The Artist as Historian (of Aesthetics). Richard Long and the History of an English Point of View

Author(s): Karolina Kolenda / Language(s): English Issue: 217/2016

In the art of the last few decades, we can see changes and returns to anthropological, social, or scientific research. Activities undertaken by artists were often characterized by abandoning interest in aesthetic issues for social activation or the development of new technologies and materials. Criticism and the history of art recognize this scientific turning point in art as a sign of our time. However, this perspective is not so much a result of new interests in art, but rather a change of interest in the reflection on art. The latter is also visible in the field of other scientific fields such as history or cultural geography, for which the cognitive value of the art of earlier decades and centuries has also become evident in recent years. More and more evident becomes the need to revisit these trends in art, which has so far been analyzed in the rather limited context of the development of international avant-garde art, and the emphasis on formal works of art. In the 70s of the twentieth century, when the conceptualism and directions of dematerialization of the artistic object dominated the art, both artistic practice and reflection on the subject were dominated by the ideals of the international avant-garde. The art of land (Land Art) functioned in this optics as one of many moves towards extending the field of sculpture. Based on selected works by Richard Long, the cognitive values of the art of the land created by the artist in the United Kingdom are recognized, which allow him to be considered a creator interested in local conditions of the relationship between artist and nature, resulting from 18th and 19th century concepts of picturesque and rural space as an English national space.

De la beauté de ma mère à celle de ma fille sur le « mur »

Author(s): Carla Şuteu / Language(s): French Issue: 3/2014

I wrote a novel, "Tita". An homage to my mother. I was deeply affected by her death. After the common writing experience I realized that nobody dies. Is just a change of location. A mechanism to double our love capacity…

CĂTĂLIN D. CONSTANTIN, Orașe în rezumat. Piețe din Europa și istoriile lor, București, Peter Pan Art, 2017, 512 p.

Author(s): Laura Dumitrescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 69/2020

СНИМКИ БЕЗ ФОТОАПАРАТ – ЕЛИСАВЕТА БАРКОВА

Author(s): Silvio Tomov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 22/2023

Cameraless photography was born short after the invention of photography in the XIX century. Henry Fox Talbot is one of the pioneers of photography. He created cameraless photography called his works photogenic drawings. In the XX it`s associated mainly with Man Ray, Laslo Moholi-Nagi and Christian Schad. The article begins with description of some of the most popular ways to achieve this kind of photography. The author tries to trace the development of cameraless photography in Bulgaria by researching a photographer called Elisaveta Barkova. She is not well known because of her modesty and her early death in 1995.

The Shape Shifter. The Danube in a Snapshot

Author(s): Lidia-Mihaela Necula / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Although not the longest river in Europe, the Danube has always manifested her existence in a plurality of voices, forms and guises, tempting leaders due to her strategic geographic position and the promise of abundance, thus risking to become a bone of contention on political maps, while revealing herself as an enchantress of colours and shades, of sounds and wor(l)ds beautifully blended in spectacular artistic creations that bring her to the fore. Starting from black-and-white snapshots of the Danube, this paper looks into her occurrences as a Shape Shifter, an Alchemist, a Collector and an Art Muse as they are embodied within literary and/or artistic records.

No astoņkāja līdz sikspārnim: Kāda 19. gadsimta Rīgas pagraba vēsture

Author(s): Lauma Lanceniece / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 27/2023

