Tactics and Strategies: A Response of Contemporary Art Institutions in Russia to Restrictive Measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The article presents the results of a study on contemporary art institutions in Russia. The subject of the research is the response of these institutions to the restrictive measures imposed in March–October 2020 in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The study suggests a sociological interpretation of the changes that have taken place in the work of the organizations in question. While the negative impact of the pandemic on cultural institutions is rather widely researched in the professional context and does not require an outsider’s perspective, this study focuses on the consequences which are viewed as unexpected even by practitioners themselves and which practitioners characterize as positive. These consequences are approached as new forms of sociality interpreted within the framework of Michel Foucault's theory of power and Michel de Certeau’s concepts of tactics and strategies.