Keywords: conductor; music therapy; interpretation of choral song; piece of flute; competence music; aesthetic education; the audience disabled; conductor Lvov; Silesian folk songs; Gdansk composition; composer; technique conductor; Adam Sołtys
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Keywords: tool of voice emission; conductor tool; Values in Music; technique piano; music education in college
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Keywords: The Old Town; spatial pattern; functions; border; Mysłowice
The scope of research in the book is the oldest part of Mysłowice, i.e. the Old Town, which, constitutes at the same time the historical core of the town. In the area of the Old Town two parts can be distinguished: the one with preserved medieval urban layout and the other, the so-called new town – which developed in the 19th century with the impact from the train station.The book presents the changes in space and in function that occurred within the Mysłowice Old Town between 1913 and 2013. The lower end of the time range was included in the period referred to as the “golden years” of Mysłowice, dating back to the years 1862–1915. At that time, the town gained its momentum of development, when, next to the dynamic development of the mining and metallurgy industries, as well as spatial expansion, also the gateway function of the town strengthened due to its location on the border of three countries: Prussia, Russia and Austria. Unfortunately, the outbreak of World War I and, consequently, the shift of the state border to the west produced a situation that from the beginning of the 1920s, caused Mysłowice to take a negative path of development – today the town is almost unknown to the general public awareness.Despite the well-developed research on functional and spatial structures of towns located in the Katowice region, there is a clear shortage of such studies for Mysłowice. The literature on the town under examination lacks comparative studies. This proves that the present study is complementary and enriches the field with its dynamic approach and the comparative and explanatory analysis of the town’s evolution. It also allows for an entirely fresh look at the research problem – namely from the geographical and historical points of view. Additionally, this work provides valuable information on urban planning and spatial development of the Old Town district, and points to the determinants of the development of modern functional and spatial structures of the studied area.The book is theoretical and empirical in its character, which is also reflected in its layout. The first chapter contains the methodological and theoretical principles of the conducted research. Theoretical concepts explaining the functional and spatial structures of the towns were arranged in chronological order of their creation, which, in turn, allowed for obtaining a complete picture of the studied subject. The second chapter, on the other hand, presents a historical outline of the town’s development and the location of Mysłowice against the backdrop of the processes shaping other centres of the present Katowiceconurbation.The next two chapters relate to the empirical studies on restoring the functional and spatial arrangement of 1913 and 2013, and to determining the conditions affecting the development or regression of Mysłowice. Firstly, a reconstruction of the spatial arrangement and institutional base for 1913 was made, and the town's role at that time was presented, as well as its international links. The whole of the analysis was closed with an attempt to clarify the nature of the spatial and functional arrangement of the town based on the concept of gatewaytowns.The fourth chapter is devoted to contemporary research on the spatial and functional arrangement of the Old Town in Mysłowice, as well as the degree of degradation of the Old Town district and the processes of its regeneration and renewal. In explaining the recourse of the research area, a reference was made to the concept of dissipative structures in relation to the functions of Mysłowice.The last chapter presents the dynamics of functional and spatial transformations. At this stage of the study, a comparative analysis was conducted for the two selected years, and an attempt was made to explain the resulting direction of transformations. On this basis, the transformations of spatial development, the transportation system and distribution of functions in the Old Town were described. What is more, generalizations were made in the form of a scheme of conditions, urban transformations from the Middle Ages to modern times and the evolution of the importance of Mysłowice. In addition, the end result of the conducted research was the model of functional and spatial structure transformations and functions of the Old Town, also relating to the whole process of spatial evolution and showing the sinusoidal character of urban transformations. The author used a variety of methods that allowed for both the recreation of the two functional and spatial systems as well as to indicate transformations. The study included two types of research, namely the query of archival (cartographic and written) materials and an urban inventory. The result was the creation of an institutional base for two selected research periods (1913 and 2013), which were used for the reconstruction of the functional and spatial plan of the Old Town. In addition, during the compilation of empirical