Vladimir Kuznetsov, brief information about the actionist
My name is Vladimir Kuznetsov, I am a pro-feminist, writer and anti-war artist. I am currently emigrating from Russia due to the threat of mobilization and criminal prosecution and will be applying for a humanitarian visa. Human rights activists and familiar activists advise to evacuate as quickly as possible. I plan to continue my activities in the field of contemporary art, my literary project, and also find a permanent job.
What dangers do I face now?
1. I cannot delete everything that is about me on social networks or on media pages that are recognized as either foreign agents or are prohibited on the territory of Russia. In addition, some of the information (posts, reposts, for which I can be convicted under Russian laws) is already at the disposal of the Federal Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For this reason, quite a lot of protocols can already be drawn up against me. At the moment, I was convicted because of a repost in my personal telegram channel.
2. For several years I was the producer of the largest LGBT-themed project on YouTube in Russia. Now this account does not exist, but you can find quite a lot of republishing of our videos and it is not difficult to establish the owners of the project. Laws in Russia, as law enforcement experience shows, still HAVE “retroactive force”. In 2021, my ex-wife denounced me to the police that the LGBT content I produce was corrupting the younger generation. This information can also be used against me.
3. I am an anti-war artist and actionist. At the beginning of February last year, the activists and I organized the anti-war performance “NO”. There is quite a lot of information about this perfomance in various media.
4. Russian police have recently carried out numerous searches of activists who have been associated with the electoral process in past years. In 2021, I was an election observer (publication in Russian) and for a long time participated in litigation over vote-count fraud. I and other observers received death threats. During the trial, details were revealed that indicate that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has enough compromising evidence on me (in particular, my production activities on YouTube). I have information that on the eve of the next presidential elections in Russia (in 2024) all political activists will be given special attention.
Professional skills
I am a physicist by education. However, after graduating from university, for 10 years I worked in the publishing industry as a journalist, writer of articles; as well as publishing, literary and technical editor. From 2013 to 2017, I was the editor-in-chief of an independent online urban magazine.
In 2016-2018, I worked as the head of the marketing department at a large Russian research and production enterprise - Geotek LLC. I developed a strategy for launching new research equipment on the market, organized all-Russian and international seminars, and so on.
From 2018 to the present, I have been working in the field of video content production. A few years before that, I studied social media algorithms and YouTube, and started producing entertainment content. At the end of the first year of work, I increased the number of channel subscribers from 300 to 700 thousand, produced several seasons of the show with an average number of views of 2 million, and was actively involved in fundraising. In 2018-2020, we were the largest LGBT project on Russian YouTube, then the account was blocked due to a scam attack (I can send you almost all of our videos at your request).
My activities as an anti-war artist and actionist
You can read more about these performances in my instagram.
Performance “7 tattoos at the same time”
In 2019, I experienced a suicide attempt and amnesia, and this performance became a statement on the value of memories through the perception of amnesia. For 6 hours, 7 tattoo artists applied 7 tattoos on my body at the same time, which is a record on YouTube (video about the meanings of the performance in Russian). Some of the sketches that the tattoo artists applied were randomly selected. The performance is not only the video itself, but also the reaction of the audience to it (the content of comments under the video). The main idea of the performance is that what we consider important, sacred, logical, orderly, complex, and so on, may not make any sense. Including the pain experienced. The viewer can devalue the value of any work of art; our partners may devalue the suffering they have caused us in the course of the relationship.
Performance “Parade of Planets” (“Parade of Planets on the Edge of the Universal Abyss”)
In 1928, a wooden planetarium was built in Penza, which in the 1990s and 2000s remained the only wooden planetarium in the world. Since about 2004, its “careful reconstruction” has been repeatedly announced, since the object of cultural and national significance was in dire need of it. But in 2021, after yet another promise of “careful reconstruction” and “accurate reproduction in detail,” the planetarium was simply destroyed without public consent and in violation of technological standards. Three days after the demolition of the Planetarium, at 4 am, I illegally entered the closed construction site with several activists, we took a series of photographs and filmed from a drone. 9 "planets" lined up on the edge of the foundation pit left after the demolition of the historical monument. The only male figure symbolizes the Sun, indifferent to the opinion of the faceless planets.
