Self-Harming Performance Art in the Russian Context:  The Work of Pyotr Pavlensky

As artistic ideas move from one context to another, they change in context-specific ways with each adaptation. This has happened in Russia regarding adaptations of self-harming conceptualist performance art, a genre originally derived from the Conceptualist movement that began with Marcel Duchamp’s creation of Dada in the early 1900’s. Conceptualist performance first began in the Soviet Union in 1976, and for the next several decades continued to develop in the Russian context; through the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the chaos of the post-Soviet nineties, and the restoration of strong central control that has marked the Putin era. Most recently, Russian conceptualist performance was thrust into the international limelight with the controversial arrest of the punk-rock collective Pussy Riot, in 2012. Pyotr Pavlensky, whose work can be seen as one of the newest iterations of Russian Conceptualist performance art, began his performance career in response to Pussy Riot’s arrest,...Show moreAs artistic ideas move from one context to another, they change in context-specific ways with each adaptation. This has happened in Russia regarding adaptations of self-harming conceptualist performance art, a genre originally derived from the Conceptualist movement that began with Marcel Duchamp’s creation of Dada in the early 1900’s. Conceptualist performance first began in the Soviet Union in 1976, and for the next several decades continued to develop in the Russian context; through the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the chaos of the post-Soviet nineties, and the restoration of strong central control that has marked the Putin era. Most recently, Russian conceptualist performance was thrust into the international limelight with the controversial arrest of the punk-rock collective Pussy Riot, in 2012. Pyotr Pavlensky, whose work can be seen as one of the newest iterations of Russian Conceptualist performance art, began his performance career in response to Pussy Riot’s arrest, and the majority of his work has involved self-harming performances. From the perspective of interest in the translation of artistic principles from one context to another, this thesis attempts to analyze the extent to which Pyotr Pavlensky’s work adheres to Western frameworks of self-harming performance art and the extent to which it diverges from these frameworks.Show less

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Self-Harming Performance Art in the Russian Context: The Work of Pyotr Pavlensky