Uniunea Artiştilor Plastici în perioada 1954-1963. Între „aparat de stat” şi „dispozitiv”

Author(s): Magda Predescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 3/2017

This article is a case study of the Romanian Artists’ Union during the Thaw as an institution potentially capable of renewal by creatively applying the rules imposed in the totalitarian communist State. The methodology used is that of archival research through the use of the concepts of Repressive State Apparatus, Ideological State Apparatus (Althusser), dispositif (Foucault), and habitus (Bourdieu). The text shows that from 1953 until 1957, in the context of similar changes in the Soviet Union, the Union of Romanian Fine Artists underwent a gradual transformation, which culminated with the change of the Management Board and a professionalization on specific criteria of the structure. The characteristics of the modern foucauldian dispositif, that the Union acquired in the period of the Thaw, remained valid in the next period, of reideologisation (1958-1963). The conclusions are that even in conditions of totalitarianism, subjects and structures can introduce creative elements into the process of reproduction of a given order, by modifying this order.

"En la forêt de Longue Attente"… ou six promenades dans les bois des Nabis et d’ailleurs

Author(s): Andreea Apostu / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2012

This paper aims to retrace the manifold, often contradictory meanings underlying the works of the Nabis – an almost esoteric group of French artists which emerged near the end of the 19th century. Their primary sources of inspiration were, following in Baudelaire’s footsteps, remote in both space (Japanese art) and time (Medieval art). I shall attempt to analyse the manner in which several artists of this group use the medieval ambivalence of the forest in their paintings, as well as try to determine whether any major semantic shifts ensue in their treatment of this widespread imaginary topos. The paper’s main thesis is that this ambivalence is adapted to the intrinsic modernist tension between a feeling of despair, coupled with the anxiety of being faced with the positivist, essentially rationalistic explanation of existence, and an enormous desire to transform the world, so that it no longer opposes the Self.

L’image persuasive et l’"ymage" séductrice

Author(s): Alexandra Ilina / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2012

The visual image acquires an unprecedented significance in the Arthurian romance "L’Estoire del Saint Graal", written in the thirteenth century, in which one can easily notice the insufficiency of the spoken language, less spectacular than the visual representations who prove to be much more effective instruments for the Christians, on their mission to convert the pagan kings and their peoples. From the oneiric visionary image to the image of the crucifixion and to the pagan, malefic image, the visual signs become much more convincing than words whose power is diminished and images finally generate a coherent language, more attractive and seductive for the pagan kings and also for the reader who finds himself persuaded towards a conversion of its own.

Mindful Observers

Author(s): Jutta Fischel,Konrad Stania / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

The importance of services running in the background is often overlooked. Museum wardens assume such a role. This project focuses on them. It works using the means of photography, interviews and the respectful design of the presentation of the project results in a gallery.

Krize a stát za první republiky ve světle filmových pramenů

Author(s): Luboš Marek / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2023

The text offers a perspective on the crises of Czechoslovakia through selected films deposited in the National Film Archive. A large space is devoted to fires in Prague as part of the news film from 1934. A completely different type of recording concerns the town of Hradec Králové in 1929 visited by the first Czechoslovak president in the company of prominent politicians. This film closely reveals the specific security measures designed to prevent the crisis.Subsequently, two short films mapping sporadic protests and the mobilisation on the eve of World War Two are briefly described. The article concludes with information about films dealing with the army mobilisation. The greatest attention is paid to a more detailed characteristic of the film Neporažená armada (Undefeated Army) from 1938; although it should promote the idea of the homeland’s defence against the enemy, the occupation of Czechoslovakia not only required an amendment of the original title, but also the changes of the final scenes.

