By DJ Pangburn Wednesday, December 15, 2010

With all the attention on leaked government documents of late, we seem to have forgotten how revolutionary a few political artists can be...

Street art and anti-authoritarian provocateur Banksy donated $147,000 to Moscow-based art collective Voina (War) by selling prints of his “Choose Your Weapon” painting. The money will be spent to help free some of the imprisoned Voina members, jailed after a September political stunt called “Palace Revolution” that involved a coordinated over-turning of Moscow police cars in protest against the Ministry of Home Affairs.

According to ArtInfo, two Voina members, Oleg Vorotnikov and Leonid Nikolayev, were taken without a warrant, severely beaten and are now awaiting trial. (A familiar theme with governments these days.) Other members have fled Russia and have had their passports confiscated.

Amongst the group’s other absurdist pranks, there has been a public orgy at the State Biological Museum in front of a banner ridiculing Putin’s successor Medvedev; live cats thrown at McDonald’s staff during International Worker’s Day; and a huge skull and crossbones projected onto the exterior of the Russian Parliament.

A Reuters article from a few years ago quoted Voina member Kotyonok as saying, “We hate cops but if we just attacked them… they would jail us immediately. So we hide our hatred behind art so they can’t get us and we achieve our aim quicker.”

According to the BBC, Banksy heard of Voina through the UK network’s Lucy Ash who profiled the group. One of Banksy’s representatives contacted Ash and inquired as to the amount of Rubles it would take to lift them from jail.

One can see how Banksy would identify with these art rebels, and it makes one wonder why we haven’t seen similar pranks from American groups when these Russians have had to contend with a government compromised of ex-KGB operatives.

Are Americans that neutered?