Voina Art Collective Donates Banksy”™s Money to Political Prisoners
by DJ Pangburn
Death + Taxes
March 28, 2011
When Voina Collective members were imprisoned for a prank involving overturning police cars, Banksy donated money for the cause. Voina then paid some of the money forward to other political prisoners.
Guerrilla art pranksters Voina are holding firm in their belief that high-concept, high-risk tactics are necessary, especially in a place as given to authoritarian tendencies as Russia.
When we last looked into the group in December, members Oleg Vorotnikov and Leonid Nikolayev had been imprisoned for a stunt in which several Moscow police cars were overturned. Banksy heard of their beatings and imprisonment, and donated $130,000 to the group from a print sale, then paid their bail of $10,600. Once released, they were followed and beaten by mysterious men who claimed to be police.
An unknown percentage of the sum donated by Banksy was then donated to Voina”™s political prisoner friends, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. According to the Voina website, one of Vorotnikov”™s cellmates, Old Man Serioga, was released on March 26th.
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