The axiological transformation of Russian culture at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries: convergence and divergence in the Art of the "Silver Age"

Zarutskaya Svetlana Valerievna ORCID: 0009-0002-9025-1139 Head of the Department; Institute of Preschool and Primary General Education; Institute of Educational Development of Kuzbass 650000, Russia, Kemerovo region - Kuzbass, Kemerovo, Vesennaya str., 16, sq. 84 intellect-center@rambler.ru Other publications by this author

In the context of the turbulence of the 21st century, the issues of preserving and maintaining cultural heritage and moral guidelines are becoming particularly important. Each generation is responsible not only for the preservation of cultural values, but also for the formation of determinants that work to maintain cultural heritage and moral guidelines at the level of cultural studies, ethics and philosophy. Art, rooted in the cultural field, appears as a transformative force capable not only of beautifying and inspiring, but also of providing tools for changing the world.

Many famous thinkers, such as M.M. Bakhtin, Y.M. Lotman, P.A. Sorokin, investigated the role of art and culture in the process of cultural succession. This study, based on their writings, focuses on the period of the turn of the XIX–XX centuries, known as the "Silver Age". The aim of the work is to identify the mechanisms of art's influence on the fundamental values of Russian culture during this period. In particular, the question of how the art of the "Silver Age" contributed to an axiological transformation, that is, a change in the value system in society, is considered.
The following principles are used as the methodological basis of the research:
• Historical and cultural approach: Consideration of art in the context of a specific historical epoch.
• Axiological analysis: The study of value orientations expressed in works of art.
• Comparative analysis: Comparison of the axiological characteristics of the art of the "Golden" and "Silver Ages".

The objectives of the study are:
1. Definition of historical boundaries and essential characteristics of the axiological transformation of Russian culture at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries.
2. Identification of specific examples of axiological transformation reflected in the art of the "Silver Age".
3. Analysis of convergent and divergent processes in the art of the "Silver Age".
4. Defining the role of art as a subject and catalyst of social change in the period under review.

Modern research and philosophical reflections expand the boundaries of understanding who or what can have subjectivity. Many famous thinkers, such as M.M. Bakhtin, Yu.M. Lotman, P.A. Sorokin and others, have dealt with the role of art and culture in the process of cultural succession. According to Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin, a famous Russian philosopher and literary critic, culture is the most important means of communication between generations. In his work "Towards a Philosophy of Action," he emphasized that every act of creativity and cultural interaction carries a huge transformative potential. According to Bakhtin, art and literature play a key role in shaping public consciousness and moral attitudes. Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman, an outstanding Russian semiotic and cultural scientist, developed the idea that culture is a complex system of signs and symbols. In his writings, he noted that each epoch has its own unique features that determine the perception and interpretation of cultural artifacts. Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin, an American sociologist of Russian origin, studied issues of social dynamics and cultural development. He believed that culture plays an important role in determining the direction of social progress. In his work "Social and Cultural Dynamics," Sorokin argued that changes in culture can lead to significant changes in society.

The perception of art in society is often characterized by a reductionist approach, reducing its value to entertainment, decorative function, or a means of escapism from everyday routines. Non-specialists may consider art primarily as a source of aesthetic pleasure, losing sight of its potential as a powerful catalyst for socio-cultural change and a generator of new meanings. Such a simplistic understanding underestimates the axiological importance of art and prevents its use as a tool for maintaining and developing fundamental values such as "truth", "goodness" and "beauty". A deeper study and recognition of the multifaceted role of art in shaping worldviews and stimulating social progress is necessary to unlock its full potential.

This study focuses on the period of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, known in the history of Russian culture as the "Silver Age". The era, marked by a variety of artistic trends and trends, formed a unique socio-cultural space with an autonomous subject character. Within the framework of this work, an attempt is made to emphasize the value and role of this historical precedent, demonstrating the powerful potential of art in transforming public consciousness and value orientations, and the axiological shifts in society caused by it. In other words, the "Silver Age" is considered as a historical example that allows us to identify the mechanisms of art's influence on fundamental values.

