This past September I was invited by CEC ArtsLink to travel to Russia and stage an Improv Everywhere mission with local artists in the town of Petrozavodsk. Along with Kendal Henry from CEC, I worked with about 20 Russians through a small arts center in the town. We brainstormed ideas together and executed two missions during my trip.
On the first night I gave a presentation about Improv Everywhere to the group. Some were familiar with our site and others were not. A few in the group were street artists. Others worked in video and other disciplines. Most of the participants were in their early 20s, though a few were older. Only a couple of them spoke English, but we were lucky enough to have a translator with us, Agent Nastya. We spent the second day walking around town and searching for good places to execute a mission. Afterwards we met to brainstorm ideas.
Brainstorming
We hatched a plan for the first mission. The group would enter a local furniture store one by one and fall asleep on the beds and couches. If asked, agents would claim not to know each other and insist that they were just tired and fell asleep accidentally. I scoped out the store and noted there were only two employees and lots of hidden corners for agents to sleep out of their view.
Pre-mission meeting
Agent Nastya, left, translated my words
The day of the mission we met up in a park near the store. I went over the game plan with everyone and we picked the order the agents would enter. We were all a little nervous. Most of the participants were not performers and were a little shy about doing something out of the ordinary in public. There was safety in numbers though, and most felt confident it would go well. There was definitely concern about the police showing up. Agent Sergey, the art director of the center, decided it would be safest if everyone kept their shoes off of the beds to ensure we couldn’t get in trouble for dirtying the merchandise.
I was in charge of filming the mission. One of the agents had a small miniDV camera and we placed it in an empty hair dryer box and cut a hole in the side. It was the only box we could find that was the right size.
I was nervous about getting busted. Surely an American dude standing around a furniture store with a pink hair dryer box would look pretty shady. I speak absolutely no Russian and wouldn’t be able to communicate with the employees if they started yelling at me.
After we got organized we headed into the store one by one. Agents Nastya and Liev entered first and pretended to be a couple interested in buying a couch. They had a camera with them and snapped photos of potential couches as they asked questions of one of the employees. This made it natural for them to take photos of the sleeping agents later on. I entered after the first couple of sleepers and starting walking around quietly with my box.
Filming Agent Masha
After about 10 minutes all 20 agents were in the store sleeping on the couches and beds. It was a small store, but there were enough separate areas that the ladies working there couldn’t tell how many people were involved. They stumbled upon each sleeper one by one.
They started freaking out pretty quickly. The trouble was, I had absolutely no idea what they were saying. They seemed concerned, but they were also laughing. I had to wait until after the mission to find out exactly how they had reacted.
I film in the background as one woman calls the store’s owners
There were two employees in the store. Their first thought was that all of the sleepers were “junkies” who had stumbled into the store to pass out. “This is not a hotel!” they kept shouting over and over again. “Young people, go away!” I noticed one woman was on the phone but didn’t realize she was speaking to the owner of the store. She was laughing as she talked to him.
The other woman was smiling and laughing as well.
Every now and then they would look at me, and I would just laugh and shrug and indicate that I thought it was strange too. Thankfully they never asked me any questions in Russian. For the most part they ignored me, focusing instead on the sleepers. Somehow I was able to blend in to the background, even with my obvious hidden camera box.
They started going around and waking up the sleepers. They would either bang their hands on the bed or poke the sleeper and shout. I found this funny, because it seemed like they thought our agents were actually asleep and not pretending.
One of the women wakes Agent Renald
They acted very angry towards the sleepers, but kept privately laughing to each other. After about 15 minutes, the police arrived. I found out later that one of the women had pressed an emergency call button, like a bank teller might do during a robbery. I’ve been present at several Improv Everywhere missions in New York where the police have showed up, and while it’s never fun, I’ve never been all that shaken by it. Seeing a Russian policeman in a green army helmet was a different story. I instantly had visions of being taken away to some secret prison for illegally filming. My US citizenship was not going to play in my favor at a time when the rhetoric between our countries was heating up over the Georgia crisis.
Russian Policeman!
Almost all of the sleepers had already been kicked out of the story by the time the police arrived. The women frantically pointed to the two last agents who had just left the store. The police stopped them and questioned them outside.
They let one go immediately when the women couldn’t remember if he had been one of the sleepers or not. The other, Agent Ivan, was questioned for about 10 minutes. The police took down his name and address as they tried to assess the situation. Agent Ivan calmly explained that all he had done was fall asleep on a couch. Eventually they let him go with no charges, unable to determine any crime that had been committed.
The owners arrive
The owners of the store arrived a bit later, but the mission was over at that point. They called a neighboring store to warn them of young hooligans in the area.
Shortly after the mission, I did some brief interviews with the English-speaking agents involved.
Agent Renald
Agent Sasha
Agent Dasha
Agent Ivan
Agent Sergey
I also interviewed Agent Sergey, the art director of the center. He does not speak English, but our translator explained his thoughts to me, “It was a very useful experience for the young artists to find this freedom inside them and to be able to show it. It is important to feel that you are free to come and do what you want in this country where actually freedom was not a very open thing in the past.”
