Abstract: The article presents a reconstruction and analysis of Salman Rushdie's famous book "The Florentine Enchantress". It is not very clear why she is so named, there are more significant figures in the novel, for example, Emperor Akbar. The question is raised about the integrity of artistic reality and the peculiarities of readers' understanding of the novel. In connection with this statement, the author recalls his distinction between two ways of constructing a modern work of art: in the first, the artist recreates the world opposed to him (including in some cases himself, but as alienated), in the second, he creates a reality reflecting the peculiarities of his own consciousness (this approach is called "private realism"). It is proposed to carry out a reconstruction that allows you to understand the work of art in terms of how it is constructed, what its author wanted to say, whether it is possible to reconstruct what he did, whether he succeeded in the idea, what his work was, etc. The implementation of this program results in an analysis of Rushdie's personality characteristics, as well as a description of the main tasks that he solves (reviving the story, entertaining readers, expressing one's own beliefs). Rushdie creates characters who live in two different realities ‒ historical and modern, as a result, history is partially distorted, and the characters acquire contradictory features. The techniques by which the artistic reality of the novel is created are analyzed in detail. The first technique is the identification of historical subjects with non‒historical ones, the second is the connection of storylines necessary for the author, the third is a technique widely used by Rushdie, not only to connect different lines and realities, but also for his other two purposes (entertaining readers and expressing his own thoughts) ‒ it's magic and fantasy. The question is considered why many readers do not understand the "Florentine Enchantress" well. There are two reasons for this. One is related to the very attitude of understanding: readers start reading Rushdie's works, believing that they are looking at an ordinary novel, but in fact we are talking about the genre of private realism. The second reason lies in the unpreparedness of readers to work with such complex material, which involves recreating a complete work and reality based on the images, storylines, themes and other expressive means offered by the author.

Keywords: fiction, fantasy, fairy tale, plot, reconstruction, artistic reality, composition, misunderstanding, understanding, history

Abstract: The subject of this article is subjects on the military theme in the paintings of European artists of the first half of the twentieth century.The object of the study is the stylistic and artistic features of painting by British military artists and painters of totalitarian states of the first half of the twentieth century. For the first time in domestic practice, the author offers to consider the unique phenomenon of British military painting of the First World War. She compares Italian aerofuturism, a style adopted by the fascist regime during the Second World War, which is close to her in spirit and connected with her modernist roots. The research was based on the provisions of the domestic author Igor Golomstock, who took the principle of the megamachine of the American historian and philosopher Lewis Mumford as a criterion for determining totalitarian art. The main conclusions of this study are the confirmation of the effectiveness of the Mumford formula in determining the criteria for the belonging of paintings to totalitarian art. At the same time, the considered example of English military painting, created in a democratic state, but bearing obvious features of totalitarian art, raises the question of the unambiguity of the correlation of the latter with the authoritarian form of government. The novelty of this work is the very possibility of familiarizing the domestic reader with the most interesting artistic and spiritual phenomenon - English military painting, closely related to Vorticism, the national trend of modernism, also insufficiently familiar to our public In addition, a wide range of issues related to the art history problem of identifying criteria for totalitarian art is considered

Keywords: Christopher Nevinson, fascism, Aeropittura, totalitarian art, futurism, vorticism, english military painting, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Wyndham Lewis, World War I

Abstract: The object of the research is the political caricatures of the famous Chinese artist Badiucao (巴丢草). The authors used content analysis of a wide range of visual sources, primarily the artist's personal website, the first publications of caricatures on the Twitter, as well as comparative analysis to reveal the artistic features of the works. The main attention was paid to the biography of the artist as it defines his style and the way he depicts political events or politicians. The caricatures were analyzed in accordance to their main characteristics, formal stylistic qualities, iconographic features and thus their symbolic meaning were identified. It is important that there are a large number of publications abroad devoted to the artist and his works, while in China his art is subjected to strict censorship. There are almost no mentions of him on the chinese Internet. In Russia, the name of the cartoonist is practically unknown, which is the novelty of this study for both cultural studies and russian Sinology. The obvious conclusion of the research is that Badiucao is challenging the censorship and dictatorship of the PRC with his art. His caricatures are his main and strongest weapon in this confrontation. Using a wide range of artistic techniques and color palette, he talks about current events, not allowing to forget the sins of the past, demanding not only an apology for political mistakes, but a change in the attitude of the government towards the people of the two coasts – China and Taiwan.

