Nadya Tolokonnikova’s “POLICE STATE” performance named one of the top art exhibitions of the year by Art News and Hyperallergic.
“More than a decade after Pussy Riot cofounder Nadya Tolokonnikova was incarcerated in Russia, the artist returned to a prison of her own making in her performance installation Police State (2025) at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles this June. Tolokonnikova reimagined her prison cell as a space for art—a form of reclamation not only for herself but also for the Russian, Belarusian, and American prisoners whose pieces were incorporated into the installation. Inside, visitors could observe Tolokonnikova making music or art, or even resting throughout the day, via security camera footage and peepholes. The eerie authoritarian state came to life extended beyond MOCA, however, when anti-ICE protests erupted and the National Guard was deployed. With Police State unexpectedly closed to the public during the protests, Tolokonnikova continued staging the work in private, underscoring the piece’s continued relevance amid the ongoing political conflicts in the US and abroad. —Francesca Aton”
“Nadya Tolokonnikova, founder of the Russian feminist group Pussy Riot, has been imprisoned, surveilled, and threatened by Russia her country for her activism. (Russia recently labelled Pussy Riot an “extremist” group.) For her durational performance at MOCA Geffen this past summer, she recreated a cramped prison cell, where viewers could watch her through peepholes as she remixed actual prison recordings into haunting soundscapes. The urgency of Police State was made chillingly clear when anti-ICE protestors and police clashed in the streets outside the museum a few days into the performance, prompting Tolokonnikova to emerge from her simulacrum of state-sponsored repression, and confront its real-world analog. —Matt Stromberg”
Author: Sophie Carroll