Artist's electrocution poll

A Russian artist is giving the public the chance to electrocute him.

Oleg Mavromatti is planning to strap himself into an electric chair and let voters decided if he should live or die, by voting online.

Votes in favour of sending the artist to the grave will trigger five different shock levels, leading up to the fatal dose, with the first shock - a 600,000 volt burst, lasting half a second - only needing 100 votes. The second benchmark is 1,000 votes for a 1.5 second shock.

Oleg - who calls his stunt piece 'Ally/Foe' is casual about the potential end of his life - saying: "I just want to conduct an opinion poll, just like any normal sociological study does. That's all."

Oleg is no stranger to controversy, having fled from Russia after being charged with inciting racial hatred for an earlier work in which he was 'crucified'.