Keywords: political symbolism, modern art, politics in art, political caricature, Taiwan, China, Xi Jinping, protest, chinese caricature, Badiucao

Abstract: This article determines the key principles of designing fireworks and illumination compositions created in honor of the Russian State in foreign territories in the late XVII – early XVIII centuries. The analysis of themes and images contained therein in conducted in the context of the problematic of representative culture of that time. The article is first to attract the preserved graphic sources and published written archival materials discovered in recent years, including by the author of this research. Special attention is given to fireworks and illuminations on the occasion of the Treaty of Nystad, which did not receive due coverage within the scientific literature. Due to the peculiarities of “firearm art”, the research methodology relies on the scientific reconstruction with the use of art history, historical-cultural, as well as elements of iconographic and iconological analysis. It is revealed the firework festivities were one of the remarkable form of Russia’s representation abroad during the time of Peter the Great. In allegorical interpretation, they not only glorified the Russian State, but also reflected far-reaching plans of the monarch aimed at obtaining the imperial status of the country. Most of the fireworks and illumination compositions were based on the traditional for ambassadorial ceremonial culture of that time motif of the triumphal arch, and the arsenal of themes and images resembled the Russian festive complexes. The fire paintings were created in accordance with the principles similar to heraldic images: centerpoint, vertical and horizontal hierarchy, and laws of symmetry. As far back as his first trip to Europe, Peter the Great knew that fire performances is a source of creating awareness and excellent opportunity to make the country know to the world.

Keywords: fiery performance, ambassadorial ceremonial, engraving, panegyric culture, occasional art, festive decoration of the city, wine fountain, illumination, fireworks, Peter the Great

Abstract: This article presents and compares the reflections and conclusions of the prominent Russian sociologists, economists, and political scientists. Having analyzed the transit of Russian sociality, they come to quite disappointing conclusions. Unfortunately, Russia did failed to take its rightful place among the European (Western in a broad sense) states and societies, did not build legal society and institutions, and the established market and private property have significantly deformed, since the authorities and law enforcement agencies of different levels rigidly controlled business for the purpose of share profit, or even seizure and appropriation of the property of others. This indicates not just a crisis, but disintegration and negative transformation of the Russian social system. The author believes that the modern sociality experiences transformation associated with the completion of the culture of modernity and the establishment of futureculture, the structure of which is yet obscure. Such transformation generates sociality that differs from the previous one; however, in many its pioneers and “initiators of discursiveness” continue to largely adhere to the principles of liberalism, although modified, and often unrecognizable. In this regard, the author discusses not only the state of social institutions, but also the ways for overcoming the prevalent situation sought by separate individuals.

Keywords: transformation, social system, trend, power, individual, personality, sociality, crisis, culture, transit

Abstract: This research reveals the basic principles of the mourning decorations created for the burial of Peter the Great, and traces their fate in the Russian imperial sorrowful processions throughout the XVIII century. Decorative arrangement of state ceremonies is viewed in the context of the panegyric culture of that time. Ceremonial decoration was of temporary (occasional) nature and have been scarcely preserved; other than certain artifacts. The research is based on examination of a wide variety of written and graphic sources that allow reconstructing the image of funeral processions of that time. It is demonstrated that that in preparation for the funerals of Peter the Great, were developed certain patterns of mourning decoration preserved throughout the entire XVIII century. The principles of decorative arrangement of Russian imperial sorrowful processions were based on the European examples, and in many ways by inviting the foreign inventors and masters. The system of creation of mourning ensembles (as well as festive) obeyed the general laws inherent to the court ceremonial culture of Modern Age. The artistic solution of memorial halls and hearses corresponded to the stylistic evolution of art. The author introduces new materials and previously unknown facts into the scientific discourse, as well as clarifies the questions of terminology.

