Pussy Riot, Ai Weiwei, and the Power of Punk

HBO's powerful—and powerfully depressing— documentary about the Russian art-punk band Pussy Riot is airing right now.

Above is a video from last year in which Kennedy interviews The New Criterion's James Panero on Pussy Riot and Ai Weiwei, who have both found themselves in boiling water due to their artistic choices.

Here's the original writeup:

"In the case, recently, of Ai WeiWei and Pussy Riot…what differentiates this new form of political art? I realized that they have a punk aesthetic," says James Panero, Managing Editor of New Criterion, to Reason TV's Kennedy.

The protest art created by the Chinese artist and the all-female Russian perforamnce art collective bear the idioms of punk as well as it's defiant anti-authoritarian streak, according to Panero. He believes their art is "having a real effect" as the "conscience of reform" against the authoritarian governments under which they live.

About 4.33 minutes.

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher. Camera by Jim Epstein and Fisher.