"The era of the Silver Age is not just a period in the history of Russian culture, but an explosive flowering of genius in all fields. It was a time when scientific discoveries, philosophical insights, and artistic innovations went hand in hand. If we look at culture as a field where every name is a significant symbol, as Yuri Lotman taught, then the Silver Age will appear to us as an incredibly dense cluster of outstanding personalities. It is enough to recall Mendeleev, Mechnikov and Sechenov in science, Solovyov and Fedorov in philosophy, Savrasov and Levitan in painting, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky in music, Annensky, Nadson, Garin-Mikhailovsky, Garshin, Chekhov and the late Tolstoy in literature to understand the scale of this phenomenon." "Intensification of ideological searches The theory of philosophy, characteristic of the Silver Age, was determined, to a large extent, by the influence of the original philosophical systems developed by Russian thinkers of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, such as Nikolai Fedorov and Vladimir Solovyov. Fedorov, representing a specific branch of Russian cosmism, proposed an eschatological concept of the "Philosophy of the Common Cause" aimed at radically transforming the ontological foundations of human existence through overcoming death. Solovyov, being one of the founders of Russian existentialism and religious philosophy, developed the doctrine of Theurgy and the concept of Unity, postulating the possibility of transforming the world through the synthesis of religious, philosophical and artistic experience. These intellectual paradigms, shared by such prominent cultural figures as poets and philosophers of the symbolist circle (Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Zinaida Gippius, Andrei Bely, Alexander Blok, Vyacheslav Ivanov), had a significant impact on the formation of aesthetic and ethical ideals of the era.

Axiological Transformation: from the "Golden" to the "Silver Age"

The axiological transformation of Russian culture at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries can be recorded by comparing the moral and ethical integrity of the literary hero in the works of A.S. Pushkin or I.S. Turgenev with the search for characters in the literature of the "Silver Age".Unlike the "golden age", where the ideals of citizenship and service to society prevailed, in the "silver age" issues of individual existence, spiritual quest and aesthetic experiences come to the fore. There is a shift in emphasis from the rational to the irrational, from the social to the individual. This transformation is associated with the crisis of traditional values, the growth of individualism and the strengthening of religious and mystical sentiments in society.

The socially-oriented issues inherent in the classic questions "Who is to blame?", "What to do?", "Who lives well in Russia?", give way to existential inquiries about the meaning of existence, expressed in the questions "Where should we go?" and "Why?", "How are people alive?".
Let's present a definition of the separation of the "Golden" and "Silver Ages":

The principle of separation: The change of the axiological dominant in culture.

Justification of the principle:

The separation of the "Golden" and "Silver Ages" based on the principle of changing the axiological dominant makes it possible to identify the essential differences between these epochs. A change in the value system entails a transformation of the worldview, artistic ideals and creative methods. This principle allows us to see the "Silver Age" not just as a continuation of the "Golden Age", but as a qualitatively new stage in the development of Russian culture, characterized by its own unique set of values and creative attitudes.

Convergence and divergence in the Art of the "Silver Age"

In the art of the "Silver Age" there were both processes of convergence and divergence of values. Convergence refers to the convergence of different cultural fields and the formation of an integrative style. Divergence refers to the clash of aesthetic, ethical and political views, leading to the emergence of various trends and trends.

The tendency towards convergence manifested itself in the desire for a synthesis of the arts, in the fusion of philosophy, religion and aesthetics. Representatives of the "Silver Age" (V. Solovyov, D. Merezhkovsky, Viach. Ivanov et al.) dreamed of creating a new art capable of transforming the world and leading humanity to spiritual rebirth. B.C. Solovyov's philosophy of unity became the semantic "core" of the entire cultural paradigm of the "Silver Age", the foundation of the integrative style of culture. According to the concept of unity, the "free interaction of the human element" of culture with the divine, in particular, the hypothesis of a "future free synthesis" of religion and art, has become possible and even inevitable ^[12]. As a result of the convergence of various cultural fields, a "cultural field" was formed, which became a transformative factor.
Today, having a vision of the chronological context, there is a place to talk about the convergence of cultural values, which is undoubtedly a domestic axiological phenomenon. The essence of the application of the concept of "convergence" from Latin. "convergence" consists in the emergence of a new regulatory, a new shaper, leading to the unification of systems to produce a new synthesized product. Against the background of the convergence of various cultural fields, a certain "cultural field" is being formed, which, in turn, becomes an activity-transforming factor. "The desire to integrate science, philosophy, and art in order to find the ontological basis of existence and to "arrange life according to it" (in Fedorov's words) became a dominant feature of the intellectual life of the Silver Age, manifested in the work of a wide range of thinkers and artists, including, in addition to the aforementioned, such iconic figures as Sergei Bulgakov, Nikolai Berdyaev. Pavel Florensky, as well as representatives of various art trends, from the avant-garde to neorealism."^[14].