Keywords: Russian imperial court, panegyric culture, occasional art, state bed, funeral decorations, catafalque, Funeral hall, Castrum doloris, funeral ceremonies, Peter the Great

Abstract: The object of this research is the small crowns of Russian empresses of the XVIII – early XIX century. The goal of this work consists in specification of circumstances of the creation and presence of small imperial crowns in Russia of that time, description of their artistic attributes, and analysis of these regalia as the works of jewelry art, considering stylistic evolution. For achieving the designated goal, the author applied comprehensive method of research based on the combination of art criticism and historical-cultural approach, referring to a range of sources: from unpublished archival documents and memoirs of contemporaries to visual material. The article clarifies the term “small” crown. Based on the archival documents, the author introduces into the scientific discourse the records on a number previously unknown small crowns, as well as specifies the circumstances of their creation along with names of the craftsmen. The artistic image of small Imperial crowns was analyzed for the first time. The conducted research demonstrates that in the XVIII century this image transformed under the influence of stylistic preferences in Russian artistic culture and due to the change of court jewelers who belonged to different schools of jewelry art. In the XIX century, influenced by the national ideas and according to the already established state ceremonial, which tends to traditionalism, the exterior of small crowns was fully oriented towards the small crown of 1797.

Keywords: the art of jewellery, Jacob Dublon, Samson Larionov, imperial court, regalia, Russian empresses, coronation, Small crown, imperial crown, Jacob Duval

Abstract: This article analyzes the book by V. Fedotova, V, Kolpakov, N. Fedotova “Global Capitalism: three great transformations”. The author discusses research methodology applied by the book authors, indicating the points of divergence with his own position. For example, he claims that the subject of research should be the new-European sociality, rather than capitalism; the accelerator of social transformations – the European state, rather than the economy. In accordance with these views, characteristic is given to the new-European sociality that includes: concepts and structure of the state, officials who serve citizens and maintain work of government institutions, and society as a vectoring and controlling authority. The article outlines the scheme of four development stages of the new-European sociality: establishment of liberal-democratic state and society, organized capitalism, creation of the welfare society, completion of new-European sociality. As a result, the author was able to clarify research methodology of the new-European sociality, outline the patterns of its genesis, characterize four key development stages of sociality of modern age. The research leans on the classical writings of F. Braudel and J. Schumpeter, as well as modern classics M. Creveld. V. Fedotova, V. Kolpakov, and N. Fedotova.

Keywords: community, development, economy, personality, society, state, sociality, capitalism, research, concepts

Abstract: In 1939 and 1949 the museums and exhibit halls of the large and small Soviet cities held dozens of art exhibitions dedicated to the anniversaries of Stalin. Strictly aligned to the text of his canonized biography, they became an important element of jubilee celebrations, and simultaneously, a distinct culmination of visual representations of the chieftain, overcrowding the public space of every city of the country. The exhibitions resumed the results and outlined the future paths of development of the pictorial art of Staliniana. The article makes an attempt to review the common grounds the united the anniversary expositions, regardless their scale, presentability and venue. Special attention is given to correlation between verbal and visual texts, logics of structuring of a biographical narrative, methods of organization of dialogue with the audience, as well as forms of “dictate” over the creative process of Soviet artists. The source for this research became an extensive body of documents: brochures, catalogues, guides that accompanied such exhibitions and reflected their concept, logics, structure and communication objectives.  

Keywords: visual text, representation, anniversary, Stalin, leader, urban space, exhibition space, exposition, verbal text, biographical narrative

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the once-prominent, but nearly forgotten these days, Soviet graphic artist Konstantin Ivanovich Finogenov. His works of the 1940’s are viewed as a vivid example of coexistence of the two main strategies used by the Soviet authors in referring to the theme of the Great Patriotic War. One suggested visualization of the events, facts and characters seen by the artist firsthand on the front line. The other – represented an ideological construct not based on the personal visual impressions. Usually, the second strategy was aimed at creation of the image of leader: Stalin-chieftain and strategist surrounded by the closest comrades. The author underlines not only the thematic, but also the conceptual difference in these two strategies. The shift from depicting soldiers towards depicting the leaders entailed the genre, temporal, compositions, and intonation transformations of the image of war. The Soviet artists of the 1940’s depicted soldiers “in the present”, implying that their descendants would make a place form them in history, for whom the artist created the necessary documentary testimonies. The leader has already existed in history. The artist captured the fact of recognition by the contemporaries of his historical status.

