ART BAZAAR: A NEW "RESIDENCY" FOR ARTISTS AT THE TIME OF COVID-19

Abstract

This study focuses on Kazakhstani art. It aims to comment particularly on the impact COVID 19 had on the artistic community, whose chance to earn income decreased with the introduction of countrywide lockdown due to global pandemic. The emergence of an anti-crisis project Art Bazaar in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan appeared as a response to the pandemic and a platform to help not only Kyrgyzstan but Central Asian artists. Notably, Kazakhstani participants constitute a majority of the participants in this initiative. I argue that Art Bazaar's online presence allowed artists to continue earning income and enabled customers to acquire art pieces. Art pieces in turn serve as the third animated body, allowing artists to connect with others, while COVID 19 serves as the backdrop and, at the same time, a subject for artists to convey political and social messages. This study also offers an insight on how members' bonds expanded beyond a feeling of connection to a Facebook group, and they formed unions to interact, encourage, and network