data, a series of statistical methods were applied that later allowed for the comparison of results for the two years, including Zioło’s synthetic index, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and Doi’s method, etc. However, in the interpretation of cartographic materials, the method of town plan analysis developed by Conzen was used, which was conducted based on the sequence of chronologically listed plans of Mysłowice.The book uses both sources typical for historical research (diaries, newspapers), geographical research (cartographic materials) and urban research (sketches and urban planning documentation). In addition, iconographic sources proved to be helpful allowing for, among others visualizing the content of the literature and town plans. Cartographic materials consisted of archival plans and maps of Mysłowice, both large and small-scale, dating from the 19th, 20th and 21st century. The written materials, in turn, comprised mainly address books (Adressbuch) of Mysłowice from 1901–1914, as well as The Official List of Telephone Network Subscribers of 1929. These materials were used to reconstruct the institutional base for 1913. Moreover, other written sources used in the study were historical monographs devoted to the town, the press, and even literary passages, for example Pamiętniki (Diaries) by Kraszewski.The particularity of the research on spatial functionalism refers in the present study to the level of individual buildings, or parcels, of the Old Town district of Mysłowice. Such a approach was possible thanks to obtaining access to the abovementioned historical source materials, as well as detailed field studies undertaken in 2013. Each of the disciplines referenced to in this study provides a different perspective on the town. The geographical perspective refers to the attributes of space and relationships, the economic approach – to functional values, the historical view – to aspects of spatial transformations over time (historical dynamism), and the urban approach – to planning practicality. The conducted research and explanations refer to the evolutionary approach and also to the system approach by showing the transformations of the Old Town against the background of the whole urban centre. The basic theory, applied in the research, were the principles of the genetic and functional approach relating to the evolutionary research conduct. Moreover, in order to offer a fuller understanding of the direction of the ongoing changes of urban space, a reference was made to the theory of dependency on the path of development, which allowed for explaining, in general terms, the direction of the economic and spatial evolution of the town. In turn, the difference between the two distinguished stages under examination required the use of another two theoretical approaches: the gateway cities concept (for 1913) and the notion of dissipative structures (for 2013). The preparation of models referring to the applied theoreticaldepictions after each stage of the research constituted a specific form of a summary and systematizing the ongoing changes. The book is one of the few studies combining various kinds of cartographic, written and material sources. This necessitated using methods that had to conform to the research relating to the past as well as the present.The book presents a study based on two time frames “taken” from the course of the historical evolution of the town, therefore they could constitute a prelude to further, much more in-depth analyses. Moreover, such research can be conducted for other towns of the Katowice conurbation and even of the Upper Silesia region. This would allow for a comparative analysis of inner-city changes taking place in various urban centres and a determination of the trajectory of future changes. On the other hand, the studies on space and economy of the Old Town could be helpful in developing local regeneration programmes, zoning plans for the Old Town district and a study of conditions and directions of spatial development.
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Keywords: postsecularism; Liverpool; forgotten movies; late style; notion of Theodicy
Dwa kolejne tomy, trzeci i czwarty, Stylu późnego w muzyce, literaturze i kulturze są zapisem wykładów wygłoszonych na konferencji zorganizowanej w 2014 roku przez Akademię Muzyczną w Katowicach i Uniwersytet Śląski. Było to już trzecie spotkanie z cyklu „styl późny”, które zgromadziło muzykologów, teoretyków muzyki, literaturoznawców, historyków sztuki, kulturoznawców i filozofów. Problematyka obydwu publikacji dowodzi, że zjawiska „późności” i „schyłkowości” wciąż budzą wiele kontrowersji, nie poddają się jednoznacznym klasyfikacjom i opisom.W tomie czwartym pomieszczono artykuły dotyczące zagadnień stylu późnego w kulturze europejskiej XX wieku. Wśród poruszonych tematów, widzianych przez autorów poprzez pryzmat stylu późnego i „późności”, znalazły się: dzieła filmowe Langa, Leana i Kurosawy, twórczość kompozytorska Blocha, dzieła Iwaszkiewicza w kontekście inwariantnego modelu Tomaszewskiego, elementy stylu późnego w dojrzałej twórczości Sikorskiego, schyłkowy modernizm w utworach Ptaszyńskiej, teologia wydarzenia Caputo jako przykład schyłkowości postsekularyzmu, wielowymiarowy proces zmian, zwłaszcza ekonomicznych i społecznych, w Liverpool, fascynacje stylem późnym w literaturze, muzyce i sztuce, transformacje stylu kompozytorskiego Andrzeja Panufnika, zagadnienie teodycei w Błaznach Barry’ego.