Keywords: personal testimony, visualization, graphics, Great Patriotic War, front, artist, leader, stalin, ideology, soldier

Abstract: This article examines the visual representation in politically themed postcards of Meiji period (1868-1912). The cards were brought to Japan by the new cultural policy of the government in the late XIX century and implementation of the regular postal service. Certain plots associated with political activity became the cultural mirror of that era and its transformation. Postcards carried out not only propagandistic function, but also communicative and aesthetic, and thus obtained a range of attributable artistic techniques. The author applies the methods of classification based on the visual representation of images, as well as inductive analysis of the acquired data. Political plots of the postcards of Meiji era are often analyzed in the context of propaganda at the time of military conflicts. Other aspects of visual component remain virtually unexplored. This research classifies and analyzes visual representations of the elite and their symbols in illustrations of the postcards from the perspective of cultural transformation during this period.

Keywords: war, culture change, political, emperor Meiji, Meiji period, illustrations, postcards, nineteenth century, photos, mail

Abstract: The article is devoted to the preservation and popularization of folk song in Russia at the administrative level. Devyatov provides the results of analyzign the legal basis that regulates administrative support of these processes both at the federal and regional levels. He also describes conditions and means of development of folk song and examines practical aspects of their realization. The main method of the research is analysis of legislative acts and other official documents that regulate the issues arising in the process of preservation, distribution and popularization of amateur and folk arts. As a result of the research, the author describes both positive aspects of state activity in the sphere of folk culture and problems that restrain the processes of preservation and popularization of folk song in Russia at the governmental level. Based on the analysis of modern practice of Russian folk song, Devyatov describes difficulties and prospects for the development of folk song under modern economic and socio-cultural practices. 

Keywords: municipal authorities, legal regulation, cultural policy, folk song culture, folk art, folk song, administrative support, cultural institutions, amateur groups, Russia

Abstract: Gustav Klucis is well-known as the founder of photomontage, art theorist and lecturer. However, his early years of life are left understudied due to the absence or non-availability of archive data. According to the author, to get a fuller image of the artist and his artwork, it is necessary to get acquainted with the other side of his biography, i.e. revolutionary activity and service as a Latvian rifleman, one of the best support of the Bolsheviks. That was the period that created a unique environment for two completely different professions, soldier and artist, to complement. A hundred of years after the October Revolution, researchers are especially interested in the first years of Soviet government that was marked with the tremendous growth and development of artistic life. The subject of the research is the life path of Gustav Klucis, the Latvian rifleman and artist, dedicated Bolshevik and member of the Moscow Kremlin gun regiment. Certainly, the experience in revolution, being in the center of great historical events, meetings with Vladimir Lenin affected Klucis' life values and painting style. The main research method used by Guseva in this article is the analysis of Russia's, Latvia's and Greece's archives. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that she analyzes and describes facts of Gustav Klucis' biography that are left understudied or often misinterpreted. The outcome of the research is the integral image of Gustav Klucis as an artist and Latvian rifleman based on the complete analysis of his biography. 

Keywords: Soviet artist, Latvia, photomontage, Latvian rifleman, Latvian riflemen, political poster, poster, Gustav Klucis, Klucis, montage

Abstract: Throughout the 1920 - 1950s the death and funerals of the leader had been the event under the focused event of the Soviet propaganda. While the funeral ritual was made up really fast and later was repeated with several changes, the art representations of the funerals had been significantly changing over time. The Soviet visual art constantly searched for icognographic schemes that would convey messages and values of that important ceremonial of the national level. The climax of that process was the delivery of the Stalin's prize to the artist A. Gerasimov for his painting 'Stalin by A. Zhdanov's Coffin' (1948). The process of iconographical transformations of the plot can be seen as the process of the canon's development when all the needless was eliminated and the main was highlighted. The documentary narration genre was replaced with the visually readable symbol. In this research Rutsinskaya analyzes the aforesaid process based on the analysis of famous Soviet artwork. 

