Forms of Power in the Transnational Field of Art: Exploring 'Russian' actors and artistic sites beyond Russia's territorial borders

This dissertation analyses the role and power of art in international relations and world politics by examining a set of artistic sites. It shows how various forms of capital are being accumulated, converted and utilized by both state actors and non- state actors in and through the transnational field of art. These capital dynamics are seen as not only influencing, but also constituting international relations and world politics. Empirically, the research focuses on ‘Russian’ case-studies: the use of single quotation marks signals that these case studies are located beyond Russia’s territorial borders and illustrate transnational dynamics.

This research approaches international relations as inherently relational and heteronomous. The central theoretical and methodological instruments of the dissertation rely on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts, which encourage relational thinking and the analysis of relations that take shape not just within, but across social fields and scales. The concept of heteronomy captures the relations between fields and the transnationally unfolding, field-crossing and scale-exceeding capital accumulation and conversion dynamics. In addition to economic capital, various other forms of capital are also in play, such as cultural, social, diplomatic, celebrity and gender capital. In this research, scales imply socially produced spatial hierarchies – such as local, national, international and transnational scales, on and across which social fields operate.

The art field attracts a variety of actors from different fields and offers opportunities to accumulate and exchange capital through field heteronomy and improve the actors’ positions in a variety of social fields across scales, such as in the fields of business or politics, or grant them access to exclusive social circles. The concept of heteronomy is not a feature exclusive to the art field, but a characteristic of social fields more widely. It illustrates the multitude of actors, fields and forms of capital involved with the field of art, showing that art and international relations are entangled. Moreover, art plays a role in the ways how international relations are imagined and perceived. Heteronomy suggests that the field of art is not an isolated and apolitical entity, but it is intertwined with power dynamics occurring within and across national, international as well as transnational realms. The case studies in this dissertation – the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Colección del Museo Ruso in Malaga and the Wanderers exhibition in the Shanghai Museum – are examples of heteronomous sites that are intertwined with international relations. This dissertation analyses power dynamics grounded in these artistic sites and taking shape in and through various international and transnational domains, thus foregrounding the heteronomy of international relations.

The overarching research questions discussed in the publications which constitute the dissertation are: i) what kind of capital conversion do artistic sites enable? ii) how do different actors take positions in the field of art and utilise its mechanisms? iii) what role does art play in Russia’s foreign policy and in Russia’s position in international relations and world politics?

Publication I is a review article focusing on the site of an art biennial and analysing the world politics of biennialization through three perspectives of scale, politics and value production. The analysis shows that tensions considering the order of nation- states and its alternatives, cultural dominance and resistance, and various modes of value production thrive in biennials and have a productive nature. Publication II examines the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2011, 2013 and 2015 through the concept of heteronomy making it possible to capture multiple social fields, forms of capital and actors related to the Russian pavilion. Using the pavilion’s commissioner as an entry point of the analysis, the case study shows how Russian elite legitimized its positions through the transnational field of art. Publication III explores the State Russian Museum’s satellite museum in Malaga, Spain, by analysing its purpose and reception. The satellite museum was a result of interaction between actors from different fields, carrying a potential of museum diplomacy, execution of symbolic power as well as providing valuable networking and capital conversion opportunities for Russian and Spanish elites. Publication IV analyses the role of the Wanderers art exhibition, brought from the State Tretyakov Gallery to the Shanghai Museum, in Russia’s status-seeking pursuits in world politics by applying the concept of hegemonic meta-capital. The exhibition became a heteronomous site of capital accumulation and conversion for state actors and non-state actors, engaging a variety of fields, forms of capital and actors, which was also fostered by the Wanderers’ split habitus.

The research data were collected by applying a data triangulation method and utilising different types of data: research interviews in Russian, English and Finnish, participant observation and fieldwork in Russia, Italy, Spain and China as well as written data such as academic publications, Russian state-level documents and media material in Russian, English and Spanish. A plurality of research data makes it possible to examine different elements that constitute a whole, highlighting the heteronomous essence of the research setting with the multitude of actors, fields and scales involved.

While focusing on ‘Russian’ actors in the three case studies, the research shows how art constitutes power mechanisms that transcend national fields, move across different scales and inhabit international and transnational realms. The analysis of the art field illuminates the dynamics and changes in Russia as well as Russia’s changing position in world politics: the research reveals how art and transnational scale have been employed for kleptocratic purposes and how Russian state has utilised art as part of its foreign policy toolkit and status-seeking efforts. The research also shows that due to the relational nature of art, art cannot be fully instrumentalized, but opportunities for dissent and resistance persist.