A couple of days later we executed a second mission. We had a Russia tea party on the sidewalk of a busy street. I don’t have video of it, but these photographs tell the story well.
We had two samovars!
Strangers stopped to gawk and take photographs
This woman worked in the building next to us and smiled as she looked out the window
All in all, it was a fabulous experience visiting Russia for the first time and getting to work on projects with the locals. It was amazing how the experience of doing an Improv Everywhere mission felt very much the same as it does in New York, even in a place as culturally different as Petrozavodsk. A huge thank you to CEC ArtsLink and Kendal Henry for inviting me to participate in this exchange.
Mission Accomplished.
OTHER RESOURCES:
I took tons of photos during my two-week trip to Russia, which also included time in St. Petersburg and Moscow. If you’re interested in seeing them, they’re online here: Russia Flickr collection
That lady in the store looked seriously scary herself, not just the police. I would have been afraid she’d spank me or something if she came by to wake me up. I also loved your tea party pictures. Is it warm in Russia in September?
Great missions, Charlie! Keep up the good work! Thats awesome that you actually go to different places to do this. flashmobs are becoming quite popular in Russia. And yes, Dori, its cold there in september, haha.. i’m from Ekaterinburg, its further east, and they already have snow over there in November.
Those are a couple of really cool missions! Major bonus points for the cross-cultural cooperation. I would definitely be scared myself if I thought I might have to BS a Russian police officer.
Great job.
I’m so glad the police did not catch the filming.
We staged this prank in The Netherlands a couple of months ago! We went to IKEA Amsterdam with 40 “Shoqers” and fell asleep on their couches. Funny to see that our idea gets picked up! :)
We had legal issueas as well, I was busted shooting video from my hidden-camera bag, and security called the police… So we decided to abort the mission after 25 minutes and bail out before the police arrived.
Good one, Charlie! Cool to see that IE translates so well in another country & culture.
That looks like a ton of fun! I hope that you get the opportunity to do more Improv Everywhere events in other countries.
Za zdorovee!
Otlichno!
Wow, I would have loved to have been a part of this! I spent 6 months studying in Russia and ALWAYS wanted to plan an event, but the idea of being arbitrarily deported when I had college credit on the line didn’t seem like a great idea… I was always amazed, though, by how far a 100-ruble note or four could get a person when dealing with the Russia militsia :)
funnyyyyy. but u guys really didnt have to go that far away – u could’ve just went to any furniture store on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn – all russians owned – and it would be the same thing :)
You are officially my hero…well, you and Augusto Boal…but I’m starting to think you’re the same person.
Awesome! Soo cool that your passion was able to take you to Russia.. I am looking forward to being part of more missions here in NYC!!
Wow Russia is different. I feel like that wouldn’t have been such a big deal in Chicago. I think people just assume you’re causing a distraction for a friend to rob them or something. It’s great that Improv Everywhere is growing international. Looking forward to more missions in Chicago.
Not bad, but hopefully you guys will do something a bit more unique when you’re in a foreign country next time! Keep them coming!
Yikes, what a scary mission, but I’m glad you pulled it off!
Wish you could have gotten a video of the tea party, it looked less intimidating.
I agree with the above posters. That Russian Furniture woman would scare me too!
dude, brilliant. ?????!
Ahhh, that was gr8. I would not ever do someting like that in Russia. Evea dazzeling stunts, keep up the great work!
WTF? Every foreign idea is so spoiled in Russian adoptation? I’m really very sorry that of all +75 missions you decided to adapt this Furnure store visit. “No Shirts” was much more greater and provocative full of ambiguity.
I watched all IE missions on YouTube. Most of them are really useful for all participants. Humanity needs comedians. And comedians need mankind. Sometimes I saw flashmobs of other teams, but IE softly teaches people to become more free to get more self to care their soul, heart and mind.
Today’s watching IE missions inspired me for some new ideas.
Thanks for all, except “Furniture store mission”.
P.S. I think Anton Pavlovich is a good link to Russian history. Thanks.
Stupid americans
Stupid but harmless! It isn’t much to disrupt people’s routine for a day, they always have tomorrow, and the day after that, and the one after, to return to the exact same existence. At least they’ll have something different to remember.
hi
i really like this mission….
i wanna do this type of mission in my college…..
thanks
Let me see if i get this thing straight. A group of agents go somewhere and make a nuisance of themselves .. for what purpose? because it’s funny ? You people need to get a life !!
Friendly hooligans!
Help me understand. You went to a country where any civil disobedience
can land you in jail. You worked with artists, not actors. Acting out this prank helped free their artistic inhibitions or taught them to think ‘outside the box’. You had a language barrier. Your plan had to be simple enough for agents never exposed to Improv before to understand. Surmounting all of these obstacles and you still succeeded? I would call that genious not simplicity.
LOL the police couldn’t find out anything illegal happened… Awesome video!!!
your so great!!!!!
hope that i can join your team.
Any improv done in Russia where the police can’t find something wrong is an accomplishment…they can find a hundred things a person did wrong in just about anything…
It’s very sobering to see that not all of your missions work out so well. Still, the interviews and the detail help understand and learn about people. Thanks.