Keywords: canon, iconography,, visualization, ideology, Stalin era, ritual, leader, funeral, socialist realism, Soviet painting

Abstract: The article is devoted to the place and role of ideology in the national and cultural construction of the late 1920's - early 1930's. The subject of the research is the views and opinions as well as social, political and cultural activity of the Buryat intelligentsia that was understood as counter-revolutionary and was conceptualized with such ideologemes as 'borgeous nationalism' or 'pan-mongolism'. As an example, the author of the article analyzes newspaper articles that had a prescriptive nature and required 'self-criticism' from cultural activists. The methodological basis of the research implies the historical-cultural approach, the main methods are historical-cultural, retrospective and narrative. The results of the research demonstrate that when the Buryat culture, national by form and socialist by content, was being formed, it implied those elements of the cultural heritage that were officially understood as 'feudal religious carry-overs' of the exploitative class. Consequently, those who transmitted or translated such ideas, were withdrawn from the socio-cultural space. Pre-revolution Buryat intelligentsia was viewed by the ruling power as an oppositional social group. That had a tragic effect on its status. 

Keywords: counterrevolutionary activity, panmongolism, ideology, Buryat intelligentsia, national culture, socialism, socialist culture, bourgeois nationalism, self-criticism, repression

Abstract: The subject of the research is the student movement at Novosibirsk State University (NSU) in 1963 - 1967 as part of a wider opposition movement in the Campus. Previous researches and articles devoted to this topic do not fully reveal the history or specify of this phenomenon. According to the author of the article, civil activity was the unexpected side effect of the Siberian expirement. Analysis of the phenomenon may help to seek solutions aimed at the renovation of the society system. The article is devoted to the analysis of prerequisites and factors of the student movement as well as a full range of their activities including self-management, club forms of activity, antisemite trial, participation in the university's rector elections, preservation of the university's autonomy and academic freedoms, protection of teachers and students against political repressions. The article has been written at the intersection of several genres and methods: documented facts from the history of the student movement are accompanied with students' and teachers' memories, sociological observations are combined with statistical data. The main contribution of the author is the analysis of the student movement of NSU in the 1960s, its grounds, forms and main actions and activities, precedents and reasons why the movement stopped existing. This is the first analysis of this kind in the academic literature. It is shown that it was the first open, legal and longest student movement since the 1920s. It was the example of opposition without dissidence, independent movement aimed at self-management and transformation of the society system. It had the best effect on the development of the civil society than all the other famous student movements of that time.

Keywords: Novosibirsk State University, NSU, campus, social changes, university's autonomy, cultural grounds of power, cultural life of the 60s, independent style of life, civil society, student opposition movement

Abstract: The article considers the paintings from the part of the collection of the State Revolution Museum, formed in the 1924 - 1930's, as a holistic art phenomenon and a visual reconstruction of revolutionary era. The author analyzes the paintings from the position of the official power in order to see the inside of a political utopia, by the eyes of its creators, however, without distorting the objective historical circumstances. The researcher's attention focuses on the method of reconstructing the historical era through its art component. The author believes it is necessary to view reconstruction as intentional and the part of the collection under study - in the process of its perception and interpretation, i.e. phenomenologically, but not as a complete artwork. In his research Epishin applies methodological principles and concepts of such approaches as the social philosophical analysis, historical phenomenology, deconstructivism and hermeneutics. As a result of his research, the author makes a conclusion that being a strategic instrument of the Soviet government, the State Revolution Museum developed ideas and values of the cultural, historical, social and political life of the country. Thus, the pat of the paintings collected in the 1924 - 1930s can be reconstructed by a researcher's intent through concretization as an integral art phemoneon representing an identity marker of the government and the 'memory about the government'.

Keywords: power, culture, painting, representation, reconstruction, art history, early Soviet art, museum, history, collection

Abstract: By the mid 30s of the XX century the Soviet art developed a canonical image of Stalin. A significant part of paintings with Stalin’s depiction illustrated the Soviet leader with nature or urban background. Their appearance was not accidental or arbitrary. Geographic images were not so much aesthetic as an ideological burden, and therefore were subject to control and guidance. To study this problematic, the now-forgotten works of both well-known and completely unknown authors are involved. The article examines the methods and forms of interpretation of geographical space on the canvases of Soviet artists, their transformation in time, their dependence on ideology and propaganda tasks, as well as their ability to reflect mass stereotypes about the "space in which the leader lives."