This article explores a mysterious collection of photographs discovered in the archives of the Riga History and Navigation Museum, offering a glimpse into the captivating underwater kingdom of 19th century Riga. The photographs, dating back to 1894, showcase an elaborately decorated fictional realm within the premises of the Krakenbank literary and music society. The article explores the history of the society, the inspiration behind the underwater theme, and the artistic contributions of its members. It also discusses the subsequent transformations of the location and its significance in Riga’s cultural history.The article begins by introducing the hidden collection of photographs found in the Riga History and Navigation Museum archives. The photographs, accompanied by poetic verses, depict a fantastical underwater realm adorned with wall paintings, sea creatures and mythical figures. Each room is named with a romantic title, providing a captivating glimpse into a bygone era.The photographs are made in the collodion POP technique, known for its warm brown tones and glossy surface. This technique was popular in the late 19th century but was eventually surpassed by silver gelatin. The author of the album is Emanuel von Eggert (?–1916), who opened his photo studio together with Carl Maria Hebensperger (1858–1939) in 1885. It was situated in Riga at 6 Alexander Street (now 40 Brīvības). Eggert’s photo studio was one of the most popular at the end of the 19th century in Riga. It offered individual and group portraits, as well as capturing official events such as the Latvian Ethnographic Exhibition in 1896. The album’s red calico cover, crafted by G. Röttger’s leather goods factory, follows the tradition of souvenir photography albums depicting notable city landmarks and landscapes.The Krakenbank society was established in 1869 as a charitable organization for the Baltic-German community in Riga. The society provided financial support and organized cultural events. The photographs captured the interiors of the society’s meeting place, located at 8 Merķeļa Street in Riga, which still stands today. The album was created to commemorate the society’s 25th anniversary in 1894.The article highlights the significance of this discovery in providing an insight into the cultural life of 19th century Riga. It showcases the creativity and imagination of the Krakenbank society’s members and sheds light on the architectural contributions of architect Karl David Neuburger (1844–1897) and Riga City Theatre stage designer Friedrich Hellwig (1832–1898), who both designed the society’s meeting place. Furthermore, the article delves into the inspiration behind the underwater kingdom theme. It discusses ancient Scandinavian mythological texts, such as the Edda books, and their influence on the society’s adaptation of the underwater realm concept. Among the other members the author highlights the contributions of Julius Meyer (1846–1922), a significant figure in the literary life of 19th-century Riga and a prominent member of the Krakenbank society. Another interesting source that was examined is the experience of German writer Joachim Ringelnatz (1883–1934) during his visit to the Krakenbank society. His diary entry provides insights into the society’s humorous approach to life and the underwater-themed premises adorned with sea monster paintings.As World War I unfolded, the society’s activities declined. The interior remained unchanged until 1925 when the Latvian artists’ association Zaļā vārna transformed the space into a vibrant hub of artistic activities, featuring interactive art performances influenced by Futurism and Dadaism.Additionally, the article explores the transformation of the Merķeļa Street location over the years. It highlights the subsequent use of the location as various dining establishments. For almost the entire second half of the 20th century, the basement of 8 Merķela Street became legendary as the location of the restaurant Kaukāzs. It opened on 16 October 1948 and existed until 1993 – that is, 45 years. The restaurant specialized in Caucasian cuisine.Examination of the enigmatic underwater kingdom depicted in the 19th century photographs found in the Riga History and Navigation Museum explores the history and cultural significance of the Krakenbank society, the artistic contributions of its members, and the subsequent transformations of the location. The captivating photographs and their accompanying stories offer a fascinating glimpse into the rich cultural heritage of 19th century Riga.

Atmiņas protēzes: Kristīnes Krauzes-Sluckas un Aļņa Stakles gadījumi

Author(s): Ieva Melgalve / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 27/2023