First, let's note which areas were included in this convergent cultural space. According to B. V. Kondakov, three main components formed a new cultural synthesis specific to the Russian culture of the Silver Age: "Art, interpreted extremely broadly (as individual creativity, including religious pursuits); Philosophy (as a universal way of existence of creative mind, spirit, including primarily "idealistic" philosophy and religious philosophy) and the Public" ^[5]. On the basis of creativity, there was a convergence and interpenetration of the three named components of the cultural era: art, philosophy and the public. The synthesis, which seemed like something of a heresy in the classical era, turned out to be relevant at the turn of the century and became the real denominator of the integrative style of Russian culture. Art was simultaneously philosophy; philosophy was religion; religion was politics, and all combined into the concept of individual cultural creativity. According to Kantor V.K., "Russian classics from Pushkin to Bunin were obsessed with the desire to understand their country, their reality. And thus, as it were, to reconfigure the mechanism of culture" [4. P.27].

Some of V. Rozanov's thoughts turned out to be consonant with V. Solovyov's ideas about art. The purpose of such a synthesis, in his opinion, is to penetrate into the essence of the world and its re-creation, revealing its “higher meaning” ^[8]. We also see a similar synthesis of art and religion, for example, in the famous work of fr. Pavel Florensky's "Temple action as a synthesis of arts", where religion is reduced from transcendent heights to the level of a cultural phenomenon, on the other hand, the elevation of art to the level of knowledge of God and its transfer to the spheres of heavenly sophistry.

N.V. Shelgunov in “Essays on Russian Life“ called the end of the 80s a time of ”growing critical thought“ and noted ”a movement towards broad generalizing foundations and general, absorbing particular ideals" ^[15].

There are some general patterns in the art of the eighties: the attraction to a philosophical (or rather, even to a religious-philosophical) understanding of reality, the desire to penetrate into the surrounding world, explain and understand it; the desire to reproduce not so much reality itself directly as to create its concept, the orientation of art to represent life through the prism of artistic culture (including folk religious culture); the inclusion of into a work of fiction of the intended associations of the reader (viewer, listener).

In fact, religion began to be interpreted at this time (by V. Solovyov, D. Merezhkovsky, and 3. Gippius, P. Florensky, A. Bely, and others) as a special kind of "Art of Arts", as a complex system of symbols freely and subjectively interpreted, including by means of literature. The creative understanding of art as such combined not only poetry and prose, music and fine art, theoretical aesthetics and practical art, but also art, on the one hand, and non–art (i.e., an environment that was not artistically and aesthetically mastered), on the other, into one whole; this meant not only the expansion of areas of art objects at the expense of non-traditional, unethical, "unaesthetic" objects, but also the transfer of the artist's activities to areas and spheres outside of art.

Thanks to creatively interpreted subjects and blurred boundaries between different cultural fields, everything in culture smoothly flowed into everything, and thus the notorious unity of culture was achieved, in which art, science, philosophy, religion, politics, and everyday life became a single and continuous semantic domain. However, such a merger is a special cultural phenomenon due to the emergence of a special cultural space capable of influencing and conditioning the development and change of society. Landscape painting of the 1880s is undergoing a significant transformation, acquiring a philosophical sound. The landscape is no longer limited to the depiction of natural motifs, but becomes a symbol of the universe, a holistic way of being. Artists, including I.I. Shishkin, in their works sought to express not so much visible reality as personal philosophical searches, reflections on the meaning of life and the structure of the world. Works by I.I. Shishkin ("Among the Rovnaya valley..." -1883, "Forest distances"-1884, "Pines illuminated by the sun"-1886, "Oak Grove" and "Oaks"-1887), A.I. Kuindzhi ("Night on the Dnieper"-1880, "Dnieper in the morning"-1881), I.I. Levitan (“Oak—1880, “Birch Grove—1885, “Evening on the Volga—1886—88, “At the Pool and “Evening Bell—1892) and other works are examples of such existential discoveries. Philosophical motifs are heard both in musical works (N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov's operas) and in literature (A.P. Chekhov's The Steppe). [5. p.43]

