From Cultural to Economic Capital: USSR and After

"From Cultural to Economic Capital" will examine the fundamental transformation in the post-Soviet art and collectors` market since the reforms initiated by Gorbachev - from the official recognition of private collecting to the emergence of market structures, from the attempts to rescue (proscribed) art to the recognition of art as a commodity and capital investment. From the Tate 1980s on, these changes were reflected in the collectors` community: Ever since private art collecting was outlawed by Lenin, it was the domain of the intelligentsia. They acquired art not in line with the rigid official aesthetic norms, that is, modern, avant-garde art, icons, and unofficial art. They formed collections mostly in secret wich much cultural know-how and little economic capital. As private property was rehabilitated under Gorbachev, concessions were made to the once criminalized subculture of collectors: Their immense contribution to Soviet eulture was recognized, their donations which until then had been kept in storage were officially acknowledged and made publicly accessible. With the ferst international auction organized by Sotheby`s in 1988, and even more so after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, art came to be seen increasingly as a commercial commodity. Financial capital, during the Soviet era of minor relevance, became an essential prerequisite for any art patronage. Art and antiques are now seen as an ideal investment by many of the privatised banks and big business. Corporate patronage replaces private collectors: Enterprises start their own collections, act as sponsors and patrons, launch galleries and museums. The "New Russians" conquer territory once reserved to the nobility and the bourgeoisie which is well suited to pursue commercial and legitimizing interests alike. The study will be based an archival and published material from the major art centres of the former USSR, and, methodologically, it will explore new terrain. The available literature is largely in Russian and English, mainly descriptive and focuses an individual collectors and collections. By contrast, this project will be a thorough analysis based an approaches from cultural studies, memory research, and cultural sociology primarily developed since the mid-1990s; it will also include approaches which establish a connection between private property and collecting. None of the above mentioned approaches have been applied in the postSoviet context. Geographically, the project will move far beyond the narrow focus an Moscow and St. Petersburg found in almost all studies. The developments in the two Russian cities will be supplemented by material from the major centres in the Baltic countries, the Ukraine, Caucasus, and Central Asia.