suspect that we are planning something and are involving them.”
- Is anyone helping you now? At least somehow. At least something?
— What would you convey to our readers? Young people and girls. Do you have any cultural message for them?
—What kind of audience is yours?
- It is very diverse. But we position ourselves as an independent media. We are not for or against anyone.
— It’s an old song; there hasn’t been such journalism for a long time, if there ever was one. I want to tell them: don’t waste the moment. There was a time, quite recently, when the Russian nation was on the verge of extinction. In cultural and spiritual terms as well. This moment has been turned. Unexpectedly for many of our “partners”, who had already put on black funeral suits and formal ties and sat along the edges of the dug hole for a meal. Well, they love carrion. It turned out that the patient was alive. Mr. Grandpa Putin demonstrated this brilliantly. Thus becoming a historical figure. Take an example. But without fanaticism. Russia has a historical mission. If the world does not become somewhat polarized, then there is a high probability that everything will go to hell. Perhaps it is Russia that can build the world of the future, and not just eat a lot. Here the talent and work of the artist will be very useful, because the artist paints the most convincing and truthful picture of the future. But for now, artists are used to illustrate a simple truth: this will happen to everyone who does not listen. This is weird. It’s somehow short-sighted, since on the other side of the hill a huge bet is being made on contemporary art. Now the idea of creating a new religion based on modern art is circulating among Western elites.
- Ooo. Wow.
— Already now, art centers are becoming larger and more reminiscent of shopping centers, including in terms of the number of visitors. People are taught to go there as if they were going to a temple. Real crowds come and look at the installation: a thousand bicycles or a mountain of sunflower seeds. Our time is a time of renaissance of the religious worldview, which happened quite unexpectedly. At school it seemed to us that there was no God. Modern teenagers don't think so. This can take many forms, including that of ISIS. Another thing is important: religion has returned to the world, which means we must fight for it. Relying solely on the Russian Orthodox Church is not bad, but it is absolutely not enough. For a TV audience on the couch it will do, but for educated people, active people, etc. You can't buy it. And they also seek the religious. Keep up with the times. The West offers a boring model: Sovrisk is a mixture of Hollywood and a shopping mall. Well, what else can they offer? They have a hole instead of a heart. Russians have a huge advantage in this sense, since Russian art is traditionally highly spiritual and moral, and has a messianic nature. This needs to be used.
- Yes. Thank you, Natalya. Do you have a bank card?
- How can I help you then?
— This issue is currently being debated. In theory, we need someone in Berlin. The previous attempt ended in failure.
- Do you have anyone reliable?
“There’s no reliable one, that’s why I’m screwed.” Moscow acquaintances found a prison doctor in Berlin, and he immediately agreed to transfer money for moving from the boats, received it on January 31 and remained silent.
- The one who didn’t give it to you? What's this asshole's name?
— His name is Dmitry Holland, a rare maniac.
“I’ll think about who I can send you.” What is the address of this boat? Approximately.
—Rummelsburg Bay, but it’s better not to go into detail. Here the intellectuals are hatching an idea on how to hand me over and take away the children.
- Does the boat even have a roof? Aren't you cold there?
- There is a roof, but the walls are canvas. True, there is a cabin. By morning it becomes wildly cold. As if by frost, the bay froze yesterday. More money is needed, some warm housing with a sane owner.
How well it all started! They were young, cheerful, fearless, mischievous. The art group “Voina” did what it wanted: its members stormed the police station, released thousands of Madagascar cockroaches in the Tagansky court, overturned police cars, kissed police officers in public transport, burned paddy wagons, held the “... (penis - site) in captivity of the FSB." On Che Guevara’s birthday, the group painted a phallus on the Liteiny Bridge, and during the opening of the bridges it rose in front of the building of the Federal Security Service. For this, “War” was awarded the “Innovation” prize in the field of “Work of Visual Art”, and “Innovation” was supervised by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. This was in 2011, now it’s impossible to imagine.
The fate of the participants in the “War” turned out differently. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova served her time and became a celebrity, her photograph appeared on the cover of The Times, Le Figaro named her woman of the year. Maria Alyokhina served her sentence and became friends with the Orthodox activist Enteo, and the lives of Oleg Vorotnikov and Natalya Sokol, who led the St. Petersburg “War”, turned out sadly.
Our state, against which they, in their own way, rebelled, turned out to be much more merciful and warmer than the Western democracies on which they relied. The hopes were theoretical; neither Vorotnikov nor Sokol had lived in the West before, and when it came to practice, it turned out that he was merciless towards the marginalized.
