Sergey Kuryokhin (Russian: Сергей Анатольевич Курёхин) (June 16, 1954, Murmansk - July 9, 1996, St. Petersburg) was a Soviet and Russian avant-garde artist, film actor, film composer, pianist, music director, and writer based in St. Petersburg, Russia. Kuryokhin began his acting career as a piano and keyboard player with a school band in Leningrad. After playing with professional jazz-bands as well as popular rock musicians, Kuryokhin went through several stages in his career, and eventually became one of the most recognisable names and faces in Russia during the 1980s and 1990s. At the end of his short life, he emerged as an avant-garde film composer, improvisor, performance artist and film actor. Outside Russia he is primarily known as a jazz and experimental musician, through his works released since 1981 on UK's Leo Records, as well as his concert tours with Ensemble Поп-механика and his happening show also titled Pop Mekhanika. He also made a significant contribution to several albums of the famous Russian rock band Аквариум. Kuryokhin's memorable film works include starring in (and composing music for) Two Captains II (Два капитана II) a comedic pseudo-documentary about World War I; a soundtrack to the neo-noir Russian horror movie "The Designer" (Russian: Господин Оформитель), and the lead role of the combative nerd taking on the local mob, in "Lokh pobeditel vody" ("Dude Who Defeated Water"). Kuryokhin shot to fame after creating one of the first popular media viruses in the Russian media. It was one of his semi-improvised acts of performance art, broadcast live on the Russian TV in May 1991. As a guest on a popular TV talk show "Fifth Wheel", Kuryokhin provided a "proof" that Lenin was a mushroom. During the 1990s Sergei Kuryokhin was a board member of the St. Petersburg City Council for Culture and Tourism. Shortly before his death, Kuryokhin entered the National Bolshevik Party of Eduard Limonov. He died of a rare heart condition, cardiac sarcoma, in 1996, and was laid to rest in the Komarovo Cemetery, near the tomb of Anna Akhmatova. Saint-Petersburg Annual International Music Festival SKIF (Sergey Kuriokhin International Festival) is named after him.