In POLICE STATE, Nadya Tolokonnikova (b. 1989 Norilsk, Russia) explores the omnipresent mechanisms of control, surveillance, and the alienation of living under systems of power. The work transforms WAREHOUSE into a visceral panopticon—a space where observers and the observed exist in a perpetual dance of oppression, resistance, and exposure.
This durational performance and installation centers on a confined cell—a symbolic nucleus of human resilience to state power. Tolokonnikova occupies the cell at all times throughout the performance, sewing garments as she did in prison and creating a spectrum of soundscapes, from eerie lullabies to harsh bursts of noise. Artworks sent to Tolokonnikova by current and formerly incarcerated Russian, Belarusian, and American political prisoners line the interior walls of the cell. The space becomes both a prison and a sanctuary, a site where despair meets defiance and silence gives way to radical acts of creation.
Surrounding the cell, the installation integrates Tolokonnikova’s signature iconography with elements that reinforce the weight of surveillance—custom banners and a neon cross hang next to a guard tower and a live feed of Tolokonnikova streams alongside archival footage from Russian prisons. Works from Tolokonnikova’s Icon series, featuring bed sheets made by American and Belarusian prison industries, watch over the space, morphing into characters in Tolokonnikova’s world.
A paradox of confinement and liberation, POLICE STATE both confronts the brutality of control and insists on the possibility of catharsis and connection.
Nadya Tolokonnikova is a conceptual performance artist, activist, and the creator of Pussy Riot, a global feminist art movement. In 2012, she received a two-year prison term following the anti-Putin performance Punk Prayer, which The Guardian later named among the best artworks of the 21st century. In 2023, Tolokonnikova's installation, Putin’s Ashes, at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles, propelled her into a new criminal case and put her on Russia’s most wanted criminal list. Her debut museum exhibition RAGE, (2024) was presented at OK Linz, Austria, and the eponymous performance at Neue Nationalgalerie, Germany. Tolokonnikova's work is in the collections of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Brooklyn Museum, New York; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Museum of Art and Design, New York; and the American Folk Art Museum, New York among others. With thanks to Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin and Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles.
Wonmi’s WAREHOUSE Programs is organized by Alex Sloane, Associate Curator, and is produced by Amelia Charter, Producer of Performance and Programs with Michele Huizar, Performance Coordinator, The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles.
Wonmi's WAREHOUSE Programs is founded by Wonmi & Kihong Kwon and Family.
Performances at MOCA are supported by the MOCA Fund for Performance with generous funding provided by Betsy Greenberg and The Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg Fund.
