Pyotr Pavlensky is setting Russia's evil history ablaze

By torching the doors of Moscow’s security service HQ, the radical artist ties its sinister history – the KGB, the Gulag, the secret police that boiled people alive – to Putin’s current reign. No wonder he was arrested for hooliganism

Pyotr Pavlensky is not exactly a subtle artist. The radical Russian performance artist made world headlines in 2013 when he nailed his scrotum to Red Square. Now he has been arrested for setting fire to the front door of the Federal Security Service Building on Lubyanka Square in Moscow.

Pavlensky has been charged with “hooliganism” – yet this is a superbly well-aimed piece of political art. Normally, setting fire to a building would not win my approval. Someone might get hurt. And this is a historic front door, on a historic building.

Related: Russian artist arrested for setting fire to security service HQ

Related: Petr Pavlensky: why I nailed my scrotum to Red Square

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