What I Learned Speaking Face to Face with a Fellow Political Prisoner and Artist |
Pavel Krisevich once handcuffed himself to the fence of the Russian district court and sat dressed as a prisoner trapped in a ball made of barbed wire. He once cut a mannequin with a knife while dressed as a police officer, posed as Jesus on the cross around burning piles of papers in front of the FSB headquarters on Lubyanka. Using an unloaded gun, he staged a pretend suicide attempt at the heart of Russia’s totalitarian state — Moscow’s Red Square.
Krisevich is a young Russian performance artist and former political prisoner now living in exile, like me. I first heard about him when I was in jail myself for an act much more modest than the things he did.
A year ago, when Krisevich was released early from his sentence in a penal colony, I asked him via messenger to throw a public event with me, called “Skochilenko and Krisevich’s first time seeing each other,” which he agreed to. With no moderator involved, the audience could witness two creative people with similar backgrounds in discussion, asking and answering questions that only fellow prisoners of consciousness and artists could.
The main thing that I wanted to figure out is from what source Krisevich derived his creative powers. You see, this is a really practical question for me because I am also an artist and my job requires constant effort to keep these powers fresh and useful.
And of course, I am jealous of Krisevich's productivity. He produced around two thousand artworks while sitting in jail and a penal colony! I didn't have enough willpower to push myself in the creativve process so often in the detention center, despite having plenty of spare time compared to Kris, who was obliged to work days and nights in the colony.
Also, I am jealous of his bravery. I would never dare to organize a shocking religiously conceptualized performance........