Mircea Săucan – A Paramount Escape from Reality in Romanian Cinema

Author(s): Marian Sorin Rădulescu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Mircea Săucan, one of the best kept secrets of Romanian narrative cinema, is yet to be unveiled. Starting off as a dedicated Stalinist, he studied in Moscow at VGIK (Moscow Film School) and he was very familiar with mainstream propaganda works by Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Vertov, Dovzhenko. When he returned to Romania, he worked as a Communist Party secretary of “Alexandru Sahia” Documentary Film Studio in the 1950’s. As Romania gradually evolved towards national-communism and liberated itself from the patronage of the USSR, Săucan became a persona non grata. His exceptional talent and powerful cinematic feeling helped him create unconventional and formally radical works. His revolutionary style, in perfect synchronization with the French Nouvelle Vague, acted as a tremendously macroseism able to shatter the very geological configuration of Romanian cinema. Nobody wanted that. Mircea Săucan directed only four full length features. Each of them had to face major opposition when it was about to be released: When Spring Is Hot (1960), The Endless Shore (1963), Meanders (1967), 100 Lei (1973). In 1971, a journalist asked Mircea Săucan what he thought of the coming decade. The director admitted uneasily that he was rather concerned about what the coming decade had planned to surprise him with. His concerns proved to be true, as he stopped directing full length features in the early 1970’s. He was allowed to direct only a few shorts and, in the late 1980’s, he emigrated to Nazareth, Israel.

Nietzsche and Cinema: Cinematography as an Expression of Unity between Apollonian and Dionysian Impulses

Author(s): Cristina Radu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

The following article analyzes the process of filmmaking through the framework of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Apollonian-Dionysian dichotomy. Specifically, it centers on cinema as an example of the interplay of both Apollonian and Dionysian impulses. The first half of the article provides a definition of Nietzsche’s dichotomy and two descriptions of Apollonian-Dionysian unities as cultural tendencies and artistic elements. The second half of the article examines how key aspects of the movie production process embody either Apollonian or Dionysian elements. Additionally, a case study of the film Pan’s Labyrinth is employed to exemplify these concepts in a movie experience.

Strindberg, Bergman, Noémina...

Author(s): Călin Ciobotari / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2023

Enfance et cauchemar dans le film Voilà de Dumitru Grosei

Author(s): Noemina Câmpean / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2023

Музиката в детската градина

Author(s): Binka Karaivanova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

The article addresses the issue of the specific impact of music and the effect of its inclusion in the daily routine of children in preschool age at various moments besides in music classes. Given the complex process of musical development that requires constant contact of the children with music and opportunities for its reproduction, the two music classes provided for in the kindergarten curriculum are not sufficient. Through the integration of music into the other routine activities, the kindergarten becomes a specific environment, providing children with daily involvement in musical activities, which is an integral condition for successful musical development. The publication outlines two different approaches to communication with musical works, each of which contributes in a specific way to the formation and development of the ability to perceive music and to express oneself through music.

ENTANGLED MEMORIES: REPRESENTATIONS OF CRIMEA IN LITERATURE, POETRY AND ART

Author(s): Alina Cosma / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2023

The United Nations' cultural agency, UNESCO, has recently added the Historic Centre of Odesa (Ukraine) to its World Heritage List. Odesa is part of the Crimean Peninsula and it is a legendary port that has left its mark on the cinema, literature and the arts. Crimea has always attracted a large number of cultural figures including Alexandr Pushkin, Maxim Gorky, Anna Akhmatova, Ivan Bunin, Marina Tsvetaeva, Isaac Babel, Boris Pasternak, etc. Like the Russian-born Anton Chekhov, Ukrainian authors who have written about the peninsula were, historically, not native Crimeans. Crimea is not only the focus of geopolitical conflict, but also the source of artistic and literary inspiration. In this article, I analyze some perspectives on Crimea, starting with Ivan K. Aivazovsky’s paintings (1817-1900), and some selected texts from those of the above-mentioned authors. For a current view on Crimea, I shall also consider some aspects of Ilya Kaminsky’s contemporary poetry.

