Brener's performances of note include defecating in front of a painting by
Vincent van Gogh at the Museum of Fine Arts in
Moscow, having sex in front of the
Monument to Alexander Pushkin (Rostov-on-Don), and
vandalizing art works by other artists. He was jailed in 1997 for painting a green dollar sign on
Kazimir Malevich's painting
Suprematisme. In the court case Brener said in his defense: :
The cross is a symbol of suffering, the dollar sign a symbol of trade and merchandise. On humanitarian grounds are the ideas of Jesus Christ of higher significance than those of the money. What I did was not against the painting. I view my act as a dialogue with Malevich. Giancarlo Politi, the editor of
Flash Art, resolutely defended Brener from the pages of his magazine, stirring controversy and campaigning for his acquittal. Brener was sentenced to five months in prison, where he wrote the essay
Obossani Pistolet. In the text he explains his beliefs and summarizes his actions. In 2000 Brener disrupted the press conference of Manifesta 3 in
Ljubljana by spraying slogans on the presentation screen and handing out leaflets stating: "Demolish neo-liberalist multicultural art system now!" Bodyguards came and dragged Brener out of the hall. He was later arrested by Slovenian secret police in the streets. In 2003 Brener vandalized the work of Swiss-Italian artist Gianni Motti during the opening of Motti's exhibition "Turnover" at Artra Gallery in
Milan. Brener co-wrote a number of books together with Austrian artist and critic
Barbara Schurz, including
Bukaka spat Here,
Tattoos auf Gefängnissen,
Anti Technologies of Resistance and
The Art of Destruction. Brener is mentioned in passing in
Stewart Home's 2007 novel
Memphis Underground. An artwork by the art collective
IOCOSE is dedicated to Brener. ==Books==