CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Filippova, Darja |
|---|---|
| Title | Blasphemy as Tool for Institutional Critique |
| Summary | This thesis argues that blasphemy can be a tool for institutional critique in political art through the case studies of Oleg Mavromatti, Pussy Riot and Petr Pavlensky. The celebration of artists such as Pussy Riot for their performance work in the global art discourse and the dismissal of the role of blasphemy as a conservative accusation by an oppressive state cannot adequately account for the construction of meaning around the events in Russian culture. Due to a particular formation of liberal Orthodox identity, which is informed by the affiliation of dissidence and religion in Russia and the Soviet Union, , the accusation of blasphemy by Orthodox individuals or through federal law functions as a revelation of a larger truth behind a mask of hypocrisy. This thesis deconstructs the presumed universality of the post-Enlightenment notions of institutional critique and constructs a semiotic structure that accounts for seeing blasphemy as a form of institutional critique in the post-Soviet art and culture wars. Blasphemy becomes a form of critique through the presence of the chronotope of holy foolery, an Orthodox ascetic tradition of institutional critique, anti-authoritarian behavior and a radical imitation of Christ. Artists that are appropriating the topos can be defined by the behavioral and aesthetic characteristics of the historical practice, which are best exemplified in the vitae of St Symeon Salos, a holy fool who committed acts of sacrilege in holy places and against clergy to reveal a larger corruption and feigned religiosity of Christians. The unification of church and state under Vladimir Putin’s presidency has fostered the revival of the tradition of institutional critique from within a religious tradition and a competing narrative over secular and sacred space among conservative and liberal Orthodox worldviews that have been defined by the post-Soviet art wars. |
| Supervisor | Naumescu, Vlad; Lucento, Angelina. |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/filippova_darja.pdf |
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