Culture and civilization
Reference:
Donskikh, O. A.
HORROR ZIVILIZATIONIS
or the Horror of Subjectivity
// Culture and Art.
2015. ¹ 1.
P. 7-15.
URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=65877
Abstract:
The article is devoted to the relationship between culture and civilization. Within the framework
of the research, civilization is interpreted as the external expression of culture while culture is the
content of civilization. Culture and civilization develop in different directions because civilization moves
towards the greatest possible objectivity while culture develops retaining its subjective nature. This creates
a growing tension in the relationship between civilization and culture. Civilization does not try to get rid of
subjectivity, however, natural or socio-humanitarian sciences are unable to offer ways to do it. The present
article was written based on the analysis and synthesis of the terms ‘culture’, ‘civilization’ and ‘subjectivity’
in the history of science. The author of the article also uses the method of rising from the abstract to the
concrete. The author offers his own definition of the term ‘subjectivity’ in terms of the relationship between
culture and civilization. According to the author, the ‘building’ of modern civilization is built upon the outrageous
discrepancy between the speeding movement towards the globalized humanity (following the way of
technological progress that involves the society and human himself and transforms the latter into an objective
and controlled element) and the level of understanding the nature of this movement.
Keywords:
Horror zivilizationis, civilization, culture, subjectivity, progress, natural sciences, socio-humanitarian sciences, noosphere, technical development, rationality.
Culture and science
Reference:
Zhabsky, M. I., Tarasov, K. A.
Development of Film Studies
in Institutional Contextual Perspective
// Culture and Art.
2015. ¹ 1.
P. 16-31.
URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=65878
Abstract:
The subject of the research is the prospects of the development of Russian film
studies taking into account cause-and-effect dependencies inside the structural-functional
bond ‘Film studies – Russian cinematograph – State support’. In particular, the authors analyze
the following issues: the level of the development of national cinematograph as the precondition
for the development of national film studies, objective need of the state to finance
searches for movie ideas depending on the audience demand for national films, actual directions
of solving issues of film studies, stages and drivers of film evolution in the Soviet and
post Soviet periods, modern challenges for film studies, the need for rethinking over the object
and subject of film studies, search for the theoretical consensus between science of screen art and state apparatus regarding the nature and mission of cinematographic art, development
of researches aimed at creation of internally integrated multi-disciplinary ‘big science of cinematograph’
(N. Lebedev), importance of intellectual assets that are used for searching for
an efficient strategic direction for the development of Russian motion-picture industry. In
terms of theory and methodology, the analysis of the aforesaid problems is based on the idea
that all national film studies can develop only when they have the following preconditions for
the development: film studies have an autochthonous and developing object of research, i.e.
motion-picture process that has roots in national culture, government must financially and
morally encourage searches for movie ideas and film studies must be useful for both national
screen culture and the government as an investor. These objective preconditions are created
during the interaction of the three institutions – Russian cinematograph, film studies and the
government supporting them. Theoretical and social-practical contribution of film studies and
opportunities for the development of film studies depend on the adequate understanding of
cause-and-effect consequences in this triangle. Prospects for further development of national
film studies as the part of the outlined structural-functional bond are being viewed for the first
time in Russian science. The authors concludes that there is a need for a drastic shift of research
interests towards solution of the nettlesome problems of national cinematograph. The
present market share of Russian movies is quite low which creates a threat for the national
film industry, the system of training film workers of the highest proficiency level and national
science of cinematograph.
Keywords:
Screen culture, national film studies, preconditions for development, Russian cinema, market share, picture of the world, cultural identity, state film policy, film policy in general, the science of cinematograph.
Sociology of culture, social culture
Reference:
Vakhshtain, V. S.
City Metaphors and Metaphorics of Urban
Researches: Self-Description VS. Meta-Description
// Culture and Art.
2015. ¹ 1.
P. 32-49.
URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=65879
Abstract:
Modern cities are endlessly heterogeneous and always changing. Culture experts, psychologists
and sociologists dispute with each other trying to win the right to talk about this changeability in terms of their science. This is probably the reason why discussions touching upon ‘urban culture’, ‘structure
of urban society’ and ‘urban everyday life’ usually have an interdisciplinary nature. The object of
research lies at the crossing point of the aforesaid sciences, too. The author of the article raises a question
whether taking into account such ‘interdisciplinary autism’ it is possible to make a theoretical statement
using sociology terms and this statement can be relevant to terminology of interdisciplinary sciences.
