Nadya Tolokonnikova, cofounder of Pussy Riot, has created a performance installation titled "Police State" (2025) at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (LA MOCA). The work recreates a Russian jail cell where Tolokonnikova performs daily activities—making music, creating art, and resting—observed by visitors via security camera footage and peepholes. The installation also features artworks by current and former political prisoners from Russia, Belarus, and the United States, curated through Tolokonnikova's Art Action Foundation and the Artistic Freedom Initiative. Originally scheduled for June 5–14, the show was extended due to the museum's closure amid anti-ICE protests and National Guard deployment.
This installation matters because it transforms a site of punishment into a space for artistic creation and rehabilitation, directly challenging authoritarian systems. Tolokonnikova reframes her own two-year imprisonment in Russia as a durational performance piece, reclaiming agency from the state. The work also highlights the broader crisis of political imprisonment and the role of art in prisoner rehabilitation, while its extension due to ongoing political protests in the U.S. underscores the resonance of themes of state control and resistance across borders.