Radical Art Group Wins Russian Ministry Prize
by Ellen Barry
The New York Times
April 8, 2011
Moscow “” The radical art collective Voina has won a contemporary art award sponsored by Russia”™s Ministry of Culture and the National Center for Contemporary Art for a project that consisted of a 210-foot penis painted on a drawbridge in St. Petersburg, said Andrei V. Yerofeyev, a member of the jury that awarded the prize.
Mr. Yerofeyev said most members of the seven-member jury were initially against awarding the prize to Voina, whose leaders are awaiting trial on hooliganism charges that could bring a sentence of up to seven years. But during deliberations, three advocates of the group persuaded the other four that Voina”™s work had artistic merit, he said.
Among the arguments they put forward was that the penis had already gained such a wide audience via the Internet that ignoring it would also be making a statement.
“No one wanted to look like a conformist,” said Mr. Yerofeyev, a prominent intellectual who has long championed Voina, which means war. Continue reading “Voina’s Prize Winning Boner”