What acts as a ‘cross disciplinary bridge’ that can convey the theoretical content overcoming the disciplinary
borders between sociology, psychology and cultural studies? According to the author, metaphor
can serve as such a bridge. Therefore, the present article is devoted to the analysis of the two types of
metaphors, self-descriptive and meta-descriptive metaphors in urban ideologies and urban studies. The
research is based on the IPA methodology (Interpretative Policy Analysis), frame-analysis and analysis
of metaphoric grounds of sociological conceptualization. Metaphors can be coherent or consistent. For
example, metaphors of our country as a ‘rust-bucket in the ocean of world policy’ or a ‘train on a side
route of history’ are coherent metaphors, i.e. they agree with the general concept of ‘transport’, but these
metaphors are not consistent, i.e. they do not create a single image. On the contrary, metaphors ‘Our
country is a ship’ and ‘Party is our steersman’ are consistent but not coherent. Applying to the scope of the
present article, this means that epistemic metaphors (researher’s self-description) and theoretical metaphors
(meta-description of an object) are more consistent than meta-description of an object and selfdescription
of an object. The relationship between metaphors in the triangle ‘Self-description of cognition
– Meta-description of an object – Self-description of an object’ reflects the nature of contingency and
these metaphors are not precisely correlated. This conclusion allows to solve Ankersmit’s case. If Frank
Ankersmit is right, then the two key operations of a researcher’s mind, problematization and conceptualization,
are opposed to each other. Conceptualization is based on metaphoric mechanisms of reasoning
and is the process of presenting the unfamiliar as something familiar, i.e. describing an unfamiliar
object in terms of the existing system of categories and concepts. On the contrary, problematization is a
process of ‘defamiliarization’ or transformation of the familiar into the unfamiliar. Ankersmit establishes
that logically a metaphor cannot serve as a tool of problematization. If we follow his logic, we can tell
that problematization – i.e. defamiliarization of an object – creates some kind of ‘beyond transcendence’
grounds for cognition. However, the author of the article rejects such a thesis. According to the author,
‘comprehensibility’ or ‘incomprehensibility’ are not ontological properties of an object but an attribute
of the relation of an object to the above mentioned cognitive scheme. As the results of the research show,
inconsistency of metaphors of different orders, first of all, metaphors of self– and meta-description of an
object, is a source of such problematization.
Keywords:
Metaphor, self-description, meta-description, urban researches, sociologism, urbanicism, social urban studies, Ankersmit, Latour, Black.
Ethnology and cultural anthropology
Reference:
Spektor, D. M.
The Third Path: Between Instinct and Consciousness
// Culture and Art.
2015. ¹ 1.
P. 50-59.
URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=65880
Abstract:
Despite the fact that there is a great variety of anthropological concepts and schools,
anthropology is guided by the paradigm of human reason. It is the awakening mind tentatively
learning the world and producing a bunch of strange and exotic practices the ancestors of human
paid much attention to. The dichotomy ‘instinct or reason’ confine most of anthropological
researches. The present article is aimed at undermining the authority of this dichotomy and carrying
out a research of something the third, something between instinct and reason – a strange
instinct excluding reflective performance algorithms. The author solves the Gordian knot by
reconstructing and comparing a number of factors which create a rather limited picture of the
alternative logic and the meaning of human evolution. As a result, a new vision of the outcome
of history has been created. This is the vision of the history developing within the framework
of species competition and driven by the initiation of the defensive instinct when an individual
stands above the irresistible circumstances of isolation and his dedication is approved in the cult
as the historically the first instrument of retaining humanity.
Keywords:
Instinct, consciousness, spontaneity, ritual, genotype, phenotype, evolution, archanthrope, competition, sacrifice.
Cultural heritage, tradition and innovation
Reference:
Rozin, V. M.
The Meaning of Discussions of the Future in Science
Fiction in the Second Half of the 20th Century
// Culture and Art.
2015. ¹ 1.
P. 60-70.
URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=65881
Abstract:
The subject of research is the discussion of the popularity of science fiction in the second half
of the 20th century which faded away by the end of the last century after creating the fantasy genre. At
first the author analyzes how fiction is interpreted and reconstructed in general and how their meaning
is explored. Rozin shows that science fiction performed the two tasks. Firstly, it released the historical tension
of the 60th and allowed to fulfill the myths of those times in a form of art. Secondly, it took the reader
to the reality where, no matter how strange it may seem, those myths and expectations were falsified and
uncovered. At the end of the article Rozin explains the reasons why science fiction decayed as a genre. According
to the researcher, writers and science fiction authors depleted and to a significant extent falsified
the main scientific myths and expectations of those times. Moreover, it became obvious that fulfillment
of many aspirations of the humankind that appeared in the mid 60th (outer space exploration, replacement
of humans with robots and nature management) would be achieved only in a distant and uncertain
future. The research described in the article was based on a number of methods such as problematization,
historical reconstruction (genetic analysis), comparative analysis as well as methodology of the humanitarian
approach. The main conclusions made by Rozin are the following. As a literary genre, science
fiction has undergone through certain stages of development and performed important functions in the
cultural environment of those times allowing a representative of certain culture to achieve his aspirations
and implement his values. When the latter were partially devalued and achieved and the time offered
new problems and challenges, science fiction went off the scene.
Keywords:
Science fiction, fantasy, cycle, fulfillment, myths, values, genre, piece of work, completion, human.