Performance “Fisherman and dead fish”
2021 marks the 15th anniversary of the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya. The performance was dedicated to all independent journalists. Along the high tide, a fisherman drags several girls - fish entangled in nets. It is not clear to the viewer what this fisherman was doing or what he is going to do: is he going to save these fish, or is he going to kill them? In the last photos, the fisherman sits without a blindfold, and it becomes clear to the viewer that he is blind.
Performance "Walk"
This is a statement with many meanings, one of them is the desacralization of the image of parenthood, which became apparent during the war in Ukraine. In numerous appeals to the Government of Russia and the President of Russia, mothers and parents of Russian soldiers complained not about the inhuman war, but that “the son does not have warm boots and a hat” (quote from a similar appeal). The performance itself was as follows. A young couple is walking in the family park - a guy and a girl with a pram. They are wearing T-shirts torn at the chest. Under the T-shirts - bleeding wounds where hearts used to be. In a baby carriage, instead of a child, there is a severed pig's head. In the video, which I have hidden from my channel for security reasons, you can see the reaction of ordinary people to the performance.
Performance "Nameless"
In the fall of 2021, independent media were actively banned in Russia. Several models took part in the performance. Their bodies bore the logos of banned media. The meaning of the performance is as follows: when it is forbidden to talk about something, it is forbidden to mention the name or title, it disappears from reality. “Disappearance from reality” is shown in photo collages: models either cease to be reflected in mirrors, or exist only in the form of reflections - in the mirror.
Performance "In the ruins"
In Penza, as in other cities, buildings of historical value continue to be destroyed. On the ruins of one of these buildings, in early January 2022, this photo performance was made. Two young people, a guy and a girl, in the most uncomfortable environment - with a minimum of clothes, under a frosty wind - demonstrate an abusive relationship. The woman acts as a symbol of the public, the male image symbolizes the Government.
Performance “NO”
The first anti-war performance created at the end of February 2022. Several naked girls are painted with oil paint and like comic book characters, and at the same time - in the national colors of the flags of three countries: Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. They make love on a white canvas, the "Canvas of History." Performance taglines: “History should be written with love, not with war”; “leave wars only for comics.” I am currently selling The Canvas of History to cover my expenses for living in another country and for emigrating.
Performance "Twins"
A man in military uniform catches a woman, rapes her and keeps her as a prisoner in a house destroyed by the war. She becomes pregnant, but she cuts her stomach open in despair and dies. The military takes the "children" - a piece of meat and fish. As part of this performance, I also had a vasectomy: as a pro-feminist, I oppose reproductive violence and the ban on abortion.
Diptych “Traces of War”
The same man in military uniform steps over the dead and raped woman, leaving a trail of blood on her chest. The name of the performance is a play on words. The first letters of the name of this performance in russian language - “S(ledy) VO(iny)” - repeats the abbreviation “SVO” - the name of the war in Ukraine officially allowed in the Russian media: “Special Military Operation”.
Literary activity and current projects in the field of contemporary art
I am currently working on the "1000 Faces 1000 Words" project. Its format is as follows: I take an interview, take a selfie or an artistic photo with my interlocutor. Then, based on the interview, I write a story and give that story a word title. A total of 1,000 interviews and 1,000 stories will be written.
What is this project about? After experiencing amnesia in 2019, I explore the value of memories. I am interested in the stories of people who have experienced psychological trauma, severe life upheavals, personal losses, and so on. Through their answers, I try to understand how they find "the way to themselves." In this project, I explore the issues of stigmatization of people who have experienced suicide and mental problems: severe depression, mental disorders, and the like. Also, this story is therapeutic for me: my “path to myself” lies through this “Thousand Words” and the artistic depiction of these stories both using the capabilities of neural networks and using the “body painting + body print” technique.
Based on this project, several books will be published. It will include not only interviews, photographic materials and artistic interpretation of people's answers, but also comments from specialists (psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists): how to overcome mental problems, what therapy to choose in case of severe depressive states, how to adapt to life in a new environment. Obviously, these questions are becoming especially relevant now, when millions of people are emigrating because of the war.
Some publications about me in foreign media
In Russian, there are quite a few publications about my activities, which I have collected in a Google document. Below I give publications in foreign media.
Can Protest Art Exist in Russia?
(the story was published on the Austrian TV channel orf.at, but the published materials are deleted after two weeks; below is a link to the story file provided to me by the author of the material)
A Russian artist who doesnt hide behind words
A story about my activities on the Austrian Radio
Sexual Violence in Russia and in War: Offering Healing Through Therapy and Art