This should so be done in America!! Brillant
This I found to be quite mad. As you say, we are always happy to deal with our own police, but the moment we have to deal with another countries coppers it’s a different story.
Brave mission, I’m glad it was a success. scobaker@hotmail.com
Bravo!
Awesome! Glad you didn’t get arrested!
That lady in the store looked seriously scary herself, not just the police. I would have been afraid she’d spank me or something if she came by to wake me up. I also loved your tea party pictures. Is it warm in Russia in September?
Great missions, Charlie! Keep up the good work! Thats awesome that you actually go to different places to do this. flashmobs are becoming quite popular in Russia. And yes, Dori, its cold there in september, haha.. i’m from Ekaterinburg, its further east, and they already have snow over there in November.
Those are a couple of really cool missions! Major bonus points for the cross-cultural cooperation. I would definitely be scared myself if I thought I might have to BS a Russian police officer.
Great job.
I’m so glad the police did not catch the filming.
We staged this prank in The Netherlands a couple of months ago! We went to IKEA Amsterdam with 40 “Shoqers” and fell asleep on their couches. Funny to see that our idea gets picked up! :)
We had legal issueas as well, I was busted shooting video from my hidden-camera bag, and security called the police… So we decided to abort the mission after 25 minutes and bail out before the police arrived.
Video:
Full report (in Dutch, but with pictures!): http://www.shoqs.nl/shoq-2-ikea/
Flickr Photoset: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25343967@N05/sets/72157604394719838/detail/
Cheers,
~AltijdAndries – Shoqs (The Netherlands)
Good one, Charlie! Cool to see that IE translates so well in another country & culture.
That looks like a ton of fun! I hope that you get the opportunity to do more Improv Everywhere events in other countries.
Za zdorovee!
Otlichno!
Wow, I would have loved to have been a part of this! I spent 6 months studying in Russia and ALWAYS wanted to plan an event, but the idea of being arbitrarily deported when I had college credit on the line didn’t seem like a great idea… I was always amazed, though, by how far a 100-ruble note or four could get a person when dealing with the Russia militsia :)
funnyyyyy. but u guys really didnt have to go that far away – u could’ve just went to any furniture store on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn – all russians owned – and it would be the same thing :)
You are officially my hero…well, you and Augusto Boal…but I’m starting to think you’re the same person.
Awesome! Soo cool that your passion was able to take you to Russia.. I am looking forward to being part of more missions here in NYC!!
Wow Russia is different. I feel like that wouldn’t have been such a big deal in Chicago. I think people just assume you’re causing a distraction for a friend to rob them or something. It’s great that Improv Everywhere is growing international. Looking forward to more missions in Chicago.
Not bad, but hopefully you guys will do something a bit more unique when you’re in a foreign country next time! Keep them coming!
Yikes, what a scary mission, but I’m glad you pulled it off!
Wish you could have gotten a video of the tea party, it looked less intimidating.
I agree with the above posters. That Russian Furniture woman would scare me too!
dude, brilliant. ?????!
Ahhh, that was gr8. I would not ever do someting like that in Russia. Evea dazzeling stunts, keep up the great work!
WTF? Every foreign idea is so spoiled in Russian adoptation? I’m really very sorry that of all +75 missions you decided to adapt this Furnure store visit. “No Shirts” was much more greater and provocative full of ambiguity.
I watched all IE missions on YouTube. Most of them are really useful for all participants. Humanity needs comedians. And comedians need mankind. Sometimes I saw flashmobs of other teams, but IE softly teaches people to become more free to get more self to care their soul, heart and mind.
Today’s watching IE missions inspired me for some new ideas.
Thanks for all, except “Furniture store mission”.
P.S. I think Anton Pavlovich is a good link to Russian history. Thanks.
Stupid americans
Stupid but harmless! It isn’t much to disrupt people’s routine for a day, they always have tomorrow, and the day after that, and the one after, to return to the exact same existence. At least they’ll have something different to remember.
hi
i really like this mission….
i wanna do this type of mission in my college…..
thanks
Let me see if i get this thing straight. A group of agents go somewhere and make a nuisance of themselves .. for what purpose? because it’s funny ? You people need to get a life !!
Friendly hooligans!
Help me understand. You went to a country where any civil disobedience
can land you in jail. You worked with artists, not actors. Acting out this prank helped free their artistic inhibitions or taught them to think ‘outside the box’. You had a language barrier. Your plan had to be simple enough for agents never exposed to Improv before to understand. Surmounting all of these obstacles and you still succeeded? I would call that genious not simplicity.
LOL the police couldn’t find out anything illegal happened… Awesome video!!!
your so great!!!!!
hope that i can join your team.
Any improv done in Russia where the police can’t find something wrong is an accomplishment…they can find a hundred things a person did wrong in just about anything…
It’s very sobering to see that not all of your missions work out so well. Still, the interviews and the detail help understand and learn about people. Thanks.
This should so be done in America!! Brillant
This I found to be quite mad. As you say, we are always happy to deal with our own police, but the moment we have to deal with another countries coppers it’s a different story.
Brave mission, I’m glad it was a success.
scobaker@hotmail.com