The Crime & Crime video-performances were born out of the encounter between Agathe Simon and Russian dropout, Igor K., in 2013 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. With the 150^th anniversary of Crime & Punishment approaching, Agathe and Igor have carried out several performances in the district of Dostoevsky’s novel. This performance is part of the Crime & Crime multimedia cycle, created as a tribute to the famous novel by the Russian author.

Beyond a mere tribute, this project re-politicizes Crime & Punishment in the context of contemporary Russia. The performance re-plays in real time the fifteen minutes leading up to the pawnbroker’s murder. Agathe Simon followed the Russian dropout, Igor K., (a fictional character) during his wanderings in the Hay Square district, in St. Petersburg, holding an ax. The performance was risky and challenging for Igor K.

“He walked along quietly and sedately, without hurry, to avoid awakening suspicion. He scarcely looked at the passers-by, tried to escape looking at their faces at all, and to be as little noticeable as possible.” Crime & Punishment

Agathe Simon and Igor K. have presented two versions of the performance in the district of Crime & Punishment, which has undergone no major changes since 1860:
1. Igor K. takes exactly the same path as Raskolnokov on his way to kill the pawnbroker, from his garret 19 (Grazhdanskaya Street) to Aliona Ivanovna’s flat (15 street Srednaya Podyacheskaya),
2. Igor K. walks through the Hay Square (currently Sennaya Square), which has great symbolic importance in the novel.