Cultural heritage, tradition and innovation
Reference:
Shilova, O. E.
Activity of UNESCO
in the Sphere of Art Education
// Culture and Art.
2015. ¹ 1.
P. 71-78.
URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=65882
Abstract:
The article is devoted to the activity performed by UNESCO in the sphere of art education.
The author of the article analyzes the goals of creating such a policy of UNESCO as well as particular
activities and events organized within the framework of international cooperation in the sphere of art
education. The author also studies recommendations and guidelines of UNESCO in the sphere of education
in general and art education in particular. Shilova describes UNESCO programs aimed at development
of art education and identifies why the international cooperation policy was created in the sphere
of art education. Based on the analysis of UNESCO documents, the author defines the following reasons
for creating the aforesaid policy: development of creative thinking; growth of social peace, tolerance
and mutual respect and a growing contribution to sustainable development. Shilova also emphasizes the
two functions of art education that were conceptualized in UNESCO documents: instrumental function
of art education, i.e. using art as a mean and method of teaching general disciplines, and the function of
creating the picture of the world. Based on the author, documents prepared by UNESCO to be used in the
sphere of art education have rather insignificant influence on national educational programs due to their
non-regulatory nature. At the same time, Shilova focuses on the implementation of particular projects
under the guidance of UNESCO which still turned out to be quite efficient.
Keywords:
UNESCO, international relations, art education, international cooperation, art, education, recommendations, observatories, principles, projects.
Culture of art and the process of creation
Reference:
Kagarlitskaya, S. Ya.
Neo-Classicist and Avant-Gardist
Eugene Ionesco at Taganka Theatre in Moscow.
Cultural Universals in Art
and Aesthetic Practices
// Culture and Art.
2015. ¹ 1.
P. 79-85.
URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=65883
Abstract:
The article is devoted to the theatrical interpretation of Eugene Ionesco’s play ‘Exit
the King’ that was first staged at Taganka Theatre in Moscow in 2012. The play was directed
by a famous Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi and the major part in the play was played
by Valeri Zolotukhin, the People’s Artist of Russia, who played his last role in that play. Later
the play was removed from the repertory but the question about the mutual understanding with
the audience was left unanswered. The author of the present article focuses on how the theatre,
based on a wide range of theatrical communication tools that had been accumulated for centuries,
tried to help the audience to stand above the ‘isolated situation’ and get closer to universal
human values. The author draws attention to the contemporary search for the universal language
of art as a method of involving the audience into the dialogue built upon the principle of
using such cultural universals as time, space, faith, home, love and etc., i.e. eternal existential
constants of human existence and, which is equally important, upon the principle of shifting the
emphasis from the word to the visual image in the play. The stage director Krzysztof Zanussi
rethought the concept of ‘absurdity’ as a genre and overcame the atmosphere of despair which
was typical for plays back in the 1960th. The tragic ending symbolized the release of spirit and
therefore gave hope. The main theme of the play was the study of an ability of an individual to
orient himself in the world when ‘culture does not provide a meaningful history and emotional
experience and events cannot be included in the organic relationship between cultural generations’
(P. Kozlowsky). The play of Eugene Ionesco as a neo-classicist and avant-gardist showed
the path to such interpretation as well.
Keywords:
Theatre of the Absurd, culture, cultural universals, interpretation, communication, myth, hero, visual imaginary, spectator, dialogue.
Fine arts
Reference:
Rozin, V. M.
Commentaries on N. N. Volkov’ Book
‘The Color in Painting’
// Culture and Art.
2015. ¹ 1.
P. 86-101.
URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=65884
Abstract:
The article presents commentaries on a famous book written by N. Volkov ‘The Color in
Painting’. In his book Volkov tried to create the theory comparable to the theories in music studies.
However, comparison of color in painting with the musical sound shows that it is rather impossible.
Rozin points out that Volkov distinguishes between the color as an art form and coloristic art events
which refer to artistic reality. Rozin discusses peculiarities of artistic reality in painting and analyzes
the two color systems (offered by Newton and Goethe) compared by Volkov. Rozin also establishes
and substantiates the hypothesis about the role of these color systems in painting being comparable
to the ‘single point perspective’ concept. The other hypothesis is based on Rozin’s analysis of the
concept of ‘expression’ of human feelings and ideas as it is presented in art studies. Rozin questions
this concept and proves quite the opposite. Based on Rozin, the development of art and ‘color practice’
constitute the emotional life of human but not vice versa. The research article is based on such
methods as the comparative analysis, problematization, reference to the author’s teaching about
psychic (mental) realities as well as his studies of art and music. As a result, Rozin has managed, in
some ways, to distinguish between music and color practice, provide a substantive commentary on
N. Volkov’s book emphasizing the most interesting provisions of that book, discuss peculiarities of
artistic reality which events are described based on the color and establish the hypothesis about the
role of the color concepts offered by Newton and Goethe.
Keywords:
Color, sound, music, color practice, creation, art studies, theory, system, painting, music studies.