Russian artist Nadya Tolokonnikova, a founding member of the punk feminist collective Pussy Riot, has spoken out after some of her artworks were vandalized at her museum show at O.K. Linz in Austria.
On December 7, vandals smashed the glass door of the chapel of the Holy Virgin, a deconsecrated exhibition space on the grounds of the museum that currently contains the installation Pussy Riot Sex Dolls. Tolokonnikova claims that the attack was an act of Christian “fundamentalist aggression” since it took place on the eve of the Catholic feast day of the Immaculate Conception, a solemn celebration of the Virgin Mary’s purity.
“I placed the dolls in the chapel of the Holy Virgin because I believe feminists are sacred, and I’m convinced that the Virgin Mary is a feminist, too,” said Tolokonnikova in a statement. She described the installation as “a child of love, an act of care, and a celebration of sisterhood.”
O.K. Linz confirmed that the police have launched an investigation into the incident.
Tolokonnikova and the museum have agreed to keep the Sex Dolls on display, repairing the glass door but leaving evidence of the break-in on the floor as “a haunting reminder of both the fragility and resilience of art and the freedoms it symbolizes.”
The sculptural installation Sex Dolls is part of “RAGE,” Tolokonnikova’s very first institutional show at the contemporary art museum O.K. Linz. The showcase of predominantly new work reflects the artist’s interest in the Orthodox faith and her belief that “a good artist is one who creates their own religion,” as she told Artnet News earlier this year.
The glass door to a chapel containing Nadya Tolokonnikova’s Sex Dolls installed as part of “RAGE” exhibition at O.K. Linz in Austria. Photo: Michaela Seiser.
The exhibition’s first room is titled the Rage Chapel and contains a series of gold-leafed icons dedicated to Russian activists that bear slogans like “enlightening of the darkness.” On one wall is a “riot symbol” that resembles a Christian cross and emits light, bathing the room its warm red glow.
Continuing this mix of religious iconography with hints of a seedier, sexualized undertone, the props for Sex Dolls were acquired secondhand by Tolokonnikova on Facebook Marketplace and sex forums “because I felt compassion for the dolls and wanted to give them a second life.” In a video posted by O.K. Linz, she described sex dolls as “an extreme of objectifying the female body as simply something sexual.”
In order to give the dolls back their, “power, strength, and dignity,” she teamed up with her co-creator, the Chinese drag queen Niohuru X, to convert them into sculptures of her fellow Pussy Riot activists. They are armed with weapons to protect themselves and other women. Because the dolls were not made to be able to stand up, they had to have an internal skeleton structure inserted.
“The fact that works of art provoke controversial discussions is desirable, but when this turns into aggression and violence, it is highly problematic,” a spokesperson for the museum said in an email.
“The works exhibited there were obviously perceived as blasphemous,” they added. By keeping them on view after the attack, “the message is clear: an attempt to destroy the work will not result in its disappearance from the chapel.”
Fragments of glass on Nadya Tolokonnikova’s Sex Dolls installed as part of “RAGE” exhibition at O.K. Linz in Austria. Photo: Michaela Seiser.
Tolokonnikova’s practice has a long history of disrupting conservative religious structures of power. Pussy Riot first received global attention in 2011 after three members, including Tolokonnikova, were arrested and charged with hooliganism for performing Punk Prayer at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. They had intended to protest the Orthodox Church leader’s support for Putin. Tolokonnikova and fellow Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina were imprisoned for almost two years.
In her statement, Tolokonnikova also made a connection between the attack and an act of vandalism that took place earlier this year at St. Mary’s Cathedral in the same Austrian city of Linz. A sculpture by Esther Strauss, titled Crowning, of the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus that was installed as part of a wider display about women’s roles and gender equality was beheaded. The vandal allegedly justified the attack by describing the artwork as an “abominable and blasphemous caricature,” according to a report in the Guardian.
Referring also to this incident, the spokesperson for O.K. Linz said, “it seems to be primarily feminist works and messages that provoke such hatred, which is alarming.”
“RAGE” by Nadya Tolokonnikova had originally been due to close on October 20 but O.K. Linz extended the show’s run until January 6, 2025, due to popular demand.