The Body and Performative Gesture in Contemporary Russian Actionism as Instruments of Political Expression (on the Example of the P. Pavlensky and K. Nenasheva)

Student: Kovalenko Sofya

Educational Programme: Cultural Studies (Bachelor)

Year of Graduation: 2021

In the realities of modern Russia, the art of actionism plays the role of a political gesture and, due to its radical nature, it becomes the most convenient way for artists to convey to the general public their attitude to those political processes that seem to them to deserve the attention of the whole society. This study is an analysis of corporeality and performativity in contemporary Russian actionism. It examines the social and political meaning of the male and female performative body and gesture, in the form of the actions of Pyotr Pavlensky and Katrin Nenasheva. Based on Pavlensky's manifesto ("On Russian Actionism", 2016) and an analysis of an interview with Katrin Nenasheva, the work clarifies and compares the effects and differences of artistic practices and the social meanings they generate between the male and female bodies.

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