He’s attracted global media attention and criticism after vowing to destroy some of the world’s most precious artwork if Julian Assange dies in prison.
But Andrei Molodkin, the Russian dissident artist, has said he does not believe the works by Picasso, Rembrandt, Andy Warhol and others, which he will lock away in a safe with a corrosive substance this Friday, will actually be destroyed.
“I’m not trying to destroy art, and I don’t believe I will have to,” Molodkin told the Guardian, adding that the project, called Dead Man’s Switch, was itself a collaborative artwork like any sculpture or portrait.
“It’s not activism. I believe that Assange will be free and all the collectors and artists who have donated their work did so because they believe he will not die in prison.”
Instead, the artist added, he is trying to spark a discussion over why “destroying the life of people means nothing but destroying art is a huge taboo in the world”.
Molodkin said he has gathered 16 works of art, which he estimates are collectively worth more than $45m. The works will be locked into a 29-tonne, 13ft by 9ft Swiss safe at Molodkin’s studio in the south of France. They will only be returned to their owners if Assange is released as a free man.
“When we have so much violence and war, like in Ukraine, Gaza, and everywhere, we need freedom of speech and freedom of expression for people to understand what’s happening,” the artist said.
“One of the most important examples is Julian Assange. He’s in prison just for the [material he published]. He changed the history of journalism and information. He changed the world. Personally for me, it was a world before him and a world after.”
The 57-year-old artist said he believes the longer Assange, who is being held in Belmarsh prison and is facing extradition to the US, stays in jail “and the more they repress him, the less freedom of speech or freedom of expressions we have in the world”. And without these freedoms, “there’s no future for the artist”.
He explained that the artwork will be put into plywood crates alongside the “dead man’s switch” – a pneumatic pump connecting two barrels, one with acid powder and the other with an accelerator that could cause a chemical reaction strong enough to turn the safe’s contents to debris within two hours.
Each day will begin a 24-hour countdown that is only reset when someone close to Assange confirms his wellbeing.
Molodkin, who works with material including human blood, crude oil, steel and ballpoint pen, said he spent half a year trying to persuade collectors and artists to donate works to the new project. “I told them it’s a collective artwork, we are all participating in it. We are trying to open a dialogue with the White House.
“It’s much more important now to discuss and communicate in the cultural sphere, I don’t trust any politicians any more. They’re corrupt. I believe solutions can only be found on the cultural platform now. Because people can be a part of it.”
Also included are works by artists such as Jasper Johns, Jannis Kounellis, Robert Rauschenberg, Jake Chapman, Andres Serrano, Santiago Sierra, Sarah Lucas, and Molodkin himself.
Assange has been jailed on remand in Belmarsh for almost five years. On 20 and 21 February, he will face a court hearing on what may be his final bid to appeal against the US order to extradite him.
The Dead Man’s Switch project is backed by Assange’s wife, Stella, who has cited a report that CIA officials under Donald Trump requested “options” for killing the WikiLeaks founder. She told the New Yorker: “[Molodkin’s project] is like a protective step … it’s a kind of human shield, but in the form of art. An art shield.”
Giampaolo Abbondio, who owns an art gallery in Milan, told Sky News that he provided a Picasso artwork because “it’s more relevant for the world to have one Assange than an extra Picasso”.
Sierra, a Spanish artist, said “people like Assange are those that Bertolt Brecht spoke about, those who fight all their lives, those who are essential”.
