Russian art institutions and elite actors on the transnational field of art: the power of border-crossing position-takings

Keywords: Art institutions, art museums, museum diplomacy, power, field of power, field of art
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 65

Abstract

I aim to conceptualize the transnational field of art and its relation to the field of power, focusing on Russian case studies. I am curious to study how Russian elite actors utilize art institutions and thus the field of art for their position-takings, and how art plays a role in world politics. Taking actions on the field of art and utilizing it can bring personal benefits, carry diplomatic effects, and even contribute to wider hegemonic shifts in world politics. I argue that the transnational field of art is closely connected to state power and the wider field of power as it offers mechanisms for symbolic power to operate.
I discuss this through the examples of international, border-crossing art institutions such as satellite museums and Venice Biennale, focusing in this paper on art museums. Museums are spaces of power and power is reproduced in museums. Museums are central elements in nation building, supporting national narratives, and taking them abroad can extend this effect on foreign audiences. The practice of sending national art abroad by establishing satellite museums and organizing circulating art exhibitions engages different actors from a variety of social fields and geographies, producing power effects of different kind. Furthermore, art museums perform a role in both national and international elites’ power plays. In this paper, I'm curious to discuss how power dynamics, tied to national art museums and their practices, function in the international context when national art is sent and exhibited abroad.