Oleksandra Novozhenova on the action “The Last Jewish Pogrom”

“The “Last Jewish Pogrom” itself was a rare example of a performance where real physical violence was inflicted on the audience. Essentially, the Stanford experiment was repeated. Everyone who came was offered to split into pogromists and Jews. The audience was intelligent, many chose the role of victims. A pogrom territory was defined, which the victims were not allowed to leave, while the pogromists received a shot of vodka at the entrance. Compliance with the rules was honestly controlled by a specially hired burly guard in black. Importantly, the toilet was also outside the pogrom boundary, so during the four hours the experiment lasted, the “Jews” could not get there. Soon an auction began, where victims could be redeemed. As a result, everyone was freed and no one stayed there for the full four hours. Judging by the reactions in the press, the performance did not cause much of a stir — which is typical for the 1990s, when violence was so legitimate in everyday life that it looked completely organic in art and was perceived as one of many equally possible forms”.[Novozhenova A. Garage Archive. Monastyrsky’s letters, invitation to the exhibition in Sanduny and other artifacts [Electronic resource] / Alexandra Novozhenova // Afisha Daily. – 2013. – Access mode to the resource: https://daily.afisha.ru/archive/gorod/archive/garage-archive/.]Comment type: Published comment
Author: Alexandra Novozhenova