In Riga at the beginning of 2022, two very different exhibitions took place: “Resolution Strike” by Kristīne Krauze-Slucka (ISSP), and “Mellow Apocalypse” by Alnis Stakle (Latvian Museum of Photography). In this article, a post-humanist approach is employed to actualize the role of photography and the digitalized image in preserving and forming of both personal and collective memory and identity. The theoretical approach is assisted by the concept of prosthesis which describes the hybridity of human and technology as used by theoreticians such as Sigmund Freud, Slavoj Žižek, Donna Haraway, Celia Lury and Alison Landsberg.In considering photography, its objectivity and reliability is an important aspect. To resolve the tension between the apparent objectivity of photographic capture and the subjectivity brought in by the framing and context of the image, it is proposed to think of multiple situated objectivities, which describe the situation where the perception and images of technological tools offer a distinct, non-human but not neutral or uninvolved view.Discussing the exhibition by Kristīne Krauze-Slucka, centred around destroyed, fragmented, and altered photographs from a family album, the distinction drawn by Jens Ruchatz is employed, distinguishing between photography as the externalization or trace of a memory. The photographs that were selected to be destroyed suggest that the personal photography is seen as a trace that aids memory, instead of storing memories. At the same time, the importance of photography in construction of personal identity is emphasized, which is seen as technologically mediated and socially involved. In this aspect, the photography is a prosthesis of identity instead of memory.Following Aline Cordonier et al. and researching the passing of photography as a memory carrier from micro level (personal photographs) to meso level (family album) with a perspective to enter the macro level (collective memory), it is demonstrated that in this process the importance lies not within a sequential narrative but in the construction of a new identity through selection of social and affective moments, thus forming a prosthetic identity that does not conform to linear time.The “Mellow Apocalypse” series by Alnis Stakle is created from the digital image collections of various institutions, for example, museums, that became widely available during the pandemic. The decontextualized fragments of images form expansive collages with the visible artefacts of digital image rendering increasing the effect of fragmentation. Even though a common theme and narrative can be determined, the interpretation is called to question due to insecurity about the original sources and contexts of the images. The article analyses the source of this insecurity as linked to the creation and preservation of collective identity in a digital age.The notion of collective memory, based on the definition by Tota and Hagen, is seen as the representation of past events created and institutionalized by social groups. This definition fits the sources of images used by Stakle. However, the exhibition questions this concept, accentuating the contemporary issues of collective memory preservation. The advent of mass media and globalization problematises the concept of discrete social groups, as each individual belongs to several communities that can be transnational and transcultural. Following Hoskins, the notion of “multitudes” can be employed to describe the individually selected and interpreted range of collective memories determined by digital and social hyperconnectivity, communication, technological mediation and information globalization. In this view, the collective memory can be seen as a hyperobject, to borrow the term from Timothy Morton, thus explaining the fact that each individual or institution can access the collective memory only indirectly, through its aspects that can be also photographs or digitalized images. The fragmentation of an archive, decontextualizing the image, leads to real or illusory disappearance of memory, which is seen in micro level through fragmenting of personal archive images by Krauze-Slucka, and emphasized in macro level by Stakle who fragments and repositions the representations of collective memory.In the case of Stakle, the images can be interpreted in two additional ways that do not stop at the notion of apocalypse. Firstly, the concept of multitude allows for the personal memory of an individual created through the vast repository of collective memories, seeking for new meanings as it is done in Stakle’s collages. This interpretation is also applicable for a video piece in Krauze-Slucka’s exhibition, where a young woman uses the transnational and translocal images to create selfies that inscribe her identity in a globalized virtual space of social media. This searching for personal identity through socially available imagery simultaneously enables the self-reproduction and self-preservation of collective memory.Secondly, in Stakle’s case a cyborg gaze can be conceptualized: a gaze determined by the hybridity of human and technology that is characterized by a radically different understanding of time and selfhood. This gaze, created through digital manipulation and repositioning of images, is two-dimensional, fragmented and combined; it does not discriminate human and non-human, creating unexpected, often playful combinations. In this regard, the works by Stakle visualize the transformation of the collective memory as it has already happened due to digitalization and technological mediation.The fact that both very different exhibitions took place at the same time and reflect on a similar theme suggests that this range of ideas – photography and the digital image as carriers of memory, and their role in the creation, interpretation, and preservation of personal and collective memory – is important at the current time and requires additional artistic and theoretical research, which can be fruitful also when a post-humanist approach is employed.