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Keywords: design; aesthetic; contemporaneity; culture; art; lifestyle
The term “design”, commonly used today, however ambiguous and multidimensional, cannot be denied cognitive usefulness. Generally understood, design refersto contemporaneity, revealing the dependencies between production, consumption and culture. As a distinguished type of activities and practices, realizing the values of social aesthetic awareness, it is vibrant in today’s world.This book aims at showing the category of design in a broad cultural context, with a focus on the evolution of this notion in the 20th century. An analysis of this phenomenon, rich in multifarious connotations, begins in Europe at the approach of the 20th century, when this discipline, in a way, emerged from the sphere of artistic activity (Bauhaus, De Stijl), and ends in contemporary times. The road leads through issues strictly connected with the development of technology and aesthetics, but exclusively within the aspect of human life and functioning. In fact, design has always been connected with man as a subject (author and recipient) and anobject that the latter has in use. As such, it carries in itself a great wealth of diverse ideologies and socio-cultural values, which it reflects in connection with human life. In this sense, design is also a reflection of a way of this life, particularly in the times of aesthetization of reality.Design, as a close connection between art, technology and life eludes all definitions; it cannot be be unambiguously boiled down to any specific esthetic theories either. Referring to Peter Bürger, it can be assumed that design is art which became so immersed in life practice, that, having lost distance to the latter, it ceased to function stricte as art and became a new area of quest and experiments. Therefore, aesthetics implicite, as seen by Władysław Tatarkiewicz, tranferred into the sphere of design: drawing from the designers’ practices, contained in items/objects/utilitarian products, in critical thought and tastes and fads of a given period, seems to be the most optimal form of an aesthetic analysis of this phenomenon. Such an analysis is a priority of this work, whereas the chronological aspect helps connect design to the (aesthetic) functioning of man starting from from modernist beginnings of the 20th century throughout postwar changes and postmodernist aesthetic relaxing.
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Keywords: music; literature; culture; the late style; theory of music; philosophy
Two further volumes of The late style in music, literature and culture, i.e. volumes three and four, consist of lectures which were delivered at a conference which was organised in 2014 by the Academy of Music in Katowice and by the University of Silesia. This was a third meeting of the series “the late style”, which was attended by musicologists, theoreticians of music, specialists in the field of history of art, cultural studies and philosophers. The set of problems discussed in both of the publications is proof that the phenomena of “lateness” and “decadence” continues to be a source of controversy and that they elude attempts at unambiguous classification and description.The third volume consists of articles associated with the problems of the late style in European culture starting from the 18th century. The problems which were discussed, ones that are examined by the authors from the perspective of the late style and “decadence”, include the following: Polish Enlightenment artes poeticae of Golański, Dmochowski and Krasicki, the empire style in the context of the entire period and Hegel’s thinking, Brahms’ Klavierstücke op. 118 as a cycle, the music of the Burgundian school and the works of the French composers of the end of the 19th century, Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Trio in D-minor op. 120 against the background of his chamber music works, Nowowiejski’s 4th Symphony op. 58 and a solo organ musical poem, In Paradisum op. 61, the individualism of Rachmaninov’s style, Mahler’s works, “decadence” in the novels of Wilde, Joyce and O’Brien, Lawrence’s poetic works in the perspective of the aesthetics of existence and Said’s book On Late Style, the rhetoric of dynamic “staticness” as a new philosophical and cultural paradigm.
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Keywords: Originality; authenticity; art; work of art.; Interpretation; Context; interpretation communities
Essays on (non-)Originality reflects on originality itself and on originality of the work of art. Originality is understood here as a relational and redefinable property within historically changeable circumstances and contexts. It is related to the act of questioning the objectivistic or essentialist reading of the work of art and qualities ascribed to it. As a result, also the autonomy, completeness, and independence of the artistic object – and, thus, the fixity of sets of notions used to describe it – have been questioned. “The myth of the work of art in itself” – allegedly capable of self-defining its specificity because of its substantiality – has been replaced here with the perspective of contextual entanglements; within their structure, originality proves to be negotiated instead of being settled once and for all. The questions raised in this text refer to historical ambiguity of originality, contexts of redefinitions, the discourse of modernity, and dilemmas connected to chosen phenomenaof contemporary art, which – paradoxically – longs for originality and simultaneously undermines it in numerous ways. Therefore, the presented contexts of these reflections include both traditional art and the problems that multi-paradigmaticity of contemporary artistic practice, and the hybrid nature of conceptual and interactive art cause within the discourse of originality.
