Article: Art or Pornography?; Moscow Theater Director Tests Limits of Russia's New Freedom of Creativity

Kiril Ganin describes himself, not a little proudly, as a "theatrical pervert." To his friends and supporters, who include some prominent Russian theater directors, he is an erotic artist of some promise.

The Russian government takes a dimmer view. Ganin, the federal prosecutor says, is a pornographer who belongs in prison.

Ganin makes an unlikely controversial figure, especially one who now stands in the midst of a heated debate over art, pornography, the law and new public morals in Russia.

Scraggly-haired, sloppily dressed and prone to sudden bouts of the giggles, usually provoked by his own asides, Ganin, 28, was trained as an architect. For his final project he designed a large Orthodox ...

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