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| Vladimir Putin during annual TV call-in show on 15 Dec. Photograph: AFP/Getty |
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| Vladimir Putin, aged and in L. Brezhnev´s uniform (c) Moscow Times 30 Sept. 2011 (Artist unknown) |
“The artist who denies political awareness is just a designer.”—Natalya Sokol (Kozlenok), co-founder of Voina Group
The Putin regime this week threatened doctors with criminal action for giving medical care to eight-month pregnant performance artist, Natalya Sokol (Kozlenok), co-founder of Voina Group.
Berlin Biennale 2012 (27 April – 1 July) Russian associate curator and co-founder of Voina Group Kozlenok (“Koza”) gives birth to her second child in January.
She and her partner and Voina co-founder, Oleg Vorotnikov (“Vor”), have a son, Kasper, about three years old.
Russian authorities previously threatened proceedings to take Kasper into state care, but Kasper, like his parents, remains on the run with “Koza” and “Vor.”
Putin exacts revenge for Voina giving him the 'finger'
Voina Group, who in January won the Russian Ministry of Culture´s 2011 Innovation Award for Contemporary Art for their 65-meter penis painted on a St. Petersburg draw bridge (“Dick Captured by the FSB”), catapulted to global notoriety.
Ex-KGB Lt. Col. V. Putin no doubt was less than thrilled at news of Voina´s award. Voina shunned the award, refusing to attend the juried function.
Voina´s actions escalated along with the state´s repression, arrests and escapes, interrogations, charges made and dropped and then reinstated.
Frequently, Voina´s Free Voina website details incidents chiding police for their drunkenness and stupidity.
This makes the spy vs. spy game between Russian authorities and Voina a moving target.
But it forced key art activists underground, keeping them moving from squat to squat and off-balance.
And currently, it threatens the medical wellbeing of Kozlenok and her soon to be born child.
Since 6 Dec., Russian federal police, claiming Kozlenok has fled or intends fleeing the country, placing her on Interpol´s wanted register.
Now she´s wanted everywhere.
Yet, Kozlenok and Kasper possess no identification documents.
Police confiscated them last year in an early morning raid and arrest of Leonid Nikolaev and Vortnikov, leading to their three-plus month`s detention until Bansky in the U.K. bailed them out with his €92,500.
He and his family have not fled Russia, Vorotnikov insisted, and the Interpol arrest warrant is nothing more than fraud and another layer of state inspired repression.
The Russian underground erupts
Vorotnikov and Kozlenok founded Voina Group in 2005.
Its mission: employ performance art and visual metaphors to protest against Putin’s Russia. There are about 20 active Voina members, most in St. Petersburg.
Current charges against Vonia, which include those recently reinstated arising out of the “Palace Revolution” cop car overturning action in St. Petersburg are filed under article 213 (parts 318, 319) and article 213 (part 2), hooliganism motivated by hatred towards the “social group,” the police, according to Vortnikov in an interview this week.
Prosecutors allege Voina Group actions amount to a criminal conspiracy, he said.
Vorotnikov told me increased police pressure and intimidation of Kozlenok´s doctors has made it impossible for her to get medical care.
Vorotnikov said Kozlenok could give birth at any time but if all goes to plan, the last week in January.
About his partner and Kasper´s mother, Vortinkov said: “Police are trying to hunt her down in St. Petersburg. At the same time, they assert that she´s fled abroad.
“Vadim Rud (an investigator with the investigations committee, and the head of a group of seven investigators handling Voina´s case) has managed to locate the doctors overseeing Kozlenok´s pregnancy (a maternity clinic on Kronverskaya str.).
“He is now accusing them [doctors] of harboring an international fugitive. This was mentioned during the 7 Dec. court session:
“Investigator Rud called the doctors unconscientious for failing to report the fugitive woman to the police (according to Right News.)
“Right News added: ‘If Sokol is currently in Russia, then the probability that she will be arrested is extremely high, as she will have to give birth in a month. At the moment she is in her 32d week of pregnancy’.”
Vorotnikov said Kozlenok is now in her 33d week.
“Note that from a legal standpoint, a person can only be declared internationally wanted if there are legitimate reasons to believe that he or she has left the country,” Vorotnikov added.
Vorotnikov, however, indicated he and Kozlenok would cope with this new hardship. They did before when Kasper arrived as the youngest Voina member.
“Kasper wasn´t born in a hospital. Kozlenok gave birth on a ship (which is where we lived at the time, a ship moored in Stroginsky flood plain in Moscow, locked in ice).
“So, we should not need medical help now either.
“At the same time, the investigations committee is aware that Kozlenok is being monitored by doctors in St. Petersburg. The doctors have even provided the court with documents proving that they have been treating her in St. Petersburg for a while.”
Voina´s profile rises as Russia´s persecution accelerates.
The director of the 2012 Berlin Biennale weighed in supporting the art activists.
Artur Zmijewski elevates Voina Group´s world profile
On 29 Nov., 2012 Berlin Biennale curator and director Artur Zmijewski named the art collective Voina Group associate curators of the Berlin contemporary happening.
They join artist-film maker and biennale director Zmijewski and curator Joanna Waraza at the helm of the 2012 Berlin contemporary art fair.
Zmijewski is a known art activist, a veteran objector to the Polish version of Socialist Realism and Soviet art training.
Zmijewski said his appointment of Voina Group as associate curators intends providing support for the growing European protest against Russian repression of these politically active artists.
Zmijewski plans a protest call in response to the Interpol warrant against Kozlenok, Vorotnikov said.
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Natalya Sokol and Oleg Vorotnikov (Photograph courtesy of Voina Group) Oleg Vorotnikov (Vor) adorning the Palace of Justice in Brussels [Photo - Brad Downey with the help of Matthias Hübner and Yann Leguay, Voina Group activists. Initiator of the action - Alexei Plutser-Sarno , Voina Group media-artist. Portrait of Oleg Vorotnikov in the courtroom by Vladimir Telegin.] 18 Nov. 2011  Vor in Paris, Pont Neuf Bridge  Paris cop examining the VOINA WANTED banner  Rock on and practice peace and love. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will be at peace." Jimmy Hendrix Stefan, the ArtTraveler(TM).
Consider a walking vacation in our Andalusian mountains or a week-long sculpture or mosaics workshop. See: www.spanjeanders.nl and www.competafinearts.com.  Maurizio Cattelan's telling hand, left, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, Ca., ArtTraveler notes: After living at the Hotel Queen Mary in Budapest (3.5 stars), I heartily recommend it: old on the outside, otherwise totally modern (26 rooms); The owner and staff are affable and speak English and German. Tel: 0036-1-413-3510; www.hotelqueenmary.hu; info@hotelqueenmary.hu. Actions of VOINA
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