Keywords: ideology, presentation, historical genre, portrait, geographical images, space, Soviet art, painting, Stalin, propaganda

Abstract: The subject of the research is the student movement at Novosibirsk State University (NSU) in 1963 - 1967 as part of a wider opposition movement in the Campus. Previous researches and articles devoted to this topic do not fully reveal the history or specify this phenomenon. According to the author of the article, civil activity was the unexpected side effect of the Siberian expirement. Analysis of the phenomenon may help to seek solutions aimed at the renovation of the society system. The article is devoted to the analysis of prerequisites and factors of the student movement as well as a full range of their activities including self-management, club forms of activity, antisemite trial, participation in the university's rector elections, preservation of the university's autonomy and academic freedoms, protection of teachers and students against political repressions. The article has been written at the intersection of several genres and methods: documented facts from the history of the student movement are accompanied with students' and teachers' memories, sociological observations are combined with statistical data. The main contribution of the author is the analysis of the student movement of NSU in the 1960s, its grounds, forms and main actions and activities, precedents and reasons why the movement stopped existing. This is the first analysis of this kind in the academic literature. It is shown that it was the first open, legal and longest student movement since the 1920s. It was the example of opposition without dissidence, independent movement aimed at self-management and transformation of the society system. It had the best effect on the development of the civil society than all the other famous student movements of that time. 

Keywords: civil society, NSU, independent style of life, cultural grounds of power, Novosibirsk State University, campus, social changes, cultural life of the 60s, student opposition movement

Abstract: The present article is devoted to the analysis of Bernard Shaw's play 'Heartbreak House' and Alexander Sokurov's film 'Mournful Unconcern' that was made after the play. The analysis is based on the differentiation between the terms 'depersonalisation' and 'repersonalisation'. This concept offered by the author of the article means the revitalization of personality, his going back to being himself, individuation and metanoia. All characters of Shaw's play and Sokurov's film are depersonalised by the war situation and repersonalised at the end when the inevitable death approaches. Appying his own method of psychosemiotics, the author of the article also analyzes associative identifications of the characters of both play and film. For example, Captain Shotover is associated with Stalin, Brezhnev, Moses, Christ, God the Father and Captain Ahab. Ellie Dunn is both Alice in Wonderland and Ellie from The Wizard of the Emerald City. Sokurov's film (1986) is viewed as a film devoted to the depersonalised Soviet intelligentsia before perestroika. In his research Rudnev has used the method that he has been developing for many years. This method involves psychoanalysis, poetics and semiotics and called 'psychosemiotics'. The novelty of the present research is first of all caused by the fact that based on the study of Bernard Shaw's play 'Heartbreak House' and Alexander Sokurov's film 'Mournful Unconcern' Rudnev introduces the concept of repersonalisation along with a generally accepted term 'depersonalisation'. The researcher defines repersonalisation as individuation and metanoia and one's going back to being himself. Using the psychosemiotic method, the author has also studied associative identifications of the play and film characters. 

Keywords: postmodernisn, death, repersonalisation, depersonalisation, Mournful Unconcern, Alexandr Sokurov, Bernard Show, reconstruction, animal, home

Abstract: Summary.A creative personality as a public figure is the topic of this article. The said personality can express itself in different forms. In this particular case among all possible forms the author is emphasizing and considering the one where the protest is coming to the fore. Such forms of the contemporary art as performance and happening, and most of all those pieces of art which are laying a special emphasize on the protest, are appearing as a concrete expression of this form. Radicalism appearing in these art forms aids detecting aspects of artist’s creativeness which are promoting transformation of any creative person to a public figure. Pertain of performance and happening to art it is not obvious. These art forms are perceived as marginal one and are exclusive of the conventional art system. More often than not their radical protest is liable to prosecution. However legal evaluation does not facilitate but complicate esthetic evaluating. In order to overcome the doubtful status of these forms, it is necessary to consider them as cultural phenomenon with past precedents. “Yurodstvo” (idiotic action) of the times of Ancient Rus is their immediate predecessor. This is the first attempt to analyze the creative personality at such culturological angel. Based on researches of A. van Gennep and W. Turner, the author is revealing a latent character in creative person’s activity, which is known as liminality, in other words, a necessity and ability to express protest which is not only a protest against the power, but as protest against the society stagnating in conformism. In pre-industrial societies any bearer of liminality, i.e. a wacky, was a sacred person, who should not suffer persecution of authorities. In secularized societies the artist and images of his/her heroes are bearers of liminality. And happenings and performances are the contemporary forms for expressing the spirit of liminality.