Развитие на монтажния принцип като метод в изкуството на руския авангард

Author(s): Gergana Tabakova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2023

The text aims to present the approaches of the Russian avant-garde in different arts and the interaction between them. The study presents the artistic practice of the period as a broad-spectrum phenomenon which manifests the idea of synthesis. The montage is brought out as universal method in the context of the various arts. The article also claims that, gradually, the montage principle turns into an instrument of the avant-garde’s urges for synthetism. As a result, the montage method gives the artistic practices possibilities of renewal. The period’s practices and concepts that cons ainting, film, sculpture, theatre, and literature are analysed in relation to the aims of the text. For the purpose of analysis, the following are used: little-known Futurist books, Sergei Eisenstein’s views on montage, the artistic practices of Russian futurist poets, Malevich’s zaum painting, and others. Searching for the interaction between these, the text brings out more fully the role of montage as a creative and formal method of the avant-garde.

SLOVAKIAN FEMALE COMPOSERS AND ROCK INSTRUMENTALISTS: THEIR STATUS, SUCCESS AND PERSPECTIVES

Author(s): Yvetta Kajanová / Language(s): English Issue: 16/2023

The paper discusses gender issues and the reception of female musicians in Slovakia.Using historical analysis, the author examines the establishment of, and behaviourtowards, females in various genres from classical to jazz, alternative rock andelectronic music. Whilst the acceptance of classical female composers began fortyyears ago, their jazz and rock counterparts were disadvantaged by a twenty-yeardelay. It was not until 2000 that female instrumentalists started to gain attentionfrom audiences as drummers, bassists, or guitarists. Based on the evaluationof a survey of Slovakian alternative rock players, a study of their careers, and acomparison of selected artists, the writer analyses issues relating to the acceptanceof female composers and instrumentalists in Slovakia. The vast majority of researchparticipants, who are musically educated, identified market size as one of the barriersfor female musicians. With regard to audience perception of females on stage, half ofthe respondents stated that gender predominates, and the rest, on the other hand,believed that the quality of music-making had a greater significance.

Поклонничеството и православните храмове в Югозападна България

Author(s): Zhana Pencheva / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

The article analyzes preserved objects related to the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the Holy Mountain. It examines the stamped icons, the interpretations of the City of God and the Holy Mountain in separate scenes, replicas of miraculous icons, and ritual practices. The preserved artefacts in the temples of Southwestern Bulgaria lead to the conclusion of mostly direct contacts with the monasteries of Mount Athos. They are conditioned by the territorial proximity to and immediate interactions with representatives of the monasteries of Athos.

Креативните методи в обучението на студентите по дизайн и творческите проекти в реална среда

Author(s): Donika Kirova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

The article presents the process of completing a learning assignment for students majoring in Graphic Design in the Painting and Visual Arts course. It is a project on a preset theme: “Colour Composition for an Exterior Wall Layout.” In this case, unlike regular training assignments, a real location was chosen with the corresponding requirements for the site and the environment. The text comments on the emerging need to create a different strategy, uniting the mastery of many more functions than in the implementation of a theory. It investigates the relationship of the real object and its specific parameters with the students’ work (motivation, activity, and achievement of the goals). Conditions are set for tracking all stages, including organization, participants, practical implementation, etc. Furthermore, the paper outlines the subsequent impacts of the implementation of the project in an aesthetic and social aspect.

Студио „Експериментална рисунка“ 2022

Author(s): Ekaterina Ivanova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

This article presents a creative project, initiated and implemented by lecturers and students from the Faculty of Fine Arts at St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo. The project combines two related exhibitions: “Social Environment: The Boundaries of the Conventional” and “Skin: The Boundaries of My World.” The paper proposes a different perspective on the process of drawing and the actual drawing. The artistic practice is analyzed through several aspects: motivation of the participants, justification of the idea, work process, presentation and reflection of the art. These aspects are correlated to the current artistic processes and the perception of contemporary art as a whole. Attention is drawn not only to the nature of the artistic work (Is it a process, continuum, object or fact?), but also to the subject (the artist) and its transformation while creating the work and completing the process through establishing a connection with the recipient.

