VOINA & ROSKILDE FESTIVAL

Sommeren hænger tung, ung og utilregnelig hen over Danmark. Festivalsæsonen er igang, og aldrig har der været så mange festivaler i Danmark, som der er nu. Dog er der en, der er større end alle de andre, en slags storebror som har en masse viden og besidder en helt speciel følelse, som er umulig at finde andre steder.

Festivalen hedder selvfølgelig Roskilde Festival, og jeg har besøgt den i godt og vel 5 år i træk, siden jeg var 15 år gammel og skulle lære at stå på egne ben i et inferno af kaos, sex, druk og identitetsdannelse.

Én ting som alle mine år på Roskilde har tilfælles er, at denne begivenhed gang på gang sætter en helt masse tanker i gang i mit hoved. Mine tanker kører f.eks. rundt omkring, hvordan festivalen fungerer som en stor markedsplads, der sælger identiteter og hurtige symboler, og omkring hvordan en festival som Roskilde overlever i en verden, hvor niche-festivaler med stramme musikprofiler skyder frem overalt i Europa, samtidig med at afstanden mellem landene bliver mindre og mindre. Alt er mere ekstremt, dyrisk og tydeligt her. Tendenser løber hurtigere end i byen, fordi vi kommunikerer så intenst på så komprimeret tid og plads.

Roskilde er et paradis, hvis man interesserer sig bare lidt for adfærd, sociale hierarkier og tendenser. Lige som sidste år deler jeg ud af mine oplevelser her på idoart.dk. En subjektiv platform som både debatterer og reflekterer, hvor jeg undersøger, hvad der rent faktisk sker på Nordeuropas største musikfestival, som i løbet af de seneste to år især har opprioriteret deres kunstprogram, som efterhånden favner mange af verdens mest aktuelle street art kunstnere og kontroversielle performancegrupper.

I dag har jeg oplevet den russiske kunst- og aktivistgruppe Voina, som arbejder meget aktivistisk med deres tematik og politiske formidling. Mange kender nok Voina bedst fra udbrydergruppen Pussy Riot som, på baggrund af deres kritik af bl.a den russiske kirke og dennes syn på kvinder, blev fængslet og sat i fangelejr. Det medførte massive protester verden over. Voina arbejder som kunstkollektiv, og gruppen har lavet aktioner der indebærer alt fra gruppesex på et af Ruslands største kunstmuseer, til at vende biler på hovedet i nogle af de nyriges kvarterer i de russiske forstæder.

Roskilde Festival meldte allerede stolt ud i en pressemeddelelse for et par måneder siden, at gruppen var inviteret til at medvirke på årets festival, og at man i Roskildes ånd havde givet gruppen frie hænder til at lave performative greb, der ville tvinge festivalens deltagere til at tage stilling. I morges kunne vi så læse i Politikken, at festivalens ledelse overvejer at klippe Voinas armbånd, hvis de ikke stopper nogle af deres aktiviteter omgående.

Jeg har fundet frem til nogle af folkene bag Voina (som iøvrigt betyder ‘krig’ på russisk), og jeg vil her, i mit første indlæg fra Roskilde 2013, give ordet til en af de (for mig at se) vigtigste og mest kontroversielle kunstgrupper, der findes i verden lige nu. Voina tager deres samtid dybt seriøst og kommenterer ikke blot, men reagerer og skaber konkrete alternativer til den virkelighed, de befinder sig i; om det så er under Putin og i frygt for fængslinger, eller i Roskildes forsøg på at smide dem ud fra festivalen.

Who are Voina?
Yana Sarna: Voina is a revolutionary group of Russian artists that engages in radical street protest actions. The group was founded by Oleg Vorotnikov and Natalia Sokol in 2005. In 2006 Alexey Plutser-Sarno joined the group and became its media artist and author of the group’s media art, concepts and texts. I have been a photographer and activist in the group since 2007. More than 20 criminal cases have been brought against the group.

