Pussy Riot: Can You Fight With Paper Planes | Interview | Louisiana Channel

“I want to show things how they are.”
Meet Maria (Masha) Alyokhina of the Russian activist movement Pussy Riot, who has been protesting against the regime of Vladimir Putin through public, colourful and non-violent actions for over a decade.
“The system pretends to have a serious face. That’s how they want the fear to go inside you and paralyse you. And we believe that the smile and humour break this fear.”
Maria Alyokhina describes today’s Russia as a totalitarian regime and the development since 2012 as “the road to hell”, reaching a low point with the attack against Ukraine in 2022.
“Since the full-scale invasion, I believe the world should unite and protect Ukraine. The main focus now should be on them. I just cannot share all my emotions because it’s a constant shame. It’s a constant dark shame. I don’t want Putin to win Ukraine.”
In the interview, Alyokhina also reflects on the role of the West in the years between Putin’s so-called re-election as President in 2012 and the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
“Pussy Riot reacted to injustice. When we see something that is unfair, we react. It happened step by step. There was no huge plan of resistance. Of course, revolution is the thing that lives in the heart. But we used what we had. We have been naked in front of the system. But we did something.”
Maria Alyokhina was born in Moscow in 1988 and grew up in 1990s Russia. She remembers “people lining up everywhere for food, clothes, vouchers.” Alyokhina was raised by her mother, a programmer, and did not meet her father, a math teacher, until she was 21. She hated the Russian educational system and changed schools four times: “They taught you not to think. They wanted us just to follow the rules. Obviously, I didn’t like it at all.” Alyokhina studied journalism and creative writing and was an environmental activist.
In 2011 Alyokhina joined the feminist-activist art collective Pussy Riot. At the time, the then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had announced that he would again be running for president in the upcoming Russian elections in March 2012. Rooted in punk, humour, poetry and pure rage, Pussy Riot has become known for their famous spontaneous and courageous actions challenging the Russian regime. In 2012, they staged their first action on Moscow’s Red Square, performing a song that mocked Putin. Using colourful clothes, disguises and protest songs in their face-off with the Russian authorities, the collected actions of Pussy Riot stand out as some of the most powerful political art of the 21st century.
Several of Pussy Riot’s performances are legendary by now, including Punk Prayer, which took place in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 2012. As a result of the action, three of the group’s members, among them Alyokhina, were sentenced to two years in prison. They were charged with “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” The trial and imprisonment received huge international attention. Viewers from all around the world also caught sight of four members of the group, disguised as police officers, running across the pitch during the 2018 World Cup final match between France and Croatia in Moscow.
Recurrent themes in Pussy Riot’s feminist, anti-Putin practice include freedom of expression, human rights, LGBTQ+ rights and the release of political prisoners, while recent actions and works feature anti-war statements and support for Ukraine. From the perspective of cultural history, the work of Pussy Riot is rooted in Dadaism and Fluxus and, in a broader sense, in the political art of 20th-century actionism while taking the methods of happening and performance art to the extreme in the unprotected environment of public spaces.
Pussy Riot deploys sudden actions with a surprise factor, which they document in photos and video. They also publish and perform punk music on tour, publish books, participate in debates and give political speeches. Today, Pussy Riot amount to more of a movement than a delimited collective. Pussy Riot is active in small groups and in a variety of non-coordinated projects throughout the world. Their motto is: Anyone can be Pussy Riot.
Maria Alyokhina from Pussy Riot was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in September 2023. The interview took place during the installation of the exhibition Velvet Terrorism - Pussy Riot’s Russia at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark.
Camera: Jakob Solbakken
Edited by: Signe Boe Pedersen
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2023
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling.
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[@Yasmana1475]

Very inspiring and brave. Pushy Riots' resistance is exemplary. All of us in totaliterian regimes can learn from these artist/activists

[@letty3164]

Thank you. I'm sending this to everyone I know. SO important!

[@elfiecrystal111]

Pay attention Masha speaks the truth - tyrants move slowly and stealthily then brutally

[@mamumonkan]

Thank you !!! Quite possibly the single most ever important video by Louisiana Channel/Museum !!!

[@R_Hansen]

Set den her? kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3mygapvrrJspsU

[@mamumonkan]

thank you much appreciated !@@R_Hansen

[@elipru9632]

WOW ! Thank you, very grateful

[@beyondappalachian8218]

i admire your bravery 🎉

[@amadeoorellana6863]

great !

[@donaldraby2892]

You are brave ❤❤❤❤❤

[@tjay8396]

Incredible 💜

[@reneblazek6122]

you have instantly upgraded my perception of russia i really have deep respect and i feel connected instantly to your creative expression and sense of truth ❤thank you i have son in russia he is 21 half russian half check born in japan i feel better for him while watching your video . putin is characterless dark anomaly he has to be canceled

[@jacqueline755]

I love you Masha.

[@kenrutkowski1270]

yeah yeah yeah!

