Russian artist under fire for controversial burning of 'Catholic' cathedral
THE ART NEWSPAPER
By Sophia Kishkovshy
RUSSIA---A 30m-tall Gothic structure built of branches and twigs, thought by many to resemble a cathedral, was set alight on Saturday (17 February) causing controversy in Russia. The burning took place at Nikola-Lenivets, a rural artists’ colony 200km south of Moscow, and was the culmination of pre-Lenten carnival festivities known as Maslenitsa. The event is often likened to the US Burning Man festival. Nikolay Polissky, a founder of Nikola-Lenivets whose monumental land art has turned the Kaluga region settlement into a hipster tourist draw, creates a different installation to burn at the carnival each year. [More]
By Sophia Kishkovshy
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| The controversial burning of the 30m Gothic-style structure built of twigs by the Russian artist Nikolay Polissky DMITRY SEREBRYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images |