News from the Margins: The Invisible Photographic Heritage of Virgilijus Šonta

Author(s): Agnė Narušytė / Language(s): English Issue: 03+04/2023

The article discusses two controversial series by a celebrated Lithuanian gay photographer, Virgilijus Šonta (1952-1992). The first series, School Is My Home (1980-1983), documented the lives of mentally disabled children at a special school in Šiauliai and thus made them visible in the society that denied their existence. For his series Guys (1983-1986), Šonta photographed gay men, focusing on their bodies, but also composing the images as signs telling secret stories of clandestine gay culture prohibited in the Soviet times.

ТРАВМА & ІСТЕРІЯ В ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКІЙ КУЛЬТУРІ FIN DE SIÈCLE (ЧАСТИНА 2)

Author(s): Olha Kopiievska / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 4/2023

The purpose of the article is to analyse the reasons for the actualisation of the issues of trauma and hysteria in the European culture of the fin de siècle; to identify the role of aesthetisation, theatricalisation and photography in the commodification of mental illness. The research methodology includes the general scientific principles of systematisation and generalisation of the problem under study, which made it possible to identify and scientifically substantiate existing theories and conceptual approaches to understanding the content of the concepts of "trauma", "psychological trauma", "hysteria", "mental illness". The application of the axiological approach made it possible to identify interdisciplinary nature and personalised cultural scientific positions in the theories under consideration. The use of the analytical method led to the establishment of conceptual foundations for further scientific perspectives on the problematisation of trauma, psychological trauma, hysteria as mental illnesses in the optics of cultural knowledge. The scientific novelty lies in the implementation of cultural reflection to clarify the socio-cultural determinants of the spread of hysteria and psychological trauma as mental illnesses. Conclusions. The article deals with the issues related to the understanding of the content of hysteria and trauma in the culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries not as purely medical, but as socio-cultural phenomena. The aestheticisation, theatricalisation, and commodification of mental illnesses, initiated by the example of J.-M. Charcot's hysteria, actualised and stimulated their discussion from new perspectives, opened up new discursive spaces of research: psychoanalytic, social, artistic, aesthetic, which did not exist in their pure form but were combined with each other. In the fin de siècle culture, hysteria and trauma are embedded in the structure of the subjective and are defined through processes, events and human perception as a special idea of internalising the world, where the thanatological problematic represents a fundamental feature of culture associated with the anticipation and expectation of the approach of death, with being within the "finitude of human life"; and artistic representations of a split, "hysterical", traumatised personality are embodied in the works of European painters, sculptors, and writers. Photography, as a new way of seeing the world, social and individual existence, symbolised and expressed the connection between science and art, expanded the range of human emotional states and contributed to the commodification of hysteria in the "theatrical spectacles" presented at the Salpetriere Hospital.

BOOK REVIEW: PLAY THAT DADA

Author(s): Daniela Șilindean / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

Review of: Dada se dă-n spectacol (Dada Shows Off), by Ștefana Pop-Curșeu, Ioan Pop-Curșeu and Ion Pop, Școala Ardeleană Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 2023

Razglednice iz pakla

Author(s): Ivan Radeljković / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 91-92/2023

The collection of poems by the French author Sabi Mara, Cartes post‑ ales / Postcards, was published in France in a bilingual edition, with a translation of the poems by Dženana Salihović and a versification edited by the poet Asmir Kujović. In this paper, we examine the topic of genocide in this collection, especially through the question of why poetry was chosen as a literary genre, the questioning of language through poetic figures, forms and images, but above all the relationship between text and images. We interpret this relationship especially through the aesthetics of the postcard, more precisely through the question of why the author chose to call her poems from this collection that way, and then we explore different aspects of the strange metaphorical format of these texts and of the entire collection, which concern time and space, especially the relationship to distance in a travel situation, but also family and collective memory.

