A Russian performance artist who was granted political asylum in France has been charged with property damage after apparently starting a fire at a French central bank building, the office of the Paris prosecutor said on Thursday.

The artist, Pyotr Pavlensky, 33, went before a Paris judge on Wednesday alongside his partner, Oksana Shalygina, the prosecutor’s office said, and the two were charged with damaging property in a way that put others in danger.

Mr. Pavlensky is known for dramatic, even grotesque acts of protest. In a 2013 performance he called “Fixation,” he drove a nail through his scrotum and into the pavement of Red Square in Moscow to make a statement about Russian political apathy.

Photographs of Mr. Pavlensky standing in front of a burning Banque de France building on the Place de la Bastille in Paris were posted to social media on Monday.