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Keywords: Jerzy Juk Kowarski; space; theatre; scenography; cube; sphere; micro‑ and macrocosmos; maths
A Cube Spelled in a Sphere provides an analysis of the artistic output of Jerzy Juk Kowarski – one of the most eminent Polish stage designers – focused predominantly on the issues of understanding and creating theatrical space. A point of departure in the discussion and a characteristic leitmotif of the disquisition presented in the book is the idea put forth by Étienne Souriau. By the end of 1940s, this French philosopher referred to a cube and a sphereas two basic models of performing arts and saw the essence of the theater in a contradistinction of the cubic and spherical principles of space organization. Juk Kowarski’s theatre experience, who applied mathematical intuition in his oeuvre, has verified philosophical speculation of Souriau. Theatrical space, which he has shaped since 1973, subject to numbers and shapes of geometrical figures, that is, squares, circles, straight lines, points, triangles, rectangles, and especially two perfect solids – a cube and a sphere – has displayed both spherical potential set in the closure of a scenic cube, and cubic – in theopenness of theatre spheres. Aside from the tension between the spherical and the cubic space, Kowarski’s theatrical scenery also distinguishes itself by a consistent inscriptionof mysterious signs in the theatre reality that point to interdependence of micro‑and macrocosmos. That which made the author of the present book attempt at illustrating Kowarski’s oeuvre by juxtaposing the selected old and contemporary, physical, cosmological, and philosophical concepts that deal with the understanding of space, was Kowarski’s treatment of the theatre medium as a room for a cognitive‑artistic experiment, a laboratory, where one can freely, for seen as an experiment, confront the world, as well as fascinationwith scientific theories. In his quest for suitable forms of scenery design, as well as other objects, for example, the installations, discussed here, placed in public space, the artistconsistently aims to shape them in such a way that they can contain an unlimited number of places, themes, styles, solutions, epiphanies, expressions, and aesthetics. At the same time, it will allow for weaving the staged dramatic narrative between basic ambivalence of the world illustrated by means of abstract notions – between chaos and order, simplicity and complication, locality and globalism, constraints and infinity, necessity and probability, andfinally between the ultimate opposition between physics and metaphysics. Juk Kowarski creates spaces that can indicate focus within cubic point of cosmic‑theatrical sphere, both the familiar and those forces of the world that we only sense. Such a powerful spatial form can be called a machine of play – a mobile that grasping the ideas of a performance in a form that culminates all energy and staging senses – in spatial structure reveals a model of a worlddeciphered by the theater.
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Keywords: individual identity; collective identity (ethnic; national; regional; cultural); emigration; diaspora; monoculturalism and multiculturalism; stereotypization and ideologization of identity; Western and Southern Slavism
The volume is an interesting continuation of the current scientific publications on Slavic identity, or rather: identities. Not only does it refer to the studies in this area conducted earlier, but also - in the majority of the texts - it significantly supplements them with the analysis of new phenomena related to a differently understood concept of identity. Because of the combination of scientific tradition and questions relating to the future, it can successfully encourage more researchers to deal with the problem of identity in Western and Southern Slavic countries.From the publishing review by dr. hab. Patrycjusz Pajak
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Keywords: music; performer; body; actor; performance; singer; theatre
In humanitites, the issues connected with playing, and therefore performing music have always been an integral part of theoretical reflections and they have always occupied a place in the classification of academic fields, however the aim of the present publication is the conceptualization of the situation of the performer, in which case the conventions of reception and genre classification neutralize the reflection upon the bodily dimension of performance. For this reason, it seems vital to indicate, reveal, and name these theoretical barriers, and look at performance from the perspective of the musicalness of the body and the bodiliness of music. Music can be treated as an abstract entity, as was argued in the past by Boethius and Leibniz, and presently by cognitivists, however when it is being performed, the music gains materiality, while the audial nature of an individual realization of an abstract piece of music constitutes a significant component of the musical work as such. The performance entails the presence of the performer’s body, which becomes the element of the whole aesthetic experience. The axis of reflections contained in the articles gathered in the present volume, quite arbitrarily grouped into two mirrored parts, evolves therefore around the issues of, on the one hand, the musicalness of the performer’s body, and on the other, the bodiliness of performance. Looking at performance from the perspective of music and the body allows to revive our attitude towards the existing and historically described viewpoints on the performer’s body and provide a new insight into this issue. Such a formulation of the problem gives rise to a multitude of methodological outlooks, which in turn demonstrate a dichotomy of research tracks. Some of them will still treat the body as an instrument, others, by contrast, will pay attention to the symbiosis of consciousness and bodiliness; some will emphasize the audiality, others will stress the fusion of the audial and the visual. It is symptomatic that in each case the art of performing, as well as the works themselves, initiates similarly inspiring academic discussions.