Podróże krajoznawcze polskich malarzy, grafików i fotografów w XIX wieku. Wybrane przykłady

Author(s): Piotr Kondraciuk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2023

Educational travel, both for literary and artistic purposes, has been known since antiquity. It is a valuable source in historical and social research. Apart from its informative value, it is also an important iconographic and documentary source. Along with the development of scientific sightseeing and historical research, extensive programs for documenting monuments were launched at the end of the 18th century. A significant role in this process was played by painters and graphic artists, and later by photographers, who systematically documented monuments and historical landscapes. This article is devoted to the artists who made watercolours and drawings documenting the most interesting – as they were then called – “monuments of antiquity”, with particular emphasis on today’s Lublin region. The author discusses the works of Zygmunt Vogel, Jan Nepomucen Głowacki, Antoni Lange, Marcin Zaleski, Adam Lerue, Napoleon Orda, and photographers Karol Beyer and Jan Bułhak. He also draws attention to the role of amateur draftsmen, such as Maciej Bogusz Stęczyński, in documenting monuments,. The examples presented in the article indicate the great value of the documentation work undertaken, as well as the need for continuous documentation of monuments and the cultural landscape, which is undergoing rapid transformation before our eyes.

Obrazová příloha

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2018

Le roman actuel et ses extrapolations : Les Funambules de Mohammed Aïssaoui et Beyrouth-sur-Seine de Sabyl Ghoussoub

Author(s): Magdalena Zdrada-Cok / Language(s): French Issue: 20/2023

This article proposes a comparative analysis of two novels: Les Funambules (Gallimard 2020) by Mohammed Aïssaoui and Beyrouth-sur-Seine (Stock, 2022) by Sabyl Ghoussoub. The subject of research is the relationship between novelistic techniques and forms of journalistic discourse. By examining the relationship between the literary text and the socio-cultural context, this study is interested in the presence of various forms of discourse in a literary text, such as the interview, the testimony, the report, the document and the photo.

Building a Fashion Influencer Image on Instagram

Author(s): Dilyana Molerova / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

This article examines the shift from analogue to digital transmission of information, the metaphor of virtual community, and the everyday life of social networks. It also studies the construction of virtual identity taking place under the influence of the influencer system on the Internet. Viewing fashion as a process of constant production and reproduction of the social, of imitation as a means of social adaptation, the text examines the transformation of fashion into a primarily digital representation through influencer marketing. The analogue and digital evolution of codes is distinct, and the need of media and digital literacy are a growing challenge for modern society. This work will provide a clearer delineation of the fluid nature of identity and social belonging as well-articulated behaviors.This article examines the shift from analogue to digital transmission of information; the metaphor of virtual community, and the everyday life of social networks. It also studies the construction of virtual identity taking place under the influence of the influencer system on the Internet. Viewing fashion as a process of constant production and reproduction of the social, of imitation as a means of social adaptation, the text examines the transformation of fashion into a primarily digital representation through influencer marketing. The analogue and digital evolution of codes is distinct, and the need of media and digital literacy are a growing challenge for modern society. This work will provide a clearer delineation of the fluid nature of identity and social belonging as well-articulated behaviors.

Pracownia Fotograficzna Biblioteki Kórnickiej w latach 1992-2023

Author(s): Zdzisław Nowakowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 40/2023

Pracownia Fotograficzna Biblioteki Kórnickiej została utworzona w 1992 r.; swoją siedzibę znalazła w pomieszczeniach nowo wybudowanego magazynu. Organizację pracowni powierzono Zdzisławowi Nowakowskiemu, który w latach 1975–1992 kierował Pracownią Fotograficzną Ośrodka Informacji Naukowej poznańskiego oddziału PAN. Biblioteka przejęła z Ośrodka sprzęt potrzebny do wykonywania mikrofilmów. Były to kamery mikrofilmowe DOKUMATOR DA V (z 1975 r., produkcji NRD), maszyna do wywoływania taśmy mikrofilmowej DEIGHTON oraz typowe wyposażenie laboratoryjne niezbędne do powiększeń fotograficznych. W późniejszych latach stopniowo unowocześniano pracownię; zakupiono lampy studyjne, stół bezcieniowy do fotografowania martwej natury oraz urządzenie do reprodukcji marki KEISER.