In Russia they could live like birds of the air, teasing the authorities, eating whatever God sent them, miraculously finding food and shelter. A person who has fallen out of the social structure, living outside the framework accepted by society, doing what falls under the article “Hooliganism”, in our tough country some time ago could be considered a free artist and lead a fun, full of adventures life. What would have happened if Voina had captured the police station in Berlin, where Vorotnikov and Koza had moved? The consequences would be extremely sad - but their circumstances are not good anyway.
In the West, dashing actionists turned out to be homeless, they begged, stole, lived wherever they had to - art turned into reality, which was terrible. What they did in Russia already seems like child’s play, fun in the face of the bronze giant, personifying the state, looking condescendingly at them: what does he care about the fun of losers who have neither a stake nor a yard? Oleg Vorotnikov and Natalya Sokol did not harm him, but they destroyed their own lives - the games turned out to be bad. Life in the West drew a bold line under all this: the art partisans turned into losers.
Natalya Sokol, co-founder of the well-known art group Voina in Russia, said that the German intelligence services suggested that she and her husband stage attacks on Russian embassies. According to the woman, the family found itself in complete isolation for refusing to cooperate. And just recently her husband disappeared...
Good day, Natalia. In general, where are you now?
Hello. Right now I'm at McDuck in Berlin. I don’t have a phone, but here I can use the Internet. I'm here illegally. I have no money for food, housing or anything at all. At the same time, I have three children with me. The youngest child is two years old. I also don’t have any documents; they were arrested in Moscow back in 2010.
If you don't have money for housing and food, where do you sleep?
There is a boat standing by the bay. We spend time there.
Not cold? Are the children cold?
The boat has walls, but they are canvas. True, there is another cabin. But it still gets wildly cold here in the morning. It's cold on purpose. Yesterday the entire bay froze. We need money for some warm housing with a sane owner.
facebook.com/kozavoina
Is anyone helping you?
There was one attempt recently that ended in failure. Friends from Moscow collected money and gave it to prison doctor Dmitry Holland. He received the money on January 31, and there has been no news from him since then. He is a rare maniac. Not only are they not helping me, but the intellectuals are even hatching an idea of how to turn me in and select the children to hand them over to the guardianship authorities.
During a police raid, Thief (nickname of Natalya’s husband Oleg Vorotnikov. - website) resisted. And I managed to escape with the children through the window. After that there is no information about him. I have limited possibilities, and they have long been exhausted. I believe that he could have been escorted to Switzerland, where we escaped from the “concentration camp”. This is one of the reasonable versions. I didn’t contact government agencies anywhere, because without a lawyer it’s unsafe and generally useless. But I have a version that the people who took him did not identify him. And he himself, apparently, did not say who he was. It turns out that he may be in the status of an unidentified illegal immigrant.
Recently the media published information that you asked for help from the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights. Is there any reaction from them?
People from Kuznetsova contacted me. They said they would help if I wrote a statement to the ombudsman. This is like a formal reason for Kuznetsova to get down to business. They sent the following SMS: “Natasha, there are people who would like to help you. Very high up your issue can be resolved. Through the Children's Ombudsman. Do you need help returning to Russia? Will you accept it? People here are very concerned about your situation. Think about it. And if you decide, then let’s get started.” And I wrote a statement. So far there has been no movement from them.
You are known in the country for large-scale anti-Russian actions. Over the years, you have experienced many difficulties and turmoil. Do you regret the past? Was the game worth the candle?
What we did is the golden pages of modern art.
facebook.com/kozavoina
My point is that, as far as I know, you have changed your radical position regarding Russia...
We refused to spoil Russia from abroad, and this became a problem for us. Because we are simply isolated here. We received proposals from the German intelligence services. They wanted us to stage attacks on Russian embassies. In exchange they offered a house in Chicago, a lot of money, cars and women. We refused. We are a patriotic group, as the name suggests.
If you return to Russia, will you continue the actions?
There are two options. Either actions - or become the Minister of Culture. But if we talk about actionism, then we can plan actions on a national scale. These could be ideological projects that capture broad sections of the population. Now all our artists have been erased from society - for various reasons. This is because the work is not trusted to artists, and officials are forced to do it. But these people have a different type of talent. Inartistic, non-plastic. And as a result, we end up with grandiose projects that are not completed. For example, the “Immortal Regiment” campaign. The idea here is great. But essentially this is a walking cemetery, a parade of zombies. There is clearly an artistic flaw here.
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If you start holding campaigns again, aren’t you afraid that they will stop providing you with assistance?