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Keywords: ferroelectric ceramics; perovskite ceramics; barium titanate; lanthanum barium titanate; sol-gel method; impedance spectroscopy; PTCR effect; piezoresistive effect; piezoelectric effect
This book is a habilitation monography, devoted mostly to ferroelectric perovskite ceramics, on a warp of barium titanate, both undoped and doped with lanthanum and iron ions. It includes original results of BaTiO3 (BT), Ba1−xLaxTi1−x/4O3 (BLT) and Ba1−xLaxTi1−yFeyO3 (BLTF) ceramics properties analysis of the material obtained using conventional and sol-gel preparing methods. In particular the Author has focused on microstructure and crystalline structure of the material, as well as dielectric, electric, pyroelectric, thermo- and piezoresistive features of the obtained samples along with potential application possibilities.The conducted analysis has led to obtaining a new, semiconductive ceramics material —Ba0,996La0,004Ti0,999O3 (BLT4), with a colossal dielectric permittivity value. As its dielectric loss level is relatively low at the same time, the material can be considered as an alternative filler of ultracapacitors. Piezoresistive properties in a room temperature have also been observed for the investigated ceramics, so it can be assumed that the material could become a core of piezoresistive pressure sensors. Moreover, samples presented in the book exhibit posistor properties in the temperatures above Curie temperature, which makes them adequate for application in PTCR temperatures (Positive Temperature Coefficient of Resistivity). Doping barium titanate with iron ions leads to the significant improvement in piezoelectric properties, which translates into e.g. major increase of d33 piezoelectric coefficient. That puts the discussed ceramics material among lead-free materials which are tough competition for PZT‑type ceramics, used for obtaining lead-free piezoelectrics.An additional asset of the synthesized materials is an economic, and environment-friendlytechnology of obtaining. The discussed construction materials would be successfully applied in innovative electronic components, dedicated to applications in modern mechatronic and automatic systems.
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Keywords: Szymanowski; Mazurkas; folklore music of Podhale
This book examines the presence of folk material in and the influence of the New Objectivity on the „Mazurkas” op. 50 and op. 62 by Karol Szymanowski through various elements: rhythmic patterns, form, proportions, phrase structure, texture, accompaniment patterns, and articulation. Special emphasis is placed on the influence of the folk music practiced in the Highland region of the Tatra Mountains and its unquestionable presence in the „Mazurkas”. This dissertation dispenses with an analysis of the tonal system in the „Mazurkas”, a topic extensively covered in a thesis by Ann Kossakowski (Yale University, 1980). Chapter 1 discusses stylistic differences in Szymanowski’s works prior to the 1920s and beyond, as well as general trends in European music of that period. Chapter 2 focuses on the New Objectivity movement which is exemplified by the return to traditional forms and textures. Found in the works of Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Hindemith, this new trend represents the search for a new direction reflective of Baroque and Classical models. The subsequent chapter is devoted exclusively to Polish folk music with distinctions drawn between Lowland and Highland folk styles and draws upon various examples of folk dances and songs. The main body of the book begins in Chapter 4, which is devoted to the analysis of the „Mazurkas”. A close look at the individual elements of the compositions highlights the remarkable way in which Szymanowski’s music manifests the New Objectivity in its texture, clear phrase structure, symmetrical proportions, and the rhythmic unity achieved through irregular accents typical of folk music. Chapter 5 explores the interpretive challenges a performer faces in the „Mazurkas” and examines each composition individually, analyzing the character and function of key elements: rhythmic patterns, articulation, and especially rubato. Szymanowski’s influence on modern Polish music and his contribution to later generations cannot be overstated and is the subject matter of the last chapter, followed by a summation in the conclusion.
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Keywords: cyberculture; cyberspace; art of new media; virtual reality; interactivity; immersion; interface; cyber-art
Cyberculture and critical studies on its history and its becoming a new cultural paradigm constitute one of the most important phenomena of technosociety, whose functioning is determined by new digital media and the internet. A fundamental thesis, specifying the direction of theoretical and interpretative efforts undertaken in the present work, is the conviction that cyberculture is based on the syntopia of art, science, and technology. However, before the definition of cyberculture is formulated, historical contexts of this phenomenon are outlined. The ideas of third culture and New Renaissance, put forward by John Brockman, are treated here as a theoretical basis for the forming of network society. Cyberculture should be considered as the conclusion of the processes initiated by countercultural performances in 1960s. Chapter Two broadly develops the concept of the syntopia of art, science, and technology. The art of technology and technologies of art refer to scientific background, as this phenomenon has its roots in the first manifestations of computer art in 1960s. After cyberculture has been defined in Chapter Three, the place of art in cyberspace and cyberculture is investigated in the following chapter. Chapter Five discusses the key forms of participation for cyber-art, i.e. the problems of interactivity (and interpassivity), immersion, and interface. Chapter Six is devoted to the theory and practice of documenting and presenting the art of digital media in the era of telematic and IT revolution. The key concepts that render the changing conditions of culture that used to be oriented towards data storage, and nowadays towards data transmission, are immateriality, metamediality, and networking. Archives with no physical location, web platforms taking over the function of art galleries, museums, libraries, and repositories set completely new standards of thinking about art in public circulation. The final chapter deals with the issue of virtual museums as a new territory of art, both the one that uses traditional media, as well as cyber-art. In the concluding part of the book, cyberculture is treated as a kind of revitalization of economy and the gift culture proclaiming a new revolution of everyday life in digital reality.
