Pussy Riot, Femen storm Russian pavilion at Venice Biennale

Prefer on Google by Kate Tsurkan Pussy Riot protest at the Venice Biennale, shot by Nikita Teryoshin. (Courtesy Pussy Riot) Pussy Riot and Femen stormed the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale on May 6, with police on the premises tackling members from the feminist protest groups who were able to make it inside the building. According to a joint press release, Pussy Riot members in pink ski masks performed the song "Disobey," which condemns "f—king fascist bastards" and "killers of children and mothers." Femen members rushed forward blue and yellow smoke bombs, carrying Ukrainian flags and shouted chants. It was the first time the Russian and Ukrainian feminist groups joined forces for a public protest. Pussy Riot and Femen protest at the Venice Biennale. (Courtesy: Pussy Riot) Russia’s return to the Venice Biennale caused an international uproar from the moment the news broke, as the pavilion is funded by the Kremlin and its commissioner, Anastasia Karneeva, is linked to Russia’s military industrial complex. In the weeks leading up to the start of the major international art event, Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova publicly called on Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the head of the Venice Biennale, to represent the art of Russian political prisoners instead. "While Pietrangelo Buttafuoco greets his Russian guests with champagne, drones and ballistic missiles fall in Ukraine, thousands of POWs and political prisoners sit in cold jail cells. Their lives are not abstraction, their lives are worth considering – they will not be forgotten and erased as the Kremlin’s stooges hope to achieve," Tolokonnikova said in the joint press release. Pussy Riot protest at the Venice Biennale. (Courtesy: Pussy Riot) Femen's Inna Shevchenko added that this year's Russian pavilion stands on "the invisible pedestal of Ukrainian blood." "You won’t find it in the catalogue. But it is the only material that truly holds this pavilion together," Shevchenko said. "The Russian terrorist state uses culture to disguise itself. Blood is Russia’s only medium. Everything else is decoration. And the Biennale exhibits it."