They don’t provide it to us now anyway. Don't know. They are very afraid that this is our next provocation and they will get into trouble and then it will be funny for everyone. But we are not against them. Art doesn't mind. This is the creation of a new cultural situation that simply did not exist before. Without a penny of money, on our knees, scurrying through basements, we raised the civil society of 2012. But you can move in different directions if the state has an interest.
At one time, many young people followed you. What would you tell them now?
I want to tell them - don't miss the moment. There was a time when the Russian nation was on the verge of extinction. In cultural and spiritual terms as well. This moment turned unexpectedly for many of our “partners”, who had already put on black funeral suits and formal ties, and also sat along the edges of the dug hole for a meal. But it turned out that the patient was alive. Mr. Grandpa Putin brilliantly demonstrated this, thereby becoming a historical figure. Perhaps it is Russia that can build the world of the future, and not just drink vodka. This is where the talent and work of an artist comes in handy. Because the artist paints the most convincing and truthful picture of the future. But for now, artists are used to illustrate a simple truth: this will happen to everyone who does not listen. This is strange, since on the other side of the “hillock” a huge bet is being made on contemporary art. Our time is a time of renaissance of the religious worldview. At school it seemed to us that there was no God. But modern teenagers don’t think so. And this can take many forms. Including ISIS uniform (the organization is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation). But something else is important: religion has returned to the world, which means we must fight for it. Relying solely on the Russian Orthodox Church is not bad, but it is not enough. The Russians have a huge advantage over the West. Because Russian art is traditionally highly spiritual and moral. And this must be used.
Group WAR. A street group of action artists engaged in protest political art. Political views are anarchist. Enemies - ordinary people, cops, authorities. The organization is a combat brigade with a predominance of horizontal connections in everyday life and vertical connections in action. The group preaches the rejection of money and disdain for laws (“the bloodless move”).
Founded by activists Vorom and Kozlenok in October 2005. It took its name from the name of War. At first, the actions were anonymous and underground in nature and were called “trainings” or “trainings.” The war has received public recognition since 2008. To date, over 200 activists have taken part in the War’s actions. More than 20 criminal cases were brought against the group and its activists, some of which are still pending. The Investigative Committee of Russia has alternative information about the group. :
“The art group VOYNA is a left-radical-anarchist group, the main goals and objectives of which are to conduct PR campaigns directed against the authorities, in particular against law enforcement officers, with the aim of discrediting them in the eyes of society. Branches of the art group VOYNA exist in all major cities of Russia; the group has about three thousand supporters. Activists of the group maintain contacts with anarchist groups and individual citizens with left-radical views on creativity and world order around the world (Italy, Slovakia, France, USA, England, South Africa, Greece).”
Biographies of the members of the group VOYNA
Thief (Oleg Vorotnikov)- artist, activist, leader of the Voina group. Genus. August 17, 1978 in the city. Birch forests of the Perm region. He began his creative journey in 1995. He gave up using money in 1998. Since 1999 he has focused on social practices in the urban environment. In 1999 he married the artist Kozlenka (Natalia Sokol). He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University in 2003. In the fall of 2005, together with Kozlenok, he began to engage in street art, founding the group Voina. Participant in all group events. In 2006-2007 he worked as head of the information support department at the Moscow State Cinema Museum. On April 19, 2009, the Thief and the Little Goat had a son, Kasper the Beloved Falcon, the youngest activist of the War. Since November 2010, the Russian Federation, for political reasons, launched the process of depriving Vor of parental rights. In November 2010 - February 2011, he was in prison in St. Petersburg on charges of committing a crime by means of (Part 2 of Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In May 2011 he was put on the federal criminal wanted list. In July 2011, he was put on the international criminal wanted list and arrested in absentia. Unemployed. Homeless. Currently he is a defendant in criminal case No. 276858 on the basis of Art. Art. 213, 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for the “Palace Coup” action and participation in the opposition march on March 31, 2011 in St. Petersburg.
Kid, aka Goat (Natalia Sokol)- artist, activist, author of actions and coordinator of the Voina group. Genus. June 3, 1980 in the city. Balakovo, Saratov region. In 1998, after meeting the artist Vor (Oleg Vorotnikov), she refused to use money. Married to Vore since 1999. Graduated from the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University in 2003. Graduated from graduate school in the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University in 2006. Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Researcher of the department. Molecular physics of the Physical Faculty of Moscow State University. Has been involved in street art since the fall of 2005 as part of the Voina group. Participant in all group events. On April 19, 2009, she gave birth to a son, Kasper the Beloved Falcon, the youngest activist of the War. Since November 2010, the Russian Federation, for political reasons, has launched the process of depriving Kozlenok of parental rights. Since November 15, 2010, he has been living without documents (seized by the Russian police). In August 2011 she was put on the federal criminal wanted list, and in December 2011 - on the international criminal wanted list. On January 19, 2012, she gave birth to a daughter, Mama Beloved. Homeless. Currently she is a defendant in criminal case No. 299810 on the basis of Art. 318, 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for participation in the opposition march on March 31, 2011 in St. Petersburg (case of pissing on cops).
