The other day I received an email that my email provider considered to be junk mail because the subject line read “Naughty Russia”. I know what you’re thinking. But this time it wasn’t a promo from YouPorn or Xvideos. The email was from a Swedish guy, Isak Landaboure, who together with a couple of friends has started a crowd-funded charity campaign to support the Russian LGBT Network. The project is a series of old-school stereogram posters (those weird 3D-images that adults give to children when they need them to chill out for a second). However, Isak’s prints aren’t of the classic kind. Instead of usual nature mash-ups, the Naughty Russia posters are composed of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s face and various images of gay, lesbian and transgender porn. I guess you see why I had to give Isak a call.
VICE: Hi Isak! Tell me about this project.
Isak Landaboure: I’ve done similar stuff in the past. And I think it’s fun to do stuff online and in print, and I guess it’s about doing stuff for a good cause. Last spring I made a site called Anonym Nätkärlek (Anonymous Love Online) together with some friends and this is similar to that.
But why this?
I got pissed off and annoyed about the situation in Russia. I was looking in an old book about dinosaurs with stereograms and was like, “I should do something with this”. So I wanted to make stereograms in a different way and add gay porn into them instead of the usual stuff. So it’s everything from guys having sex, girls having sex to transgender people having sex. And I thought it was the funniest thing ever because it’s great if people have gay sex in Putin’s face.
Gotcha. Has the porn imagery caused any type of negative reactions so far?
I think most reactions have been pretty good. But a few people—as per usual—have expressed some negative opinions and think that we don’t have anything to do with what’s going on in Russia. But I guess the only one really complaining is the guy who helped me out with the 3D-design.
Why?
Because I had to send him a bunch of gay porn during his working hours.
Haha.
I want different positions and stuff so I’ve sent him screengrabs from pornos and I think that has kind of stressed him out. But other than that it’s all gone pretty well. We’re just about to collaborate with a guy who calls himself House of Wallenberg. He’s released a lot of disco pop music at events such as the [Swedish] gay pride. He’s made his own poster for us, which is fun. We haven’t got a lot of money so far but a little bit of attention, which is good. My dad always told me that, “if you piss some people off, you’ve won”.
So have you shipped any posters to Russia?
We actually have one or two orders from Russia. But we haven’t shipped any of them yet because we want as many orders as possible before printing them to make the printing as cheap as possible. But the real point isn’t to send out the posters really. It’s more a matter of showing people that it’s possible to do something if you want to.
Will you make sure Putin gets a poster?
I would love for that to happen. It makes sense that he would have one. I’d love to see his face when he doesn’t understand what’s going on in the poster and then realises that two people have sex in 3D.
I read that you will end the campaign on the 7th of February when the Olympic games in Sochi begin.
It feels like a good end to finish it all before all that begin. It’s not up to me to add to it during the games. It’s a matter for the people who are there to say what they think instead. Although I think that everyone should say what’s on his or her mind, I don’t think that it’s up to this campaign to remind them of that. It’s a symbolic matter to end it this way.
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You can support the Russian LGBT Network and buy your own poster here.
