Post-Soviet Art Museums in the Era of Globalization

The project "Post-Soviet Art Museums in the Era of Globalization" examines the funda-mental, varying and complex transformation art institutions in the former USSR have been exposed to ever since the demise of the Communist regime. Whereas their counterparts in the West since the nineties have been confronted with the challenges posed by the new economic and political demands, former Soviet museums were burdened by an almost Herculean task: After 1990/91, due to the abrupt end of Communist cultural policy, they were faced with stifling financial problems, new demands of an abruptly emerging Capitalist market economy and the urgent need to restructure as institutions. Yet, the dismal financial condition was accompanied by an unprecedented amount of intellectual-artistic freedom as well as by open borders, unlimited access to hitherto unavailable (or ta-booed) information, and direct contact with the Western art world. With traditional values and ideological guidelines abandoned, new contexts, new territories, and new orders were explored. Museums proved receptive to global trends. The new era transformed directors into tireless lobbyists and fundraisers; they were pursuing (inter) national donors and partnerships. They were aided by international organizations (EU, World Bank, UNESCO), by individual sponsors and companies (IBM, Soros, Interros) and foreign governments. They used this backing to restructure their institutions, to reshape the collections displayed (in line with the altered art history canon and with their `national` and/or imperial past), to expand and modernize facilities and to exchange art and ideas with the international community. By the turn of the millennium post-Soviet museums had been transformed fundamentally - some of them into global players (e. g. Greater Hermitage). The rapid growth in museums and additions to existing institutions as well as the general transfor-mation process have so far been reviewed and discussed by international research only marginally. The project will conquer new terrain - both thematically and methodologically. It relies on ambitious international research focuses (IFK, Vienna; ZKM, Karlsruhe) and on an international (conference) team. Geographically, the project will cover major Baltic and Russian centres, thus creating a comparative framework. It will be based on archival and published material from art centres of the former USSR. The existing literature, mostly in Russian, the Baltic languages, and partly in English, is mainly descriptive and concentrates on the most important cases. By contrast, this project aspires to a thorough analysis based on approaches from cultural and museums studies, memory research, and cultural sociology. Of further relevance will be theoretical approaches on globalization.

The project "Post-Soviet Art Museums in the Era of Globalization" examines the fundamental, varying and complex transformation art institutions in the former USSR have been exposed to ever since the demise of the Communist regime. Whereas their counterparts in the West since the nineties have been confronted with the challenges posed by the new economic and political demands, former Soviet museums were burdened by an almost Herculean task: After 1990/91, due to the abrupt end of Communist cultural policy, they were faced with stifling financial problems, new demands of an abruptly emerging Capitalist market economy and the urgent need to restructure as institutions. Yet, the dismal financial condition was accompanied by an unprecedented amount of intellectual-artistic freedom as well as by open borders, unlimited access to hitherto unavailable (or tabooed) information, and direct contact with the Western art world. With traditional values and ideological guidelines abandoned, new contexts, new territories, and new orders were explored. Museums proved receptive to global trends. The new era transformed directors into tireless lobbyists and fundraisers; they were pursuing (inter) national donors and partnerships. They were aided by international organizations (EU, World Bank, UNESCO), by individual sponsors and companies (IBM, Soros, Interros) and foreign governments. They used this backing to restructure their institutions, to reshape the collections displayed (in line with the altered art history canon and with their "national" and/or imperial past), to expand and modernize facilities and to exchange art and ideas with the international community. By the turn of the millennium post-Soviet museums had been transformed fundamentally - some of them into global players (e. g. Greater Hermitage). The rapid growth in museums and additions to existing institutions as well as the general transformation process have so far been reviewed and discussed by international research only marginally. The project will conquer new terrain - both thematically and methodologically. It relies on ambitious international research focuses (IFK, Vienna; ZKM, Karlsruhe) and on an international (conference) team. Geographically, the project will cover major Baltic and Russian centres, thus creating a comparative framework. It will be based on archival and published material from art centres of the former USSR. The existing literature, mostly in Russian, the Baltic languages, and partly in English, is mainly descriptive and concentrates on the most important cases. By contrast, this project aspires to a thorough analysis based on approaches from cultural and museums studies, memory research, and cultural sociology. Of further relevance will be theoretical approaches on globalization.