Casper the Beloved Falcon- artist, activist of the group War from Birth. Genus. April 19, 2009 in the city. Moscow by ship. Stateless. Participant of Voina actions since May 2009. The youngest activist of the group. In November 2010, in relation to his parents Kozlenok (Natalia Sokol) and Thief (Oleg Vorotnikov), the Russian Federation launched the process of deprivation of parental rights for political reasons. He was beaten twice and arrested three times (2 times in 2011) by the Russian police in connection with actionist activities. Homeless.
Lenya Fucking (Leonid Nikolaev)- artist, activist of the Voina group. Genus. December 27, 1983 in the city. Moscow. Incomplete higher education majoring in materials science in the fine chemical industry. Participant of War actions since December 2009. In May 2010, after a series of actions against murderous officials in a VIP car, he received the title of “President of War” (Action “Lenya Fucking is Our President”). In November 2010 - February 2011, he was in prison in St. Petersburg on charges of committing a crime through the “Palace Coup” War action (Part 2 of Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Former member of the Moscow political council of the united democratic movement "Solidarity". Permanent participant in opposition activities in Russia. He was arrested more than 30 times. Lives in Moscow. Unemployed. Currently he is a defendant in criminal case No. 276858 on the basis of Art. Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for the “Palace Coup” action.
Goals and objectives of the VOYNA group in the period 2008 - 2010.
- Revival of the heroic behavioral ideals of the artist-intellectual in the style of Russian libertarian Decembrism. Creating an image of the artist as a romantic hero defeating evil. Creating living romantic examples in today's soulless commercial conceptual art.
- The revival of living expressive art, sincere and honest, evoking a deep emotional experience in the viewer. Updating of monumental expressive genres, in which scale is in harmony with extremely meaningful fullness, as opposed to the outdated hypertrophy of forms devoid of content.
- Creation of an innovative, relevant art language, created for the sake of pure art, and not for the sake of money, that is, a language adequate to today’s cultural and socio-political context, capable of depicting the realities of a new era and having no analogues in the past. The creation of Russian national contemporary art, devoid of old-fashionedness and parochialism and arousing admiration among intellectuals around the world.
- The revival of Russian laughter culture, the traditions of absurdity and sarcasm within the framework of high art, that is, the revival of live fun at art venues. Creation of political street art in Russia in the best traditions of buffoon-carnival medieval art.
- Conceptual destruction of the glamorous opportunistic and conformist Russian art market, which reproduces hopelessly outdated forms of art, artificially falsifies the art market’s pricing processes and creates financial pyramids from long-depreciated art trash.
- The creation in Russia of a real left front of art in the traditions of futurism of the 1920s, the very fact of its existence radically shifting all the ideological poles of Russian art. The revival of political protest art around the world.
- The war against socio-political obscurantism and right-wing radical reaction for the freedom of modern art. Overthrow and destruction of outdated repressive patriarchal socio-political symbols and ideologies. Art war with the entire global world for the complete triumph of justice on Art Earth.
War Shares
Action “DICK IN CAPTURE OF THE FSB”. June 14, 2010 People's patriotic action designed to assert the power of the invincible Russian phallus. Video, photo archive, copy of a deleted report.
Campaign “Lenya Fucking is Our President”. May 22, 2010. Action demanding to deprive cars with special signals of the right to flagrantly violate traffic rules. Video, report with Leni’s statement, photo archive.
Campaign “DICK in the Asshole”. May 29, 2009 Action demanding to stop the criminal prosecution of Andrei Erofeev and Yuri Samodurov, as well as all other criminal cases initiated by right-wing radicals against the artistic community of Russia. Report, video, photo archive.
Action “Banning Clubs”. December 28, 2008 New Year's promotion of the group as a gift to all Russians. Report, video, photo archive.
Action “Storm the White House”. November 7, 2008 Action on the anniversary of the Great October Revolution. Report, video, photo archive.
Action “In Memory of the Decembrists”. September 7, 2008 Execution on Moscow City Day. The action expressed distrust in the policies of Mayor Luzhkov, pursued by him in Moscow. Report, video, photo archive.
The action “Censorship sucks!”. May 22, 2008 Action in defense of Sots Art, the leading direction in contemporary art. Report, video, photo archive.
Action “Humiliation of a cop in his house.” The group hung portraits of the new president in police stations.
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