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Welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service.

Today we're telling you the story of a Russian performance artist,

who in 1994 put on a display in the hope of highlighting to the public

how they had all lost the ability to relate to each other since the fall of the USSR.

He chose to do this in the nude,

whilst pretending to be a guard dog and attacking passes by.

In 2016, Deena Newman spoke to the artist about his thinking behind this.

It's a late November evening in central Moscow,

and the first snow is melting underfoot while pedestrians

hurry through the slush to the nearest metro station.

Cars are slowly crawling through congested narrow streets.

Suddenly, a naked man appears in the street on all fours.

He's on a leash, barking and furiously jumping around.

This was Aliya Kulik with his performance entitled The Mad Dog.

About two to three hundred journalists and art critics have gathered

for their occasion, and they scream and applaud every time the artist attacks the audience

or jumps on passing cars.

I felt as if I was in a jungle.

I saw nothing but flashing lights and heard screams everywhere.

...