In 2010-2011 Vorotnikov and Nikolayev were detained in jail for 3,5 months under accusation of inciting hatred towards the police by means of the art actions. They were released from custody, as artist Banksy bailed them out. At the present moment the Voina Group is wanted by the Russian police. Voina activists have experienced dozens of arrests, searches, assaults and batteries committed by Russian cops.

Can you tell us about ”Europe sucks” that you performed today?
Alexey Plutser-Sarno: With this action we wanted to show the total indifference of European politicians to what is going on in Russia. Russian corrupted authorities have gotten used to that they can do whatever they want: annihilate human rights and freedom, put political activists behind prison bars, issue falsified criminal cases against the opposition. And Europe will be silent and will keep their eyes shut. Metaphorically speaking the leaders of European countries suck the dick of our president. Thus our action is an artistic image showing that the leaders of the European countries are afraid of Putin and while kneeling in front of him, they suck his dick. They don’t care about human rights and freedom. They only do blah-blah-blah. The only thing they want is oil and gas. That’s why at our action instead of gas and oil we gave a shot of vodka to everyone who sucked.

How does your performance/project relate to Roskilde Festival?
Alexey Plutser-Sarno: Russian authorities don’t listen to the voice of protest within Russia. The system is completely totalitarian.

But they listen to the voices of protest from abroad – Europe and the USA, because they keep hundreds of billions of the looted petrodollars in the foreign banks. So thanks to the festival for the opportunity to work here and draw attention of mass media to the problems of freedom.

Do you have a critical view on the festival?
Yana Sarna: Of course, we do. We work as street art artists and never ask permission for what we do. We do face and come across situations lacking freedom. For example on July the 3rd we held the Voina Wanted action at the Roskilde Festival. Activists put up a political poster “Voina Wanted” on various advertisement places and pieces of commercial art.

The action is dedicated to support human rights and freedom all over the world. The poster describes how to do non-commercial protest political street art and illustrate why Voina is actually wanted.

The group wanted to see the reaction of commercial artists and representatives of the world of business. The reaction was agressive, violant against the Voina activists and was accompanied with destruction of our group’s art works. An infuriated representative of the world of commerce attacked Alexey Plutser-Sarno, chief media artist of the Voina Group, hit him twice, torn up the poster and destroyed work instruments of the group. The Voina Group also wants to express gratitude to the street artist Ron English, who after yesterday’s action, has declared war on us. We are thankful to Ron that he at once destroyed Voina’s poster and opened his masterpiece for the rapt attention of the audience once again. By his anger he drew even more attention to the problems the group wanted to talk about.

Alexey Plutser-Sarno: The action showed that the rights and freedoms of political art activists are infringed and their works are destroyed even in a free space of the Roskilde Festival. We have been invited to make provocative art and we are glad that our work turned out to be provokative indeed and that it drew attention to the problem of freedom of street artists. The festival management informed the Voina Group that if it keeps on doing this work, we will be removed from the territory of the festival. It seems funny that the festival wants to explain provocative artists how, where and when to make provocative political art.

Do you consider yourself as political activists or an artist group?
Alexey Plutser-Sarno: I am a media artist. I do political protest actions. Of course our actions are pieces of art. But there is also a process of preparing of an action, – there is life around it. We involve activists in our work, work out ideas for new actions together, help political prisoners, send them food parcels to their prison, help them with lawyers etc. It’s political activism.

What do you hope to achieve from your acts at Roskilde festival?
Alexey Plutser-Sarno: We want to draw attention of Danish mass media to the human rights in Russia.

What’s next?
Alexey Plutser-Sarno: We will keep on fucking with police states. There is more freedom in Europe than in Russia, of course. But even here the police systems steps on freedom. The process has the same direction as in Russia. In this sense, it’s sad to realize that the Roskilde Festival is one of the last islands of freedom. It’s like a feast in the time of plague.