Voina, the radical art group behind

that giant penis drawing on

that drawbridge in Russia, have won a major prize for their efforts.

Up goes the bridge, up goes the penis, see?

The group painted the 220ft-long phallus on St Petersburg’s Liteiny Bridge in protest at heightened security in the city ahead of June’s International Economic Forum.

As you can see in the video below, the idea is that the penis rises, erection-like, when the bridge is raised to let traffic through.


The drawbridge happens to be opposite the headquarters of the FSB security service – one of St Petersburg’s tourist attractions.

Founded by the Russian culture ministry, the annual Innovation awards saw Voina – or War – scoop the prize for best work of visual art .



The award has been won in the past by acclaimed artists including Andrei Monastyrsky and the Blue Noses group.

For their work, entitled A Penis In KGB Captivity, Voina bag 400,000 rubles (£8,700), but they skipped last week’s award ceremony in Moscow and haven’t revealed if they’ll accept the prize.

The group’s members have spent time in jail for some of their stunts, one of which involved tipping over police cars while officers slept inside.

British street artist Banksy, a supporter of their work, helped get them out by contributing to their bail.

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