# Russian artist nails nut sack to ground in Red Square **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 12, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761 "2013-11-12T23:56:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/1 "2013-11-12T23:56:35Z")
What do you get when you have blue balls in [Red Square](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/11/artist-nails-testicles-red-square-pyotr-pavlensky)? Yeah, doesn’t really work. Anyhooo . . . > [@](#): > > Red Square has seen a lot over the centuries, from public executions to giant military parades, but a performance artist broke new ground on Sunday when he nailed his scrotum to cobblestones in a painful act of protest. > > Pyotr Pavlensky said the protest was his response to [Russia](http://www.theguardian.com/world/russia)’s descent into a “police state” and was timed to coincide with Police Day, which Russia’s law enforcement officials celebrated on Sunday. > > “The performance can be seen as a metaphor for the apathy, political indifference and fatalism of contemporary Russian society,” Pavlensky said in a statement. “As the government turns the country into one big prison, stealing from the people and using the money to grow and enrich the police apparatus and other repressive structures, society is allowing this, and forgetting its numerical advantage, is bringing the triumph of the police state closer by its inaction.” ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/2 "2013-11-12T23:58:02Z")
That guy is nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/3 "2013-11-13T00:07:33Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > That guy is nuts. I think you nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/4 "2013-11-13T00:10:17Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > That guy is nuts. Not any more. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/5 "2013-11-13T00:13:05Z")
I hope the authorities got the point. Would have served him right if the police just grabbed his arms and dragged him away. :eek: Leaving the bloody nut sack behind. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/6 "2013-11-13T00:18:22Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I hope the authorities got the point. > Would have served him right if the police just grabbed his arms and dragged him away. :eek: Leaving the bloody nut sack behind. Yea, nothing shows a protester his feelings about his country being a police state are wrong like having the police literally rip his scrotum off because he was protesting. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/7 "2013-11-13T00:32:39Z")
“The performance can be seen as a metaphor for the apathy, political indifference and fatalism of contemporary Russian society. As the government turns the country into one big prison, stealing from the people and using the money to grow and enrich the police apparatus and other repressive structures, society is allowing this, and forgetting its numerical advantage, is bringing the triumph of the police state closer by its inaction.” He said all that after driving a nail through his nutsac? I ran it through an English - Russian translator and it came out as “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhh!!!” ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/8 "2013-11-13T00:40:16Z")
i bet he will be in trouble for not having a building permit. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/9 "2013-11-13T00:42:21Z")
What a brave, brave, stupid, stupid man. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/10 "2013-11-13T04:44:12Z")
The NYT [mentions](http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/self-mutilation-on-red-square/?nl=opinion&emc=edit_ty_20131111&_r=0) that he has previously sewed his own mouth shut and wrapped himself in barbed wire. I suppose his balls have been living on borrowed time up until now. The article mentions an ambulance being called to separate his scrotum from the Square. Maybe Russian ambulance drivers get some very specialized training, but I don’t remember Gage and DeSoto ever doing that on _Emergency!_ ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/11 "2013-11-13T04:59:35Z")
Weeeak. If I were going to nail my balls to a piece of masonry in Red Square it would have been Lenin’s tomb or the minin-pozharsky monument or something. It just looks like he took off his clothes and had a seat. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/12 "2013-11-13T05:04:13Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > i bet he will be in trouble for not having a building permit. Why? I don’t think he was trying to erect anything. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/13 "2013-11-13T07:04:03Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Why? I don’t think he was trying to erect anything. Well, not anymore. (I’m female and I’m still really cringing. Like GAH!!!) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/14 "2013-11-13T07:04:22Z")
How the hell can you hammer _anything_ into cobblestones?!? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/15 "2013-11-13T07:08:18Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > How the hell can you hammer _anything_ into cobblestones?!? :dubious: There is space between the stones. Don’t know what the space is filled with, though. Just imagine if he missed the nail. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/16 "2013-11-13T07:15:28Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > There is space between the stones. Don’t know what the space is filled with, though. > > Just imagine if he missed the nail. I’d rather not, thanks! :eek: Interesting question, though. I’ve been on Red Square many times and never even thought about it. I would guess compacted sand, which is also quite dense, and the spaces aren’t all that wide. No matter how you look at it, a daunting task ( **OW!** ), especially in Moscow in November ( **BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!** ) ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/17 "2013-11-13T07:20:46Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Well, not anymore. > > (I’m female and I’m still really cringing. Like GAH!!!) Actually, nailing it through the nutsack probably wouldn’t hurt that much I imagine, just avoid the nuts themselves. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/18 "2013-11-13T07:29:22Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > There is space between the stones. Don’t know what the space is filled with, though. Grout? Oh, you mean the other stones. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/19 "2013-11-13T11:34:05Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Don’t know what the space is filled with, though. > > Just imagine if he missed the nail. Wow, talk about a vas deferens. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761/20 "2013-11-13T13:29:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > How the hell can you hammer _anything_ into cobblestones?!? :dubious: I just figured he put his round egg in a Square hole. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-artist-nails-nut-sack-to-ground-in-red-square/673761.md?page=2)