“The future has burned in Russia”: on June 12, street art protested

Russia Day was celebrated on June 12. Official celebrations were held in all major cities. However, artistic activists also spoke on this day – against the war and political repression. The Doxa publication made a selection of street actions of protest artists.

A street artist under the pseudonym Error, now living in Georgia, installed wooden letters forming the word “future” on a vacant lot and burned them. He recorded the action on a video, in which the “future” burns while reading fragments from Anna Akhmatova, Sergey Yesenin, Vladimir Vysotsky and an anti-war song by the rapper Noize MC.

“Today, I don’t see a Russian future for myself. For me, it burned. And I didn’t burn it. The Russian state burned it for me,” Error commented on his stock.

“Izrossilovanie”, – this is the word used by Volgograd street artist Philippenzo (Filipp Kozlov) to describe what was happening. “What this country is doing today cannot be called another word,” he wrote on his channel. According to him, the inscription on the abutment of the Moscow bridge was painted over by communal services soon after it was applied.

In Ivanovo, unknown activists hung a stylized figure of a man with the inscriptions “VIP” and “War criminal” on a jay for flowers on one of the city’s streets. The photo was published by the “Free Ivanova” Telegram channel, which identified the figure with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The “Feminist Anti-War Resistance” movement held the “You Are Not Alone” campaign and created a virtual project that mounted murals depicting women who were persecuted for their anti-war stance on city views.

On the contrary, the St. Petersburg art group “Yav” opposed the insulted Russia and the identification of the family with the ruling power. She painted the derogatory name “Rashka” on the walls, accompanying it with a list of dictionary meanings. “Rashka”, according to dictionaries, is the medieval name of the Serbian principality, as well as a river in Serbia, the popular name of rail buses and a style in medieval architecture, but Russia, according to “Java”, does not deserve this name.

• Since the beginning of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, many cultural figures – artists, actors, musicians – spoke out against the war. They are subject to official and unofficial persecution. Performances and concerts of anti-war artists are canceled for formal reasons or without explanation. Some cultural figures receive the status of “foreign agents”, many have left the country.