Russian music and painting of this time were more oriented towards literature. To see the connection of music with Russian classical literature, it is enough to list the names of operas written in the 80s: “The Snow Maiden” by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov (based on the drama by A.N. Ostrovsky); “Prince Igor” by A.P. Borodin; “Mazeppa”, “Cherevichki", “The Enchantress", The Queen of Spades by P.I. Tchaikovsky and other works. Russian painting was also connected with literature both by images of characters and plots (it is enough to recall the often drawn parallels – N. A. Nekrasov and V. G. Perov, A. P. Chekhov and I. I. Levitan, etc.).

Musical folklore was used in this case not to create the color of a historical epoch or the “image of the people” (as is often observed in other works of Russian art in the middle of the 19th century), but to convey thoughts about cosmic socio-natural harmony, about the universal principles of the relationship between nature and man (folklore and mythological characters of the opera are in a different, which does not coincide with the biographical space–time of the characters) ^[16].

A certain "unfolding" of the painting in space and time, comprehending it with the help of purely literary imaginative means, corresponded to the tasks of painting and the goals of art criticism: the artist should strive to "look deeper into our soul and see... the impression he was counting on with all his work” ^{[2, p. 419]}.

In the 80s, the artist Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge created a series of paintings on religious and philosophical themes. Besides the mentioned painting “What is truth?He wrote the works “Christ and Nicodemus" (1889), “Exit from the Last Supper" (1889), “Conscience" (1891), “Judgment of the Sanhedrin" (1892), “Golgotha" (1893), several versions of “Crucifixion" (1892-94).

A contemporary of N. Ge, writer D.A. Mordovtsev, noted that the painting “What is truth?”refers to the greatest phenomena “ not only in the field of art, but also in the field of philosophy of history” ^[13]. The search for meaning unites not only diverse genres, but also different historical eras. Philosophical paintings on evangelical subjects during this period were painted by V.V. Vereshchagin (”The Crucifixion of the Romans" -1887), V.D. Polenov (the gospel cycle “Christ and the Sinner”–1886-88), I. E. Repin (“Nikola of Myra”), V.I. Surikov (“The Healing of the Blind man By Jesus Christ”-1888), N.I. Kramskoy (“Hail, King of the Jews!"–1877–82); at the end of the 80s, he began work on religious and philosophical paintings by M.V. Nesterov (“The Hermit"–1888-89; “The Youth of St. Sergius of Radonezh”–1896-97); influenced by L. Tolstoy's short story “Than people Alive” an allegorical painting called “Life is everywhere” (the first version of the title “Where love is, there is God”) was written in 1888 by N.A. Yaroshenko. A similar treatment of the religious theme was observed in music (religious works by P.I. Tchaikovsky, “Sulamith” by A. Rubinstein, cantatas “John of Damascus” and “After Reading the Psalm" by S.I. Taneyev).

The novelty of painting in the 1880s (compared with the 1840s and 70s) was not that it offered new answers to “eternal” questions, but rather that it was more peculiar in “a new combination of ideas” (“inner cohesion”, in the words of L. Tolstoy). “thoughts and images.” It is appropriate to talk about a new coordinate system peculiar to this particular period. The new geometry, manifested in the understanding of "top" and "bottom," marked spiritual peaks and falls, and consolidated ethical ideas about the rise of the human spirit. A new vision of the categories of "time", reflected in its stopping, as a reflection of the inner state of a person, the need to change something in his life. Various well-established categories and concepts were brought into the focus of consideration.

It is obvious that the ground was being laid for a new cultural synthesis: the convergence of values associated with the symbolic interpretation of everything – art, philosophy, religion, politics, behavior itself, activity, reality. Creative, expansive, and extremely free interpretation of familiar cultural fields and activities blurred the boundaries between them, which until recently seemed quite definite and well-established.

