Pussy Riot stages art event in Munich showing contempt for Putin

A spontaneous performance by Russian art-punk band Pussy Riot at the Pinakothek der Moderne museum in Munich lasted just a few minutes before the women were gone again.

Their stage was the large staircase in the foyer of the museum, where three members of the group denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal to loud music, in their usual provocative manner.

Wearing knitted masks over their faces, they condemned the destructive bombs on Ukraine and called for solidarity with the people there. And they made a special gesture of contempt: one of the women lifted her skirt and urinated on a picture of Putin.

The action had probably never been seen before in the Pinakothek, but Pussy Riot has already performed it on stage elsewhere.

They then took off their masks and appeared wearing jumpers with a clear political message: "No Putin, No War" written in bright red letters.

The action artist Flatz was also there, having invited the group to Munich, where they were later to give a spontaneous concert at the Bahnwärter Thiel cultural centre.

Many people came to see the famous activists in the entrance rotunda of the museum.

Flatz had organized the visit to guide Pussy Riot through his retrospective at the Pinakothek der Moderne. He got to know the band in 2021 at a concert in Dornbirn in Austria, his former home town.

The Munich resident supports the political background of the women, who have already suffered prison sentences, house arrest and other reprisals for their protests in Russia.

He has great respect for their courage: "There are few women who have the balls to stand up and publicize the political society and dangerous situation we are in," said the artist, referring to right-wing tendencies in many European countries.

"If you don't stand up now, you can't say afterwards that I didn't know anything."

The punk band was founded in 2011 and combines its music with harsh criticism of the Russian regime.

Their performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow in 2012 became famous, when Pussy Riot members wearing knitted flourescent ski masks protested against the Kremlin's policies with what they called a punk prayer, and were subsequently arrested.