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Keywords: spoil heap; poetry; Upper Silesia; imagination; symbol;
Instead of being an all-encompassing monograph, this book consists of essays and articles engaging a number of authors. It predominantly focuses on the poems which treat the image of a spoil heap, the most iconic representation of the black Silesia, as a literary symbol. The spoil heap turns out to be not only an irremovable element of the landscape, but also a trope raising both existential and ethical issues.The spoil heap, understood as the symbol of landscape, is a recurrent motif in the literary works of Silesian poets. This book focuses on the most representative poets, if not the most important ones for the Upper Silesian literature; however, it is not the intention of this book to engage in literary and historical debates that establish such a hierarchy among authors, but rather to elaborate on the topic which has been so far unnoticed in literary studies. In other words, this work aims to look at Silesia and its inhabitants locked in the industrial landscape by means of the spoil heap – its most iconic symbol – and to pose significant questions concerning existence and its value.The spoil heap is referred to by both eminent and less well known poets (and even amateurs). It is beyond the scope of this book to list all of them. Hence, the analysis focuses entirely on the first and second generations of Silesian poets: Emil Zegadłowicz (born 1888), Włodzimierz Żelechowski (born 1893), Wilhelm Szewczyk (born 1913), Bolesław Lubosz (born 1928), Tadeusz Kijonka (born 1936), and Stanisław Krawczyk (born 1938).Even though the poems stem from different historical and social contexts, the works discussed in this book are united by the similar images of the spoil heap (the only exception being the ones by Emil Zegadłowicz, who does not mention the spoil heap at all). The authors depict the spoil heaps as, among others, the “mountains of life” surprisingly blooming with nature, the places serving as shelters, bunkers, and even arsenals during wars and the Silesian Uprisings, the spaces of secret and intimate meetings; they are also the places of poverty, the reality of everyday toil and one’s salvation. Finally, the spoil heaps have been shown as wastelands, dumps of rubbish, piles of mine residue, or as hills polluting and intoxicating the surrounding areas.The chapters on the Silesian poets this book consists of are the critical readings of the eponymous image; still, each approach to this image construes its own distinctive perspective: “it reveals the visible, yet in a different – and previously unknown – way.” In these investigations, interpretation – as a method – is the key to unlock the poetic imagination, whereas literary and historical contexts pop out – one might say – by a mere chance, which, nevertheless, insightfully supports the practices of reading.
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Keywords: puppet theater;
The book is an attempt to document Polish-Czechoslovak, as well as Polish, Czech and Slovak puppetry collaboration. It also provides an analysis of the phenomenon of mutual influence between these theaters. The inspiration to write this book comes from a visit of the Czech and Slovak artists to the Polish puppetry theaters, which is particularly conspicuous in the Silesia region. Unlike the Polish theater, the Czech and Slovak puppetry tradition is long and rich, which resulted in the situation that Czechoslovak puppetry took root in the tradition that was enhanced by the imposed doctrines of social realism, whereas Polish puppet theater was shaping more freely with no encumbrance. Thus formed Polish style which made use of visual texture and various means of expression that transcended the traditional idea of a puppet, and experimenting with the power of expression by using a puppet along with a real human actor, proved inspiring to the neighboring country of Czechoslovakia. At the turn of the 1970s and 1980s Czech and Slovak artists commenced appearing on Polish puppet stages. With the advent of the 1980s these visits turned into a close international collaboration. Among the most active artists on the Silesian scene were: from Slovakia, Marián Pecko and his team (Eva Farkašová, Jan Zavarský, Pavol Andraško, Robert Mankovecký); from the Czech theater, Matěj Kopecký, Miroslav Vildman, Karel Brožek, Petr Nosálek, who brought their collaborators (Alois Tománek, Petr Litvík, Tomáš Volkmer, Pavel Hubička, Pavel Helebrand, Nikos Engonidis). In the 1990s Polish puppet theaters boasted guests from Zaolzie; among them were Rudolf Chowaniok, Paweł Żywczok, Halina Szkopkowa, and Janusz Klimsza. At the same time Czech artists, such as Karel Brožek, Petr Nosálek, Jakub Krofta, became artistic directors of the puppet theaters in Katowice and Wrocław, which was an unprecedented phenomenon. Apart from the above-mentioned artists, there are others working for puppet theatres in Silesia, as well as in other regions of Poland, namely, Norbert Bodnár, Simona Chalupová-Pěničková, Hana Cigánová, Karel Fiszer, Vacláv Kábrt, Pavel Kalfus, Josef Krofta, Lukáš Kuchinka, František Lipták, Zdeněk Miczko, Jan Polívka, Ondrej Spišák, Libor Štumpf, Povel Uher, Marek Zákostelecký. These artists represent older generation as well as younger ones, who completed their studies at the faculty of Alternative Art and Puppetry in Praha. This particular situation did not remain unnoticed as Hanna Baltyn claims that the Czech and the Slovak rule, and Henryk Jurkowski asks whether this means an invasion. Therefore, questions arise as to what extent the Czech and Slovak presence in the Polish puppetry is conditioned by the opening of borders, community of cultural references, and weakening position of the Polish theater, or whether it is the result of permanent cultural fluctuations. This publication seeks answers to these questions. In addition, it depicts most significant performances staged in Silesian theaters in 1980–2010 by artists from Czech and Slovakia.
