The purpose of the article is to investigate the current issue of changes in activities in the urban spaces of Western Ukraine during lockdown (March–June 2020) and adaptive quarantine (2020–2021) and show the importance of popular culture as a constant that reflects the collective notion of space, updates the imaginary topography, affects the performatisation of the cities and formats of artistic practices. Research methodology. R. Barthes’ methods of semiotic analysis are used, combining structuralism with semiotics, according to which urban spaces are considered as a discourse. The method of site research was applied, which allowed collecting relevant texts concentrated in the spaces of cities where a specific cultural image of the coronavirus time has been recorded. The scientific novelty consists in the determination of the role of popular culture as a vital factor of new sociocultural contents in a crunch period. Conclusions. The article emphasises that the rationalism of anthropological space has been transformed fundamentally during the pandemic and changed the vector of interdependence between the subject, space and place, where the “I” is localised in a new space with the content of the last place, having suffered the destruction of connections due to the absence of “presence”. It is proved that the lack of direct communication with the audience contributed to the spread and use of synthetic art practices that combine postmodern practices with global digitalisation, but this does not mean their novelty. Based on the analysed practices, it is proved that the differences lie in sociocultural characteristics, and popular culture was the first to make alternative adjustments to the changing spaces. Art circles and official bodies oriented on the mass audience have used popular symbols of quarantine realities. Therefore, popular culture in the crunch becomes a source of ideas in the promotion of sociocultural meanings.