Thus, we can note that there are some general patterns in the art of the eighties.: the desire for a philosophical understanding of reality, the desire to penetrate into the surrounding world, explain and understand it; the desire to reproduce not so much reality itself directly as to create its concept, the orientation of art to represent life through the prism of artistic culture.

However, at the same time, divergence processes were observed in the art of the "Silver Age", which were expressed in acute polemics between different trends and movements (symbolism, acmeism, futurism, etc.). Each of these trends offered its own value system and its own view on the role of art in society. Symbolists such as Vyacheslav Ivanov sought to mystically comprehend the world through symbols, seeing in art a theurgic force capable of transforming reality. Their opponents were the acmeists (Nikolai Gumilev, Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam), who proclaimed a return to objectivity, clarity and earthly beauty, rejecting the vague allusions of symbolism. Futurists (Vladimir Mayakovsky, David Burlyuk), radically breaking with the past, proclaimed the cult of speed, machines and the revolutionary destruction of old forms, experimenting with the language and form of verse. This intense intellectual and creative atmosphere, generated by the clash of such diverse aesthetic and philosophical attitudes, stimulated the search for new artistic means and ways of expression. Such scientists as Irina Paperno, who studies cultural transformations and identities in the modern era, as well as researchers specializing in certain areas, such as Lev Oborin, who analyzes the poetics of futurism, studied these processes of divergence. Their work helps to understand the complexity and versatility of the artistic picture of the "Silver Age", in which the desire for synthesis paradoxically coexisted with deep differences and conflicts. The clash of these different points of view led to a tense creative atmosphere that promoted the development of new forms and styles.

Thus, to understand the axiological transformation of Russian culture in the "Silver Age", it is necessary to take into account both convergent and divergent processes in art.

Art as a subject and a catalyst for social change
The phenomenon of "convergence of values" in relation to culture gives rise to the next level of awareness of the issue, empirical in its essence. The result of the convergence of cultural fields is the birth of a certain cultural field, which has obvious features of a subject or figure. Having obtained a certain field/cultural space based on the merger, we must give it characteristics.

First, it must have a certain independent status. We read about this in N. Hartmann's "Ethics", in his arguments about the validity of certain ethical norms as commandments. N.G. Chernyshevsky also speaks about the independent nature of art. D.I. Pisarev also writes about this in the article "The Destruction of Ethics" that aesthetics or the science of beauty has the right to exist only if beauty has some independent meaning, independent of the variety of personal tastes."

Secondly, this cultural space, in turn, also begins to create something new, to set the tone, to become the "voice of the epoch", that is, it becomes a kind of regulatory. This idea proved to be very important for Russian culture at the end of the 19th century. It is no coincidence that L. Tolstoy, V. Garshin, and V. Korolenko characterized art as a "world" created and perceived by the human soul. A similar attitude to art, to the process of artistic creation as the creation of a new world, can be found in the aesthetic works of V. Solovyov and V. Rozanov. V. G. Korolenko, who has repeatedly expressed himself on this topic, wrote that the phenomena reproduced in a work of art live independently and “according to their nature”; an artistic idea “has something -it is like its own organic life, moving on according to its own laws" ^{[7, p. 382]}.

From the point of view of V.G. Korolenko, a work of art is “itself a phenomenon of nature, and as such it is always equal to all other phenomena”, it is “a new fact, a new phenomenon of eternally creative nature" ^[8].

In the second half of the last century, the "philosophy of values" appeared in Western Europe as a special branch of philosophical knowledge. In Russian culture, N.G. Chernyshevsky's master's thesis "Aesthetic relations of Art to reality" has become an axiom for the study of aesthetics. The main topic for the study is "Does beauty exist objectively?".

N. G. Chernyshevsky focuses on the practical significance of art, its beneficial influence on life and education." "He is given an indisputable and honorable place among the activities that serve for the benefit of man, because the works of the artist, especially the poet, are worthy of this name – "the textbook of life. The axiological concept of the value of art unfolds before us, which became the subject of a controversial discussion in aesthetic-critical thought in the second half of the century. An essential feature of art, according to the author, is "reproduction of life" and "explanation of life."