Деконструктивизмът в модата като културен феномен на постмодернизма

Author(s): Daniela Petrova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

The study includes presentation of messages and symbols, encoded in Bulgarian embroidery and related to the worship of the Sun. In the ornaments of the embroidery art, the structure, composition and colouring are synthesized in such a way that they express the nature of the Bulgarian national thinking, imagination and aspiration for beauty. Keeping this heritage is important for the decorative applied art and its development, as well as for saving the roots of Bulgarian spiritual culture.

Razvoj digitalnih kompetencija i njihov uticaj na inovativne pristupe u nastavnoj praksi studenata i studentica Akademije likovnih umjetnosti Univerziteta u Sarajevu

Author(s): Nela Hasanbegović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 11/2023

The development of new technologies has a significant impact on many artistic fields, with work processes redefined and new digital tools can join analog ones to become a continuation of the creator's hand. The goal of this research is to determine the possibility of using digital and analog tools in art education. The research was conducted among students/future teachers, with the aim of determining the extent to which digital and analog tools are suitable for certain art design, and to examine the methodological specifics of the implementation of such classes. The research “Development of digital competences and their influence on innovative approaches in the teaching practice of students of the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Sarajevo” foresees a series of activities, which require that students, through lectures, seminars and workshops, become familiar with new possibilities of digital and analog tools, and to implement the acquired knowledge in their teaching practice. The impact of the research is reflected in the strengthening of students' output competencies, their preparation for independent activity in the primary educational context. Digital and analog tools, along with the application of the general laws of visual language, will have an empowering effect on students and future teachers, but also on the end users of the acquired knowledge, that is, on the students of Canton Sarajevo primary schools. The use of digital and analog tools for the purpose of creating an art solution will enable all participants of the research activities to develop a wide range of creative skills and expand their output digital competences, as well as easier design and construction of a personal art manuscript. The results of the research can be a real incentive for the modernization of the university education program, the lifelong training program for art teachers, and current and future teaching practices, which primarily want to respond to the challenges of social aspirations.

Creating art in a throw-away society: metamorphoses in Eduardo Paolozzi’s and Pamela Longobardi’s sculptural works

Author(s): Johannis Tsoumas / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

Two of the most important representatives of early eco-art that emerged from the ideas of reusing, reinventing, and transforming the waste produced in the 1950s UK overconsuming society and the 2000s plastic-haunted nature, wildlife, and especially marine environment, are the British early Pop Art artist Eduardo Paolozzi and the American eco-artist and activist Pamela Longobardi, respectively. The idea of metamorphosis in their sculptural works constitutes one of the most inventive ways of not just turning waste materials into works of art, but of becoming a strong voice of protest against the phenomenon of postwar overconsumption and environmental pollution, correspondingly. This paper aims to present and comment on how Eduardo Paolozzi managed to turn the 1950s capitalist phenomenon of planned obsolescence into sculpture. It also aims to discuss how Pamela Longobardi’s activism, directly connected to her artistic genius, led to the rebirth of marine plastic waste into impressive sculptural compositions and installations with a strong ecological symbolism. In both cases, the importance of metamorphosis as an agent of sculptural art formation in two different eras which, however, bear the same sociocultural stigma of throw-away crisis, are sought thoroughly.

Визуална идентичност и ребрандиране на театралните организации

Author(s): Boyan L. Zhelyazkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

The report examines rebranding as a trend in the theatrical practice of cultural institutions in Bulgaria. It specifies basic concepts, the application of branding and the process of rebranding in the field of theatre marketing. Examples of theatre organisations rebranding in the period 2019–2022 are discussed. Key motivations, issues and aspects of the theatre rebranding process are analysed.