Russian artist cuts off his earlobe on rooftop of psychiatric hospital where Ukrainian pilot Savchenko is being tortured.

By TSN.ua
10.18.2014 – 21:04
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

In Russia, an artist cut off his earlobe on the rooftop of the hospital in which pilot Savchenko is being held.

Artist protests against the use of psychiatry for political purposes.

St. Petersburg actionist artist Petr Pavlensky cut off his earlobe, while sitting on the roof of the Institute of Psychiatry called the Serbsky Center, in Moscow. He was completely naked. Pavlensky called his action “Separation.”

“The knife separates the earlobe from the body. The concrete wall of the psychiatric institute separates smart society from insane patients. Turning the benefits of psychiatry to political purposes – [means] the police apparatus regains the authority to define the line between intelligence and insanity. Arming himself with psychiatric diagnoses, a bureaucrat in a white robe cuts off those pieces from society that prevent him from installing a single monolithic dictatorship for all and compulsory rules for everyone” – the artist said, explaining his action.

After the performance, police seized Pavlensky and delivered him to the Botkin Hospital.

To the Serbsky Institute, on whose roof the performance took place, the Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko was brought for psychiatric examination on October 13th. Russian authorities accused her [without evidence] of killing [2] VGTRK journalists [All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company] near Luhansk [Ukraine].

This is not the first time Pavlensky has shocked the public with his performance. In 2013, he nailed his scrotum to the pavement on the Red Square in Moscow. In addition to this, the artist sewed his mouth shut as a sign of solidarity with the participants of the punk group Pussy Riot.

Recall that her lawyer stated the Russians tortured Nadiya Savchenko in Serbsky Institute. [Editor: Savchenko was captured and kidnapped from Ukraine by Russian authorities and taken to Moscow].