Abstract: The article is devoted to ethno-historical concept of the Russian culture suggested by L. Gumilev who discovered the relationship between ethnogenesis and culturegenesis in ethno-cultural history. He showed the dependence of culture on the landscape, the biosphere and the passionarity of other ethnic groups. Lev Gumilev viewed Russian culture as the Eurasian phenomenon and the frontier between sedentary and nomadic peoples, the Forest and the Steppe, the East and the West. Collapse of the USSR and the ethno-cultural crisis of former constituents of the Russian and Soviet Empires make us view Gumilev’s theory of ethnogenesis in a different light and apply its projective and predictive capabilities to modern socio-cultural realities in Russia during XXI century.

Keywords: cultural research, Russian culture, cultural and civilizational identity, ethnogenesis, culturegenesis, passionarity, breakdown (collapse), Eurasian cultural knot, super-ethnos.

Abstract: The author sets himself at a task to theoretically explain the severe cultural crisis ongoing in modern Russia based on the analysis of the ternary institutional structure of a modern society – state institution – civil society. To the author’s opinion, it is possible to create grounds for overcoming today’s cultural collapse and ensuring future humanistic evolution only if we understand that these three basic elements of the modern society complete one another, on one hand, and have absolutely different content and functions, on the other hand.

Keywords: cultural research, state institution, religious institutions, civil society, Russia, culture, crisis, upswing, post-Soviet period, intellectual – cultural landscape.

Abstract: The author of the article discusses the role of symbolism as an art movement in Russian art at the turn of XXth century. Symbolism is viewed as the creation of the epoch of the Russian empire collapse and thus, the author underlines the following features of symbolism: symbolism demonstrates the gap in continuity of generations; the opposition between anthropomorphic and disanthropomorphic tendencies, between humanitarian and natural scientifi c spheres. The latter creates the gap between ‘fathers’ and ‘children’. ‘Fathers’ are viewed as positivists and ‘children’ – symbolists demonstrate their escaping into mystics, theosophy, mythology, Gnosticism and Christian personalism. It makes symbolists resemble romantics and therefore symbolism is often said to be the neoromanticism. Continuing the opposition between Art Nouveau and romanticism in XX, symbolists adopted and developed the romantic tradition.

Keywords: cultural research, empire collapse, continuity of generations, alternative culture, anthropomorphism, disanthropomorphism, personalism, rationalism, precognition, myth.

Abstract: The article continues the theme of the ethnical gypsy court, one of the main institutions of behavior control which is still used by certain gypsy tribes in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. The author of this article describes the main features of the gypsy court as the method of institutional resolution of confl icts between communities as well as transformations ongoing at a modern stage of development.

Keywords: cultural research, ethnology, gypsy court, non-judicial confl ict resolution, institutional confl ict resolution, authority and social-age status, composition of court, mixed court, cross border courts, International Romani Union.

Abstract: The phenomenon of rock’n’roll comes in the form of information-cognitive model, which consists of various components where the most important component is the geography of recording. The article reviews the history of the formation of recording industry in China, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, North Korea and, in part, in South Korea. Particular attention is paid to the communicative features of recording rock music under conditions of socialism. We propose practical ways of resolving some of the raised issues at a legal level in the fi rst place.

Keywords: cultural research, social communication, information-cognitive model, law, Asia, label, recording, shellac, rock music.

Abstract: The author of the article provides the analysis of a fundamental book ‘Death in Maharashtra. Imagination, Perception, Embodiment’ (published in Moscow in 2012). The book includes texts of different kind and content and all these texts have the same two topics in common: Maharashtra, one of the major states of India, and death. The author describes differences and similarities between Indian culture and Russian and Western cultures as well as between Indian culture and globalization culture. These differences and similarities show themselves in people’s attitude to death and associated rituals. Particular attention is paid at three main themes discussed in the book: caste (including the ones still exisiting in modern India), women’s position (India has the worst living conditions for women)and terrorism (different opinions on Mohandas Gandhi death is a bright example of Indian alternative to non-violence). It is noted that Russians’ interest for Indian culture (and India in general) experienced its ups (in early XX when orientalism was in fashion and in 1950 when relations between Soviet Union and India were promoted and Indian cinema and literature became popular) and downs (including the present times).

