pyotr pavlensky

Russian performance artist and political activist Pyotr Pavlensky put his balls where his convictions are on Sunday when he literally nailed his scrotum to the cobblestones of Red Square in Moscow in order to call attention to the pervasive corruption of the nation's ruling oligarchs, a repressive "police state," and the apathy of his fellow citizens who refuse to challenge the status quo.

In a singular act of both self-brutalizition and political expression, Pavlensky stripped naked, sat down in the center of the busy square, and pinned himself to the ground with a six-inch nail.