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Keywords: imagology; conceptions of nations; collective memory; cultural cognition; associative networks; inheritance in culture
The book touches on themes from the area which has been termed as ethnolinguistic imagology. It undertakes a discussion over the nature of collective conceptions of nations (a term coined by a Polish forerunner of imagological research, J.S Bystroń) as cultural conceptualizations, located in individual minds, where – accordingly to the connectionist model – they are simultaneously processed within a connected network of concepts as data collected within, while the problem of their verbal and visual nature is one of the most important subjects of the discussion. The book also considers the issues of evolution, inheritance in culture and attempts to address the workings of the collective memory, including collective remembering and forgetting (thus entering the area of humanist memorology). The dependence of collective conceptions of nations on the environment is demonstrated, and in particular, on political, economic and social experience of community, which leads towards a discussion on the subject of collective identity. The theoretical conclusions are derived from an analysis of the data collected as a result of over 20 year research conducted in the following stages: 1990, 1994, 2012 (fundamental research), 2016, 2017 (supplementary research) in form of associative tests set up to acquire verbal data (on the subject of six nationalities: English, Czech, French, German, Polish, Russian) and visual data (on the subject of sixteen nationalities: American, English, Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Polish, Russian, Scottish, Swedish, Tatar, Turkish, Ukrainian, Cosssack, Italian, Jewish).In the first chapter, entitled Conceptions of nations in the light of cognitive studies on culture, theoretical grounds for the methodology presented in the work are set. The history of European studies on imagology is presented, with a particular attention being paid to the research concerning Slavic cultures. Characterized are the main themes of the ten year discussion over culture as a cognitive phenomenon and theoretical foundations are laid out for own conception, where the imagological perspective attempts to demonstrate the dynamics of the process of conceptualizing other nations, with the presupposition that a given culture’s knowledge is not fixed but undergoes modifications within the frames of the evolution of the entire culture. Relating to appropriate conceptions of the mind, i.e. the connectionist model and the vision of the embodied mind, and also own research concerning the evolution of Polish conceptions of nations over several hundred years, the structure of the cognitive network of conceptions of nation is demonstrated, which originates from grouping ideas into clusters, which are connected with closer and more remote relations and are at the same time some part of a conceptual network of a given culture.In the second chapter, entitled Research and conclusions, basic information about the researched population, the conditions and circumstances of the research and the research methodology is given. The chapter indicates a possibility of evaluation of changes or continuity of cultural conceptions which occur in minds of two successive biological generations at moments important for the community: during the first stage of the Polish system transformation and the so-called breakthrough of 1989/1990 and the second stage during the Euro 1012 soccer championships held in Poland. The specificity of research and the results of association tests, including a test of own design where the task consisted of drawing a person of a given nationality in response to a stimulus were characterized. The principles of correlating the results of verbal and pictorial questionnaires were discussed and presented in form of tables, where the ordering of data reflects the grouping of concepts from the appropriate cognitive domains into clusters of the conceptual network in the human mind (1. Initial taxonomy, 2. Place. Territory, 3. Language. Speech, 4.a. Appearance. Physical qualities, 4b. Appearance. Clothing and armament, 5. Emotions, 6.a. Behaviour in a group. Manners, 6.b. Character and personality, 6.c. Temperament, 6.d. Intellect, 6.e. Ethics, 4.c. Money. Wealth, 8.a. Food, drink, stimulants, 8.b. Artifacts. Technology, 8.c. Culture, 8.d. Sports, 9. Current politics and historical events). The purpose of this part is a presentation of the thematic content of particularconceptions of nations and an indication of some of the trends in their evolution.In chapter three, entitled Discussion, observations which stem from the comparative analysis of results were presented. The part Cognitive domains in construing conceptualizations of nations discusses the processing of data concerning the nations within individual clusters that group concepts from appropriate domains. This allowed for noticing related transformations within the whole network of cultural conceptualizations particular to a researched group, for instance an improvement in conceptualizing a German being parallel with a simultaneous deterioration in conceptualizing Russians or Americans. The symptoms are apparent in the change of clarity of concepts group in individual clusters and which can easily be diagnosed based on the number of associations and reactions to a stimulus. In the part A picture or a word? Conceptions of nations