ST. PETERSBURG ARTWORK A BIG WEINER / WINNER

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Whether you call it "Dick in FSB Captivity" (the official post action name) or "Giant Galactic Space Dick" (the early working title) one thing is for sure, ultimately the Russian art establishment knows an important apparatc-dick when they see one.

The 220 foot drawbridge dong drawing was created in June 2010 by an art group calling itself "Voina" to protest security measures planned by the FSB (Federal Security Services) for the International Economic Forum, to be hosted in St. Petersburg. The piece was subsequently nominated for the Ministry of Culture and the National Center for Contemporary Art's "Innovation" award, one of the country's highest honors for contemporary art. Earlier this year the work was officially disqualified from the competition, but the fickle ministers could not keep the hearty peasant penis art down, it rose from the dead both Raspution-like and hard-on-like to claim the prize.

Hard lobbying by some delegates to the selection committee finally swayed the unresponsive members, and this super true statement closed the deal, "the penis had already gained such a wide audience via the Internet that ignoring it would also be making a statement." A penis audience? On the Internet? 

According to a statement sent to Voina supporters by the group's spokeswoman Yana Sarna, "When the winner of the Innovation prize was announced, the audience started chanting: 'Dick! Dick! Dick!'"

We at NYD offer our fully aroused congratulations to the artists at Voina, and we absolutely think that audiences should chant "Dick! Dick! Dick! much more often, maybe all the time. For more details take a look at the article at Artinfo or the New York Times.