Keywords: cultural research, Oriental studies, Indian studies, Indian culture, Maharashtra, mahratti language, death, ritual, cultural differences and similarities, globalization culture.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of traditional national culture as a ‘new’ cultural reality. The author analyzes the forms of national arts and crafts as continuation of the cultural tradition in a rapidly globalizing world, implementation of the processes of collective and individual identifi cation and its interactions with other layers of national arts and crafts. The discussion is based on the materials of the exhibition ‘Modern National Art. Traditions and Modern Age’ held in 2008 in Vologda as well as the conference ‘Theory and Practice of National Art in Post-Perestroyka Period’ held at Stroganov Moscow State University of Arts and Industry as part of Voronov readings (Moscow, 2010).

Keywords: cultural studies, history of art, national culture, objective and material world, globalization and glocalization, national work crafts, ethnical processes, layers of national culture, identity, tradition.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the artistic life of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) during the transitional 20 years (mid 1980 – mid 2000). The author of the article analyzes the development of art market, exhibition and gallery business and describes activities performed by unions of artists. It is concluded that new tendencies became evident in St. Petersburg only by mid 2000 when the ‘Western’ type of galleries were founded. These galleries have managed to combine business practice with promotion of modern art and certainly gave tone to this sphere.

Keywords: cultural research, art history, perestroika, art market, artist, exhibition, gallery, union, auction, festival.

Abstract: Odessa has a special place in cultural and geographical space of the Ukraine. Being a major Black Sea port, it functions as the connecting link between Russia, Ukraine and Europe. It is still far from the central part of the Ukraine which makes it a good place of living for writers and artists who are not liked by the offi cial government. Close connection with Western European art centres and opposition in art created conditions for formation of the original school of painting. Odessa Art School played an important role in formation of the artistic life in the region, too. Graduates from this School continued their education in major educational and art centres in Russia and Europe. At the beginning of XX century different art styles in Avant-Garde painting were created by international activity of V. Kandinsky, D. Burlyuk, V. Izdebsky, T. Fraerman, A. Nurenberg, M. Boychuk, M. Zhuk, N. Shelyuto who studied in Odessa and then continued their education in Paris, Munich, Krakow and Vienna.

Keywords: art history, avant-garde, art, Odessa, V. Kandinsky, V. Izdebsky, M. Gershenfeld, A. Nurenberg, Société des Artistes Indépendants (Society of Independent Artists), Spring Exhibitions.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the development of symbols of state in Moscow throughout the times: the Kremlin (still remains a symbol) and Ivan the Great, Pokrovsky Cathedral on the Moat, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Palace of the Soviets with its supertall skyscrappers, Moscow International Business Center ‘Moscow City’. The author describes the governor’s idea of Russia’s role in world affairs reflected in each architectural symbol. It is stressed out that there were no such architectural symbols of state in 1920 and 1960 – 1980 when the functional architecture ruled and only architectural signs were created. The author also discovered the meaning of compositional and planning connections between the symbols, for instance, between Ivan the Great and neighboring cities and important manors of nobility built near Moscow; between the Palace of the Soviets and new Stalin-era buildings, and etc. Traditional meaning of architectural axis buildings also expoains the current tendencies in developing the south-west of Moscow.

Keywords: cultural research, symbol, statehood, Moscow, architecture, urban development, sign, axis, history, simulacrum.

Abstract: Based on the example of the vocal symphony that was formed in XIX century as a genre and became one of the key elements of symphony modifi - cation, the author discusses the synthesis between the two forms of expression – musical and verbal ones. The relation between music and word also refl ects the historical evolution of the vocal symphony. The author also analyzes a number of original artworks.

Keywords: art history, music, symphony, word, genre, synthesis of arts, image, avant-garde, text, semantics.