Cooperation in the Art Gallery Industry in the Context of COVID-19 Crisis

This paper studies the state of Russian art gallery industry during the COVID-19 crisis period. The principal aim is to examine the level of institutionalization of the Russian art market by focusing on the use of cooperation strategy by the organizations in the art sphere as a way of reducing the effects of the crisis. The first section establishes the conceptual and theoretical framework of the study and looks into the institutional practices and cooperative behavior in the art market. In the second section, the analysis of the art gallery industry is conducted. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with gallerists and artists as well as the external audience. The paper ends by outlining the current state of the Russian art market institutionalization and summarizing the main cooperation models that are being implemented in it, as well as discussing the challenges and opportunities for the Russian art galleries with regard to market features and state.