Art Judgements: Art on Trial in Russia after Perestroika

Sandra Frimmel’s book is the English translation (by Michael Turnbull) of her German dissertation published in 2015. It deals with the difficult question of Russian law using contemporary art and living artists as scapegoats and as models of transgressive behavior from 2000. The author has chosen to document and analyze two trials against curators and artists whose works were presented in two exhibitions in Moscow: “Caution, Religion!” (2003) and “Forbidden Art” (2006); the book belongs to the genus of cases studies. […]

The book, clearly written and well translated, is composed of an Introduction and two parts. The first (“Speaking about Art in Court”) is dedicated to the analysis of prosecution and defense, then to artistic strategies. The second (“Staging in Court”) deals with what the author names “staging strategies,” once again both of prosecution and defense. […]

The two parts of the book are very well illustrated. […]

[Extract from review on the journal 'Slavic Review', Vol.82 (2), p.569-570. Reviewer: Olga Medvedkova (Centre Jean Pépin CNRS-ENS). https://doi.org/10.1017/slr.2023.274 ]