According to the classics of Russian culture, it is possible to trace how cultural values cease to be just "givens" and turn into active, subject-forming forces. This happens in various contexts, and here are some key examples illustrating this process: the ideas expressed by M. Bakhtin that art is a dialogue where the author is not the only bearer of meaning. A work of art is a space of interaction between different voices and consciousnesses." Quote. Russian Symbolists (D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, A. Bely, Viach. Ivanov) emphasized the theurgic role of art. They believed that art not only reflected the world, but was also capable of transforming it by influencing spiritual reality. And an artist is not just a craftsman, but a creator capable of "expanding" the boundaries of reality, creating new worlds. For them, a symbol is not a passive representation, but an active form capable of influencing consciousness and the unconscious. According to N. A. Dobrolyubov, "the importance of artistic activity among other activities: the images created by the artist, collecting in themselves, as in focus, the facts of real life, greatly contribute to the compilation and dissemination of correct concepts about things among people" ^[3].

Such ideas about art and its role in society were expressed in the most significant aesthetic theories of the 1880s and 90s. According to V. Solovyov's ideas, “...modern artists more or less consciously want art to be a real force that enlightens and regenerates the entire human world" ^[12]. Art does not aim to correct someone's specific vice, to expose injustice; but the subjective power of art is “enlightening” and “regenerating”, and in this it is close to religion ^[12]. Dobrolyubov ^[3]: "The main advantage of a writer-artist is that he collects the facts of real life in himself as a focus, they contribute a lot to the compilation and dissemination of correct concepts about things among people."

V. G. Korolenko said that the artist creates a new, “possible reality" in which the characters live: “...Artist... it covers all the positive possibilities available in life... Such conditions are rare in life...If it wasn't born in life, it was born in the imagination, lives in it, and acts." Such a person is the embodiment of a “possible reality”, that is, an ideal" ^[6].

A similar definition of art was given by Leo Tolstoy in his treatise “What is art?“..Art is an activity through which one person, having experienced a feeling, consciously transmits it to others...”, and other people “become infected” with these feelings and experience them as their own, merging in perception with the personality of the artist; art is a means to make others “experience the same feeling that the person who expresses his a feeling.”

It is important that the society of this period formed an attitude not to remake the world (which prevailed in the 60-70s), but to change (self-change) a person. Many Russian writers agreed on this. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, K. Leontiev, N. Leskov, and others. In Russian aesthetic thought and criticism at the end of the 19th century, there is a noticeable revision of ideas about the nature of art. It emphasizes not just the reflective, but the active, transformative role of artistic creation. This new approach is characterized by the following provisions: firstly, it recognizes the existence of many interconnected "worlds", from the empirically perceived to those created by the artist's imagination; secondly, artistic worlds are endowed with properties similar to human ones - their own space and time, dynamics of development, detail and population, whose lives have no less reliability; in- thirdly, beauty becomes a key characteristic of the artistic world, capable of transmitting an emotional state from one subject to another; and, finally, the priority of the spiritual world over the material world is asserted, as well as the orientation of the artistic world towards the future, in contrast to the present real world."

Thus, the unique historical experience of the Silver Age shows us that art has great potential for shaping public consciousness and value orientations. However, this potential can only be realized if society recognizes and values the axiological role of art, supporting creative freedom and critical reflection on artistic works.

In the era of globalization and information wars, when moral guidelines are becoming increasingly blurred, the lessons of the Silver Age are especially relevant. Art, as before, can become a powerful tool for the preservation and development of spiritual values, for the formation of a humanistic worldview and for building a more just and harmonious society.

The epoch of the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, known as the "Silver Age", is a period of intense axiological transformation of Russian culture. Against the background of socio-political upheavals and the crisis of traditional values, art goes beyond the simple representation of reality and becomes an active subject in the formation of a new value system, as well as a catalyst for social change. It is obvious that during the Silver Age, artistic production formed a cultural space capable of influencing public consciousness.

