Hey,
In 2004 in the Russian city of Novosibirsk a new movement was born.
On the 1st of May, about 80 people came out and joined in at the tail end of the May Day parade. May Day - or International Workers Day - is still a national holiday in Russia, a relic of the Soviet era, although these days the vast majority of people treat it more as an a random bank holiday than a reason to march on the streets.
This group, however, not only marched, but also stood out in the sea of tired generic slogans of the local communist party who organised the march.
“Badgers are also people” and “Tanya, don’t cry!”, pronounced some signs.
“Think globally. Act idiotically”, proclaimed another.
A person in a Darth Vader mask: “To Rent: Death Star”.
A woman in a pink coat: “From crisis to climax”.
Someone imitating a Soviet era banner, white letters on red fabric: “We can’t get lost: we don’t know where we are going”.
A geographical fact: “We are to the North of Korea” (in Russian, only one syllable separates it from “We are North Korea”).
Someone cosplaying as Lenin, with a sign “The Big Brother is watching you, and he is bored”.
A group of pre-schoolers with a sign: “Porridge is evil”.
Someone picked up a “closed” sign from a shop and used it as their placard (the police decided that since they were carrying it the “closed” side facing the crowd it was, in fact, a political statement, and therefore arrested them, thus adding to the absurdity of the occasion).
A flag with green stripes and blue snowflakes in the upper left corner: “United States of Siberia”.
This was a 'monstration', a public art experiment in absurdity, conceived by a Siberian artist Artiom Loskutov, who now lives and works in Riga, Latvia. After the initial success in Novosibirsk, the event spread across the country and beyond and attracted thousands while not being centrally organised. Fellow artist Ivan Dyrkin gave it the name, losing the 'de' prefix of ‘demonstration’, which to him carried negative connotations, such as in 'degradation’.
The original instigator insisted it wasn’t a protest - it didn’t demand anything, and in any case, “what do you protest against if you dislike everything?”. To him, it was a public performance, an improvisation. A flashmob if you will. A socially engaged, collective art project that played with the tropes of what an organised protest even is in the climate of censorship, and highlighted the absurdities of past and present, without being overtly political. Some described Monstrations, held on May Day every year until 2020, as the “school of solidarity, creative activity and civil liberty”.
***
Wikipedia describes tactical frivolity as a form of public protest involving humour. It often - but not exclusively - includes peaceful non-compliance with authorities, or carnival and whimsical antics.
“Portland Chicken” during the 2025 anti-ICE protests is one such example. A group of clowns in North Carolina who shouted “wife power!” and threw white powder at the participants of a KKK march in 2012. Yarn bombing is another example of whimsical protest that doesn't even look like one, and I'd put guerrilla gardening and seed bombing up there as well.
In 1969, when Native Americans occupied the island of Alcatraz, the group used satire as part of their protest, declaring that they were buying the island for “$24 in glass beads and red cloth, a precedent set by a white man purchase of a similar island 300 years ago”. And an activist duo Yes Men use satire not just as a way to highlight or critique certain issues, but as a way to state their vision for a better future (watch this TEDx Talk for an introduction to their shenanigans). British artists Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives and Foka Wolf also frequently use humour and satire in their public art.
***
I've been thinking a lot about the power of humour and whimsy lately. They can be great tools in counteracting the heaviness of living in these times - and to help us defy the capitalistic imperative to always be useful, to always bring value, even in your off time (apparently, "playbour" is now a word 🤦♀️).
This viral Instagram post collected various whimsical habits that make life more fun (like telling your hamster not to open the door while you're out, bowing and saying "end scene" when you mess up, or doing the washing up under candle light while listening to medieval music).
My whimsy lately involved collaging, spending all day with a book (SO unproductive), following my curiosity wherever it leads me - like researching absurdist protest - and saying hello to the bumblebees in my garden.
What about you?
Antonina x
P.S. Some other things I enjoyed last week: Artemis II photo timeline (my kid is slightly obsessed with it), Troubled Birds by Kim Bagwill and Matt Adrian (lolz), Creep cover by Erin Morton (goosebumps) and A Life Discarded by Alexander Masters (finished it in two days!).
P.P.S. I'm experimenting with a new, quarterly one-to-one mentoring option with fortnightly calls and in-between support via email or messenger. Perfect for you if you need ongoing support with a personal project, developing your photographic skills through a custom-designed programme, launching a new offering, or having a thought & accountability partner in whatever creative endeavour you are undertaking. Starting from July I will have 5 spots available at an introductory price. If that sounds like something that would be useful for you and you'd like to know more, hit reply and we'll chat.