[@samparkerSAM]

Iam Proud of you Samantha, please be kind to Nadyia. Hello from Voodoo S.H.P. in New Orleans Louisiana

[@jlarrify]

It is just music for Christ’s sake. Looks so harmless and innocent. What is the government scared of

[@andreaandrea6716]

It's a little more than that. They are criticizing government... and they speak for the masses. ❤

[@elfiecrystal111]

Thank you dear Masha 🥰

[@doramc3155]

Holy shit😂🥳👍♥️♥️♥️

[@Anonym-v3d]

Super chicas

[@Leo-Crespi]

a m a z i n g

[@Papermac]

❤

[@rlloyd81]

You inspire me!

[@beyondappalachian8218]

ashamed my motherland enabled this to happen 😢

[@nasiebauren2616]

Please come to South Africa

[@sjcobra84]

I will pray to Mother Mary for your safety and to make Pudding go away. 😂

[@Heronjim]

❤❤❤

[@Hartleymolly]

27:39 That’s absolutely disgusting 🤮

[@beyondappalachian8218]

when is next digital release?

[@davidmachemer1015]

Putin is nothing compared to the courageous women of Pussy Riot. No wonder he's so afraid of them he "pissed himself"!

[@beyondappalachian8218]

but everyone assumed putin would stop at the separatist borders 😢

[@beyondappalachian8218]

i was first viewers of swan lake thanks to bigo 😂

[@StevenHanssen-u8y]

Paper planes folded while wearing a balaclava are still legal in Ontairo, so wait for the balaclavas to arrive before the paper folding begins. lol it may never happen.

[@beyondappalachian8218]

sorry I'm new to the #4 dimensions 😂

[@beyondappalachian8218]

crimea also

[@beyondappalachian8218]

but hungary is former ussr and honors the original trade route agreements with russia

[@AndreeaCe]

Smells like not only C.I.A.... Smells also as Gissele Maxwell...

[@beyondappalachian8218]

is it not very corrupt church like Roman catholic church for Martin Luther and John Calvin in the 1500's AD 😢

[@MarkHurlow-cf2ix]

It’s a shame when a group of real feminists try to stop what will clearly become the death of millions.

[@xingrongqiao]

china is the next one

[@beyondappalachian8218]

will russia and ukraine agree to accommodate palestinians?

[@Hartleymolly]

😂 why? Palestine started a war??? They didn’t expect Israel to finish it?

[@cherryfairyy]

​@@Hartleymollywhat are you talking about? The violence didnt start on October 7th. It's been 75 years of Israeli violence

[@timmarshall2062]

stay strong and much love you are the future love you guys pussy riot♥♥♥♥

[@beyondappalachian8218]

putin is satisfied with the separatist regions 😂

[@beyondappalachian8218]

of course I love the lesbians 😂

[@beyondappalachian8218]

for me it was irony. like a punk rock band from ussr.wtf

[@beyondappalachian8218]

my encrypted whatsapp data?

[@beyondappalachian8218]

is it not same for usa the voters stop voting?😂😢😂

[@beyondappalachian8218]

Im a lesbian now ???

[@RuanFourieStix]

Clearly, we are using the term "art" very loosely these days.

[@andreaandrea6716]

Art has always been associated with revolution against supression

[@RuanFourieStix]

@@andreaandrea6716 how about governments funding noise makers to disrupt and seed division? Can't we just call it that?

[@asynchronicity]

@@RuanFourieStix You sound very uneducated. Have you ever heard of performance art? Probably not.🤦‍♂️

[@jonathanedwardgibson]

I can’t take these spook-sponsored shills seriously.

[@pharder1234]

ikr, i like some of the interviews this channel does with real artists. But it's just all too obvious how this is a western funded op, and a terrible one at that.

[@krishve_com]

And here comes the state funded Russian trolls in the comments.

[@song4night]

they are CIA sponsored

[@mamumonkan]

shill ... you mean your own internet persona with that ... ФСБ man ?

[@mamumonkan]

comment by possible ФСБ agent @@pharder1234

[@KM-zw9qb]

CIA riot

[@mamumonkan]

hello little ФСБ man ;)

[@andreaandrea6716]

Oh. So you think despots are a good idea.

[@asynchronicity]

Don’t you think Russia has people with a conscience who are independent?

[@TheDreadfulCurtain]

The USA should take notice of how a dictator operates. Thank you for your sacrifice Pussy Riot show huge courage against the dictatorship of Russia. I hope Ukraine stays free from Russia with the help of the rest of the world. 🌈🫶😛😾

[@Ac3p3rgAA]

Putin No. 1 !

[@mamumonkan]

hello little ФСБ man ;)

[@andreaandrea6716]

Despot fan

[@asynchronicity]

Number One War Criminal💪🤡🤦‍♂️

[@Ac3p3rgAA]

nah that title has to go to Obama with a big margin@@asynchronicity

[@asynchronicity]

@@Ac3p3rgAA How so?