What is Voina?

Good question.

Voina is a group of Russian artists who engage in street action art.

The Independent describes it best in their article: "Artists Who Crossed The Line."

• An art group that stages orgies, throws cats at cashiers and has Banksy as a fan has enraged the Russian authorities
• By Shaun Walker

Voina throwing cats in supermarkets

Voina overturning police cars

Voina drawing penis on bridge in St. Petersburg

I suppose what Voina is, is a movement in contemporary art which is relatively new to Russia despite being widespread in the West and is regarded by critics as one of the most valuable contemporary art movements.

Apparently, it's got people talking.  Even Banksy is fan.  And they have people paying attention, which means,  I like them even better.

If you ask them what their goals are you get this bizarrely complex and lofty definition:

Goals and objectives of  the Art-Group Vojna in the period 2008-2010.

1. Rebirth of heroical behavioral ideals of an artist-intellectual, in a manner of Russian libertarian decemberism. Creation of image of artist as romantic hero, who prevail over the evil. Creation of lively romantic models in today`s soulless commercial conceptual art.
2. Rebirth of lively expressive art, which is sincere and honest and provoking observers` deep emotional experience. Actualization  of monumental expressive genres, where large scale harmonizes with totally rich in content orientation, in contrast to outdated hypertrophy of forms, which deovid of sense.
3. Creation of innovative topical art-language, which is producing for pure art, but not for a money. It is mean language, which is adequate for today’s cultural and socio-political context, which is can show actual of the new epoch, which have no analogues in the past. Creation of Russian national actual art, without outmodedness and provinciality, and which provokes admiration of intellectuals all over the world.
4. Rebirth of Russian laughing culture, traditions of absurdity and sarcasm in context of high art, that is Rebirth of lively merriment in the art-spaces. Creation of political street-art in Russia in the best traditions of skomorokh and carnival middle-age art.
5. Conceptual destruction of glamour timeserving and conformist Russian art-market, which is reproducing outdated forms of art, artificially falsifying processes of pricing of art-market and creating financial pyramid from devalued art-junk.
6. Creating of real left front of art in Russia in traditions of futurism of 1920 years, which is radically shift all ideological poles by the facts of its being. Rebirth of political protest art all over the world.
7.  War with “werewolfes in straps” for the freedom of contemporary art. War with socio-political obscurantism and ultra-right reaction for the triumph of nano-modernization in Russia. Subversion and destruction of outdated repressive-patriarchal socio-political symbols and ideologies. Art-war against all global world for total triumph of justice in Art-Area.

Right. Bla, bla, bla.

It's all rather long winded and boring.

But, you know, it's like on American Idol:  If you have to explain why you sang something the way you did, then it's a dud performance.

I kind of think that holds true for all art:  If you have to explain it, it's dead art.

So, that's what they do wrong.

But, here's what they do right:  They continue to challenge us to think outside the box and define what we believe in.

And that's good.