Keywords: liminality, avan-garde, yurodstvo (idiotic action), rublic figure, happening, performance, creative personality, anti - behavior, sacral, secularity

Abstract: The subject under review is mutual relations and interactions between the artist and the government. Special attention is paid to the transformation of the dominant, in the author’s opinion, model of the opposition between the artist and the government that was established during the pre-Soviet and Soviet periods of social development. Within the framework of the aforesaid model, relations between the artist and the government have become somewhat neutral without direct opposition between the aforesaid institutions at the present stage of development. Moreover, the author views another model of mutual relations between the artist and the government. Analyzing the latter, the author, on one hand, shows the singularity of American and Soviet popular cultures and, on the other hand, views the need for active influence on products of Russian popular culture by the government for the purpose of formation of national values. Methodological basis of the research is the neo-classical ontology of relations and interactions. Research methods used by the author include both general research procedures such as historical and logical methods and method of comparison and special research methods, in particular, the method of hermeneutic analysis. The author defines and analyzes peculiarities of the ‘neutral’ model of relations between the artist and the government and proves it to be the dominant model in today’s Russia. The author also shows that the process of artistic reflection is mostly the process of formation of new forms during which the artist views the objective reality in accordance with the beauty standards and Universal laws. The main conclusion made by the author is that in today’s Russia changes in social conditions lead to the complication of forms of interaction between the artist and the government.

Keywords: artist, power (government), popular culture, creativity, opposition, de-socialization, art, culture, model, traditions.

Abstract: Based on the analysis of political wills written in French and related to the history of Russia, the author of the article considers theoretical and practical issues of researches of fake documents and mystification. The author describes the main features of the genre of political wills, how that genre developed in French culture during ХVIII – early ХІХ and what relations it had with other, both literary and historical, pseudo-biographic genres. The author studies the history and political environment of writing and publishing ‘wills’ of Peter the First, Friedrich the Second and Ekaterina the Second. In conclusion the author briefly touches upon Joseph Stalin ’s faked memories as well. It has been proved that apocryphal texts are not just funny exceptions but essential part of literature, history of ideas and politics. Bu filling the gaps, these texts fulfill the current requirements of cultural environment and ensure cultural development. For many years this topic has been on the fringes of scienti fic research, however, it is a very important topic in history, literature and folklore, politics and history of ideas.

Keywords: cultural research, history of ideas, political wills, fake, mystification, Peter the First, Ekaterina the Second, Joseph Stalin, Voltaire, Friedrich II.

Abstract: The article is devoted to creative work by Sergei Slonimsky who managed the dialogue of cultures between Renaissance, Baroque, Romanticism, Ancient Russia and Russia’s cultural realities of early ХХI century. The author of the article studies the most important innovative compositions created in 2000 – 2010 (Requiem, the twenty Þ rst symphony from Goethe’s Faust, Witch Hazel Ballet) in which the composer raised the issues about national redemption, relations between an artist and government, opposition between mass and elite cultures, national identity and memory of culture.

Keywords: cultural studies, culture centralism, dialogue of cultures, neo-Renaissance, neo-Baroque, neo- Romanticism, neo-folklorism, music, requiem, symphony.