as cognitive representations, the comparison of data from the verbal and pictorial questionnaires demonstrated certain differences in the intensity and quality of processing information (linear or parallel) on the subject of appearance, psyche and emotions, social attitudes; it revealed the fact that pictorial data more quickly register the changes in consciousness of a given group (e.g. concerning the sense of identity and self-stereotype, or the recordings of the most current information in the supplementary research from 2016 and 2017), while verbal ones are more traditional and slower in reflecting the changes. The mutual influence of both codes was also noticed, when a word inspires the design of the picture, e.g. through a suggested association with a strongly rooted phraseology. In parts entitled Memory and identity. Continuity and change – inheritance, the results were compared from the perspective of changes concerning collective memory and reflections were presented over cultural inheritance in cross-generation transmission in a given group, including a broader perspective of Polish culture in its historical development and wide territorial reach. The conclusions concern a gradual decrease in the number of historical associations in successive stages of research, the reduction of elements of cultural and communicative memory, which indicates, among others, a certain cultural evolution which occurred in the studied period and which consists of both the transmission of selected unchanged cultural conceptualizations, and modifications, or even mutations of others (in the process of cultural inheritance). Due to the dependence of these changes on political and economic transformations, both in the local and global environment, we can speak of capturing a certain stage in the evolution of Polish culture in its researched fragment.
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Keywords: semantics; phraseology; parts of speech; terminology; folklore; Translation studies; pragmaling
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The book consists of three parts. The introduction synthetically presents the environment being the subject-matter of this publication. The main part of the work is devoted to a dictionary alphabetically presenting profiles of an architecture-building staff of the town in the inter-war period. The appendices include selected biographies of the people in question. The biogram, apart from data concerning a professional path and personal life of selected authors, contains information on the author’s building realizations. The source basis constituted the literature of the subject and documents stored in The State Archive in Katowice and Archive of The Town Hall in Katowice. The biographical entries, wherever possible, included photographies of a given person and his/her selected realizations. The aim of the Dictionary was to present the profiles of architects, engineers and builders connected with Katowice in the inter-war period. It covered people who inscribed in a cultural and material picture of the town thanks to their presence or work achievements. Some of them, after arriving in Katowice in the 1920s, were connected with the town for ever. These were among others Tadeusz Michejda, Tadeusz Łobos, Lucjan Sikorski, Zbigniew Rzepecki, Leon Dietz d’Arma, Kazimierz Sołtykowski, Stanisław Gruszka, Stefan Kaufman, Witold Kłębkowski, Karol Schayer, Eugeniusz Pogoda, Henryk Schmidtke, Stanisław Tabeński, Karol Tchórzewski and Henryk Zawadowski. Others lived in Silesia only temporarily and contributed to a few or Just one realization. What has to be remarked on here is that the current state of research does not allow for ascribing a bigger importance to them. However, one can assume the research findings in the future will make it possible to present the total output of these authors too. They are Jan Bieńkowski, Eustachy Chmielewski, Witold Eyssmont, Odo Litawski, Józef Rybicki or Władysław Schwarcenberg-Czerny. The third group of workers was not connected with Silesia either because of work or living place. Their achievements in Katowice and nearby area allow for taking them into account in the Dictionary. Often, as was the case with edifices in Katowice such as a Voivodship Council and the Silesian Sejm, a cathedral, a covered market or a building of Silesian Technical Scientific Schools they were the milestones in the process of the architecture development of the town and region. To this group belong Kazimierz Wyczyński, Ludwik Wojtyczka, Stefan Żeleński, Piotr Jurkiewicz, Franciszek Mączyński, Zygmunt Gawlik, Franciszek Krzywda-Polkowski, Marian Lalewicz, Jadwiga Dobrzyńska, Zygmunt Łoboda, Wacław Nowakowski, Prot Komornicki, Stanisław Brukalski, Kazimierz Wędrowski, Alfred Wiedermann, Stefan Bryła, Adam Kuryłło. The least-known is the group of builders in Katowice in the inter-war period. Some of them continued their activity before 1922. These were among others Hugo Grünfeld, Karol Krompiec, Henryk Firla, Emanuel Witt, Józef Wuzik or Rudolf Fischer.The information collected in the dictionary should be an initiative for further and complex research on the environment of architects, engineers and builders in Silesia. Many of the authors under examination deserve a monographic work.
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Keywords: drama; theater; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Montenegro; Croatia; Kosovo; Macedonia; Slovenia; Serbia
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