O wyobrażeniach kulturowych i percepcyjnych w monografiach Stefanii Skwarczyńskiej. Czego możemy dowiedzieć się od romantyków?

Author(s): Mariusz Gołąb / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2022

The article deals with the problem of the literary image presented in the research by Stefania Skwarczyńska. The conception of the ‘image chains’ [polish: ‘łańcuchy obrazowe’] is analysed in Skwarczyńska’s theoretical works and monographs about J. Słowacki and A. Mickiewicz. The author argues that the Polish theorist’s conception of a literary image is shaped by the impact of two complementary media lines. The first is the meaning of the static and petrified in language formula of culture tradition. The other, is the problem of visual perception. Romanticism is interpreted as a general example of this process in Skwarczyńska’s monographies. The reference of the “isomorphism” notion by R. Arnheim is used to explain how Skwarczyńska’s works present this process of shaping literary image. The artistic categories of a colour and shape and the emotional aspects of poetic language are presented as the predominant problems for Skwarczyńska’s theory. These elementary aspects of poetic language can be interpreted as the phenomena that represents the activity of observation. The author reveals how these selected categories let Skwarczyńska construct the preliminary aspects of the visual problems of contemporary culture. Such theoretical perspectives, as observed in the works of the Polish theorist, results in Romanticism appearing as an example of a new way of seeing which results in aesthetic and perceptual changes in contemporary culture. Thus, Romanticism is shown as the example that leads Skwarczyńska to elaborate on the concept of “applied literature” as well. It shows how her theoretic take is linked to the description of culture changes or non-linguistic perception and the cultural phenomena of the likes of photography and film.

Archivní zpracování fotografických archiválií

Author(s): Emilie Benešová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2012

V letech 2007 až 2010 byl Národní archiv řešitelem výzkumného úkolu s názvem „Zpracování postupu na záchranu světlocitlivých archivních dokumentů na skleněné podložce (deskové negativy), jejich ošetření, archivaci (dlouhodobé uložení), zabezpečení a zpřístupnění.“ Primárním důvodem pro zahájení výzkumu byl špatný fyzický stav deskových (skleněných) negativů, které jsou součástí významných archivních souborů a jejich historická, společenská i kulturní hodnota je nevyčíslitelná. Skleněné desky lze snadno mechanicky poškodit, manipulace s nimi je obtížná. Skleněná podložka, vlivem špatného uložení i zacházení křehne, mění svou krystalickou strukturu; světlocitlivá vrstva, která je na ní nanesena degraduje, loupe se, vytvářejí se na ní nejrůznější „závoje“, které postupně halí obraz, až se stane nečitelným. Archiválie tohoto typu nelze předkládat badatelům ke studiu a je tedy třeba informace v nich obsažené zprostředkovat veřejnosti jiným způsobem – kvalitní reprodukcí. V rámci řešeného projektu bylo naší snahou předložit pracovníkům paměťových institucí komplexní materiál, který by řešil problematiku dlouhodobého uložení a zpřístupnění skleněných negativů, a proto jsme se pokusili…

Exposition „Tableaux, gravures et vieilles photographies représentant les synagogues de Prague“

Author(s): Arno Pařík / Language(s): French Issue: 1/1987

Cette exposition saisonnière appartient à la série de celles que le Musée Juif d’Etat de Prague organise afin de rassembler l’iconographie de la Cité Juive de Prague et la documentation de ses monuments historiques ainsi que celle du patrimoine des communautés juives des banlieues de Prague.

Photographs

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English,Russian Issue: 1/1975