Abstract: Despite the fact that the idea of violence is quite utopian and abstract, when Lev Tolstoy refreshed the idea at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century in his own grandiose way, it made a strong impression on his contemporaries, attracted criticism of philosophers and politicians of all kinds and movements and created grounds for it to be recognized and accepted in many regions of the world (by Mohandas Gandhi, Martin King and others). As if he could foresee an unusual splash of violence in the oncoming 20th century, the writer kept discussing the Antique truth in his novels, philosophical and political essays, diaries, letters and verbal expressions. Although we do not even claim that we will be ever to fully represent this topic, we will try and analyze the genetic sources of Tolstoy’s rejection of violence as well as evolution of the idea of Satyagraha in his philosophy.

Keywords: cultural studies, genesis, violence, Satyag raha, state institution, power, money, Church, Christianity, rejection.

Abstract: The article represents the author’s thoughts on and about a four-volume book written by Benedikt Sarnov. Giving a high approval of this fundamental work, the author of the article tries to define the genre the book is written in. As a result, he finds not only literature features, but also signs of cultural studies, historical and cultural research as well as a novel, many-act tragedy, detective, guidelines in history and Russian culture of 1920–1950th in general and literature in particular. The center of the author’s discussion is the question about the nature and peculiarities of Staliniana. Based on the author Staliniana is a very complex cultural phenomenon which has played a very negative and even destroying role for the Russian culture. Such discussion is topical because it does not only still remain in modern Russian culture but it has also been very like to retain many of its features lately.

Keywords: cultural studies, culture, literary studies, Iosif Stalin, staliniana, literature, politics, ear, history.

Abstract: Innovative civic and political outlook which understands culture as a justified and evident political target are of practical importance for the new nationstates, especially Russia after 1991. On the one hand nationbuilding policies encourage the Fortress syndrome, on the other diversified cultural landscapes have become the intrinsic characteristics of Russian society, while the routine cultural interaction expands in everyday practices and in particular locations re-establishing constructive principle of “thinking globally and acting locally”.

Keywords: Cultural policies, diversity, glocal, fortress, interaction, transculturalism.

Abstract: The six plots described in this article reveal various aspects of positive changes in international relations between Russia and Poland overcoming certain stereotypes in politics and artistic culture. The article draws our attention at serious theoretical issues (such as cross-cultural dialogue, strategy of a cultural policy, relationship between an artist and a state institution, memory of history and etc.). Based on concrete examples, the author of the article shows how a socio-cultural context infl uences the process of formation of a new vector in modern cultural policy.

Keywords: cultural studies, cultural policy, crosscultural dialogue, artist, power, memory of history, stereotypes, regional policy, socio-cultural context.

Abstract: The article questions about the extent to which the National Socialism and Italian fascism were created by cinematograph and the emphasis of cinematograph on those, which role the cinematograph played in propaganda of politically signifi cant symbols and emotions and what responses were created to the paradoxes of the cinematic time. The author proceeds from the assumption that both Nazi and Fascism ideologies appealed to the logic of the epoch of cinematograph in the hope of connecting the present with a major ideological need. In order to reinforce his position, the author analyzes Fillipo Tommaso Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto written in 1909, A. Hitler’s speech at the opening of the Great Exhibition of German Art in 1937, Italian sculptor Umberto Boccioni’s artwork and etc.

Keywords: cultural studies, cinematograph, cinematic time, national socialism and fascism, totalitarian regime policy in the sphere of culture, entertaining role of mass media, documentation of reality, perception of life as a motion, photodynamism and time-lapse photography, modernism.

Abstract: The article analyzes the ‘Aus dem Land der Roten Socken’ series of the author’s paintings and sculptors creating an image of a general model of socio-political space where a GDR specifi c speech behavior has being stamped for many years. Discussions about ‘the truth’, complexity and contradictory of historical phenomena and other phenomena related to the realities of life created the ethical and material background for most of the artwork mentioned above as well as for the author’s research papers and publications.

Keywords: cultural studies, art history, politics, artist, mental stereotypes, society, socio-cultural development, power, personality, ethical grounds of collective value systems.

Abstract: The article considers the vertical and horizontal changes of social antagonisms and socio-cultural forms of the societyand- government synthesis in the global context and in respect to Russia particularly.

Keywords: cultural studies, political cultural studies, media communication, rebellions of the crown and elite, meritocracy, structure of a social act, economization of politics, contradictions in semantics and orientations, media simulation, political engineering