Occupation – prankster
17 November 2024
Vladislav Bokhan has taken on many identities, though only some are real: lawmaker, United Russia party candidate, Putin confidant, war hero, teacher, dissident, artist, but above all, he's a master prankster. Now living in Poland, the Belarusian expat Vladislav Bokhan has once again made Russian society the subject of his art. This time, he tricked schools in Russia's Voronezh region to hold events making "Helmet of the Fatherland" tinfoil hats decorated with the Russian flag.
Believing they were following official orders, teachers even submitted photos and videos of themselves wearing the helmets. In one video, a teacher praised the helmet's supposed benefits, quoting a fake directive Bokhan had sent while posing as a lawmaker: "Let the helmet become a means of protection against foreign enemies of our wonderful country"—like radiation from NATO satellites (mentioned in the fake directive).
As funny as that sounds, the prank reached seven schools, exposing a disturbing willingness within Russian society to comply with absurd state orders. That, however, is exactly Bokhan's goal. His stunts draw inspiration from Umberto Eco's essay Ur-Fascism, which describes 14 traits of fascist regimes.
For instance, to demonstrate that "any autocracy begins with a cult of personality", Bokhan briefly became a heroic soldier serving in Ukraine and sent his portrait to several schools, asking them to orchestrate marches in his honour. In another prank, titled "Know your enemy's face", he convinced schools to send birthday greetings to president Vladimir Putin, using quotes and a photo of Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist leader demonised by the Kremlin.
 | Anna Sas Bokhan's stunts exceed mere mockery or a critique of Russia's regime. For him, Russia's self-proclaimed role as a "denazifier" country is deeply ironic. For example, his "cleanup day" prank in the Moscow region had teachers marching with Nazi slogans like "Work sets you free" and "One people, one nation, one ruler", chillingly mimicking Kremlin authoritarian practices it professes to oppose. These pranks reveal a disturbing readiness among Russian institutions to obey any order – no matter how ludicrous – when wrapped in the trappings of authority. Bokhan says his project aims to challenge the structures that enable autocracy and explain how nations let elected leaders become dictators. His takeaway? Bokhan argued that this blind obedience comes from a culture of fear rather than genuine ideological belief. |
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