Quick Facts
Biography
Alexander Davidovich Brener (Russian: Александр Бренер) (born 1957, in Alma-Ata), is a Russian-Jewish performance artist, a self-described political activist. He is considered as one of the main figures of Moscow Actionism along with Oleg Kulik.
His performances of note include defecating in front of a painting by Vincent van Gogh at the Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, having sex on city streets, and vandalizing art work.
He was jailed in 1997 for painting a green dollar sign on Kazimir Malevich's painting Suprematisme. In the court case Brener said in his defense:
- The cross is a symbol of suffering, the dollar sign a symbol of trade and merchandise. On humanitarian grounds are the ideas of Jesus Christ of higher significance than those of the money. What I did was not against the painting. I view my act as a dialogue with Malevich.
He was sentenced to five months in prison, where he wrote obossani pistolet. In the text he explains his beliefs and summarizes his actions. He co-wrote BUKAKA SPAT HERE, Tattoos auf Gefängnissen, and Anti technologies of resistance with Barbara Schurz.
Brener is mentioned in passing in Stewart Home's novel Memphis Underground.
An artwork by the art collective IOCOSE is dedicated to Brener.
Books
- Furzende Völker (2000, ISBN 3-85266-130-7)
- Tattoos auf Gefängnissen (2001, ISBN 3-85266-157-9)
- Bukaka Spat Here (2001, Austria, ISBN 3-9501567-1-2; 2002, UK, ISBN 0-9520274-4-5)