Protests Against Controversial Art As a Political Strategy

Abstract

The article discusses the phenomenon of politically motivated public outrage around art in Russia. The history of protests against art in Russia is relatively short but intense. Since 90’s there occurred a number of attacks on art, the majority of which were protests against art that in some way expressed criticism of current state policy or Russian Orthodox Church. It may seem that in Russia the moral majority decides the fate of controversial artistic events, but as this article argues, that conflicts around art are frequently used by religious fundamentalists and nationalist right-wing groups to pursue their own political agendas and gain popularity in the media. Keywords: hate spin, contemporary art, public censorship, offense, Russia, religious fundamentalism, SERB, vandalism