Pussy Riot, the Russian punk trio jailed for campaigning against Vladimir Putin, have been named in a list of the world’s most important contemporary art figures.
The three women – Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova – are included in the ArtReview’s Power 100 list for the first time.
They made headlines earlier this year when they were jailed for staging an anti-Kremlin protest in Moscow’s main cathedral.
Art Review said the band earned their place alongside the likes of artist Ai Weiwei, Damien Hirst and Gerhard Richter because “art has more than ever become a space for protest”.
The list is topped by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, the first woman to make number one in the annual survey and described by ArtReview as “a significant taste-maker”.
She may not be a household name, but the Italian-American curator of Germany’s Documenta 13 exhibition was chosen because “her engagement of ideas and practices from outside the sphere of contemporary art are particularly influential, prompting discussions across the art world”, according to the magazine.
Larry Gagosian, the US art dealer and owner of a string of galleries around the world, was second in the list.
Ai Weiwei, the Chinese dissident artist who topped the list last year, is at number three.
The highest ranked British figure in the list is Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, who is in eighth place.
Gerhard Richter is the highest placed artist. Earlier this week, Eric Clapton sold a Richter abstract painting for £21.3 million at Sotheby’s – a new record for a living artist.
The list is a mixture of dealers, artists, curators and super-rich buyers. Damien Hirst is 41st after his record-breaking Tate Modern show this year.
The highest climber is Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who has risen from number 90 last year to number 11 as head of the Qatar Museums Authority.
Pussy Riot are at number 57, ahead of the artists Jeff Koons, Steve McQueen, Takashi Murakami and Tino Sehgal.
ArtReview said: “Art has more than ever become a space for protest, with artists, curators and organisations taking up the cause of the Occupy movements, Pussy Riot or the censorship issues raised by last year’s number one, Ai Weiwei.
“Art is seen increasingly as a space of social and political commentary.”
Power 100
1. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
2. Larry Gagosian
3. Ai Weiwei
4. Iwan Wirth
5. David Zwirner
6. Gerhard Richter
7. Beatrix Ruf
8. Nicholas Serota
9. Glenn D. Lowry
10. Hans Ulrich Obrist & Julia Peyton-Jones
11. Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani
12. Anton Vidokle, Julieta Aranda & Brian Kuan Wood
13. Cindy Sherman
14. Alain Seban & Alfred Pacquement
15. Adam D. Weinberg
16. Annette Schönholzer, Marc Spiegler & Magnus Renfrew
17. Marc Glimcher
18. Marian Goodman
19. Massimiliano Gioni
20. Jay Jopling
21. François Pinault
22. Klaus Biesenbach
23. Matthew Slotover & Amanda Sharp
24. Barbara Gladstone
25. RoseLee Goldberg
26. Eli & Edythe Broad
27. Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
28. Bernard Arnault
29. Nicholas Logsdail
30. Liam Gillick
31. Ann Philbin
32. Victor Pinchuk
33. Maja Hoffmann
34. Tim Blum & Jeff Poe
35. Marina Abramović
36. Dakis Joannou
37. Udo Kittelmann
38. Monika Sprüth & Philomene Magers
39. Matthew Marks
40. Gavin Brown
41. Damien Hirst
42. Rosemarie Trockel
43. Wolfgang Tillmans
44. Agnes Gund
45. Chus Martínez
46. Isa Genzken
47. Iwona Blazwick
48. Anne Pasternak
49. Sadie Coles
50. Daniel Buchholz
51. Toby Webster
52. Adam Szymczyk
53. James Lingwood & Michael Morris
54. William Wells & Yasser Gerab
55. Michael Ringier
56. Theaster Gates
57. Pussy Riot
58. Jeff Koons
59. Steve McQueen
60. Takashi Murakami
61. Boris Groys
62. Emmanuel Perrotin
63. Richard Chang
64. Tim Neuger & Burkhard Riemschneider
65. Slavoj Žižek
66. Thaddaeus Ropac
67. Chang Tsong-zung
68. Elena Filipovic
69. Tino Sehgal
70. Christian Boros & Karen Lohmann
71. Luisa Strina
72. Claire Hsu
73. José Kuri & Mónica Manzutto
74. Brett Gorvy & Amy Cappellazzo
75. Tobias Meyer & Cheyenne Westphal
76. Budi Tek
77. Walid Raad
78. Cuauhtémoc Medina
79. Massimo De Carlo
80. Bernardo Paz
81. Christine Tohme
82. Mario Cristiani, Lorenzo Fiaschi & Maurizio Rigillo
83. John Baldessari
84. Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi
85. Dasha Zhukova
86. Vasif Kortun
87. Anita & Poju Zabludowicz
88. Candida Gertler
89. Gisela Capitain
90. Carol Greene
91. Franco Noero & Pierpaolo Falone
92. Jacques Rancière
93. Miuccia Prada
94. Maureen Paley
95. Don, Mera, Jason & Jennifer Rubell
96. Paul Chan
97. Victoria Miro
98. Adriano Pedrosa
99. Johann König
100. Gregor Podnar
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