Pussy Riot Cofounder’s Exhibition Vandalized in Austria
141Dec. 15, 2024
Miscreants in Linz, Austria, on December 7 attacked an exhibition of work by Nadya Tolokonnikova, a cofounder of Russian anarchist art-punk collectivePussy Riot, smashing the glass door of a deconsecrated chapel in which her workPussy Riot Sex Dollswas installed. The exhibition space is part of the campus of the OK Center for Contemporary Art (OK Linz), which is hosting “Rage,” Tolokonnikova’s first solo show there. Tolokonnikova had intentionally placed the work, comprising several sex dolls purchased secondhand by the artist on Facebook Marketplace and dressed in balaclavas and platform boots to resemble the members of Pussy Riot, in the onetime Marienkapelle specifically because of its association with the Virgin Mary.
“I placed the dolls in the chapel of the Holy Virgin because I believe feminists are sacred, and I’m convinced that the Virgin Mary is a feminist, too,” she said in astatement.Tolokonnikova suggested that the attack was religiously motivated, owing to the fact that it occurred on the eve of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Mary, a Catholic holy feast day. The attack follows an assault earlier this year in Linz of another Christian-themed work. Esther Strauss’sCrowning,a sculpture of the Virgin Mary giving birth that was commissioned by Linz Diocese, was beheaded while on view at the city’s St. Mary’s Cathedral as part of a wide-ranging exhibition addressing women’s roles and gender equality. The sculpture’s head has yet to be recovered.
Originally slated to close October 20, “Rage” was extended due to popular demand and will run through January 6, 2025. Pussy Riot Sex Dolls, which itself was unharmed, will remain on view. Tolokonnikova and OK Linz agreed that though the door will be repaired, the shattered glass of its predecessor will remain scattered across the chapel floor as “a haunting reminder of both the fragility and resilience of art and the freedoms it symbolizes.”