Nadya Tolokonnikova, co-founder of Pussy Riot, began a durational performance titled "Police State" at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles on June 5, 2025. Inside a mock prison cell at the Geffen Contemporary, she screams, plays a pink toy piano, synthesizer, and laptop, and layers live music with sampled prison noises to create an 80-hour experimental soundscape. The performance, running until June 15, references her own 2012 imprisonment in Russia for an anti-Putin protest. On the fourth day, MOCA closed due to clashes between ICE agents, the California National Guard, and protesters over immigrant raids, prompting Tolokonnikova to post: "Police State exhibit closed today due to police state."
The performance matters because it merges personal history with political activism, drawing attention to authoritarian abuses in Russia and the U.S., while also critiquing surveillance culture and celebrity. By staging a prison cell that mirrors her gulag experience and including drawings by current Russian political prisoners, Tolokonnikova forces viewers to confront complicity in state violence. The museum closure due to real-world police-state actions underscores the work's urgent relevance, blurring the line between art and life.