The axiological transformation of Russian culture in the Silver Age is a complex and multifaceted process in which art played the role of an active subject and a catalyst for social change. The study of this process makes it possible to better understand the mechanisms of formation of public consciousness, as well as the role of art in the formation of new value orientations and social ideals. Further study of this topic requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account various aspects of artistic practice, social reception, and intellectual history. Moreover, this topic certainly deserves interdisciplinary research at the intersection of art history, sociology, philosophy, psychology and history in order to obtain a more complete and comprehensive understanding of the axiological role of art.
Due to the convergence expressed in the creative interpretation of various cultural fields and the blurring of boundaries between them, a special cultural space was formed in the "Silver Age", capable of influencing and conditioning the development and change of society.

The figures of the "Silver Age" sought to transform not only art, but also life itself. They dreamed of creating a new person capable of spiritual transformation and creative activity. Art, in their opinion, was supposed to be a tool to achieve this goal. In this regard, the ideas of theurgy (the transformation of the world through art) and life-creation (the creation of a new life based on aesthetic principles) are spreading.

Key examples illustrating the transformation of cultural values into active, subject-forming forces:

• The idea of dialogic art, expressed by M.M. Bakhtin. Bakhtin's concept of dialogue, although it was formed later, is rooted in the spiritual atmosphere of the "Silver Age", where the interaction and clash of different voices, worldviews and styles was the norm. Bakhtin emphasized that a work of art is not a monologue of the author, but a dialogue between the author, the hero, the reader and culture as a whole. A key example is the interpretation of Dostoevsky by Bakhtin. Dostoevsky, according to Bakhtin, does not impose his point of view on the reader, but gives the characters freedom of voice, allowing them to come into conflict with each other and with the author himself. This polyphony of voices shapes the reader's consciousness, forcing him to actively participate in creating meaning, and not just consume the finished product. The influence of this idea on the formation of subjectivity is expressed in the fact that the reader (viewer, listener) ceases to be a passive observer, but becomes an active participant in the dialogue, forming his own understanding of the world through interaction with the text / work of art.
• The theurgic role of art in the philosophy of the Russian Symbolists: The Symbolists, unlike the Acmeists and Futurists, believed in the transformative power of art that could change the world. They saw in the artist not just a craftsman or a creator, but a theurgist, a magician capable of combining the earthly and heavenly through art, transforming reality and bringing the advent of a new, spiritual world closer.

• Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius: They preached the idea of a "new religious consciousness", believing that art should become a bridge between religion and life, contributing to the transformation of humanity. Gippius, for example, in her poetry and prose, sought to express religious feelings through eroticism and decadence, believing that it is in overcoming the boundaries of what is permissible that one can come to a new spiritual experience.

Andrey Bely: In his novels, such as Petersburg, he tried to create a synthesis of science, philosophy and art, seeing in this a way to comprehend cosmic mysteries and transform human consciousness. His experiments with rhythm and sound in prose were aimed at influencing the reader on a subconscious level, causing mystical experiences.

Vyacheslav Ivanov: He developed the concept of "conciliarity" and "mystical art," believing that art should unite people in a common spiritual experience. He dreamed of creating a new theater in which the audience would become active participants in the mystery, experiencing catharsis and being transformed spiritually.

For symbolists, art is not just a reflection of the world, but a tool for its transformation. The belief in the theurgic role of art formed a special worldview among the symbolists, in which the artist is not just a creator, but a prophet, a messiah capable of leading humanity to a new spiritual horizon. This conviction, in turn, influenced their creativity, forcing them to look for new forms and methods of expression capable of influencing the consciousness and subconscious of the reader/viewer. The idea of theurgy stimulated the active formation of subjectivity, since the artist, feeling responsible for the future of the world, actively influenced the surrounding reality through his art, striving to change people's consciousness and lead them to a new spiritual experience.

The aesthetic theories of the 1880s and 90s emphasized not just the reflective, but the active, transformative role of artistic creation.

Conclusion

The axiological transformation of Russian culture in the "Silver Age" is a complex and multifaceted process in which art played the role of an active subject and a catalyst for social change. The analysis of this process makes it possible to better understand the mechanisms of formation of public consciousness, as well as the role of art in the formation of new value orientations and social ideals. Further study of this topic requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account various aspects of artistic practice, social reception, and intellectual history.