Petr Pavlensky  Petr (or Pyotr) Andreyevich Pavlensky (; born March 8, 1984) is a Russian contemporary artist. Known for his controversial political performance art, which he calls "actions", Pavlensky is a significant figure in political activism, and his work often involves nudity and self-mutilation. Pavlensky explicitly denounces the "mechanics of power", forcing authorities to take part in his artistic actions by staging them in areas with heavy police surveillance, explaining that "the criminal case becomes one of the layers of the artwork" and the government is "[drawn] into the process of making art". He obtained political asylum in France on May 4, 2017, where he currently lives