INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURAL RESEARCH

Aleksey VASIL'EV

Russia, Moskow.
Russian Institute for Cultural Research.
PhD in History, Assistant Professor — Deputy-Director for
Research, Head of the Division for the Humanities.

The "Axial Time" of Memory Studies: The Russian Trace

The main goal of the article is the analysis of the contribution of Russian humanitarian thought in relation to the first scientific programs in the field of memory studies in the 1920s and 1930s.
In the second half of the 1920s, the French sociologist, M. Halbwachs and the German art historian, A. Warburg, offered the concepts of collective/social memory, respectively, and formulated the basic principles and problems involved in the study of these phenomena.
The article posits that the cultural and historical psychology of L. Vygotsky, and M. Bakhtin's theory of genre, developed during the same time period in Russian humanities, highlight those mechanisms of functioning belonging to collective/social memory, which in the theories M. Halbwachs and A. Warburg were only briefly outlined.
The author concludes that the "Halbwachs/Vygotsky's" and "Warburg/Bakhtin`s" theories complement one another.

Key words: M. Bakhtin, A. Warburg, L. Vygotsky, M. Halbwachs, collective memory, social memory, cultural and historical psychology, mediated action, memory of a genre

References

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Lidia STARODUBTSEVA

Ukraine, Kharkov.
V. N. Karazin Kharkov National University. Chief of Media & Communications Department.
Professor, PhD, Director of the Center of Media Communications and Visual Studies

Total Recall vs. Delete: The Panopticon of Digital Hyper-Memory

What is the semantic spectrum of the "Hyper Memory" concept? To answer this question, it would be possible, as well as interesting, to consider the two concepts of the Digital Hyper Memory: two essays, published in 2009. The first is the book "Total Recall: How the E-Memory Revolution Will Change Everything" by known pioneers of computer science and authors of the project "True Recall" — Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmell, who have created a new technological Utopia of E-Memory Revolution.
The title of the second book is "Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age". The author of this book is an American cyber-politics and e-commerce analyst — Harvard University Professor Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, who talks about the value of the "Delete" button, and why, in the digital age, it is more important to learn to forget than to remember.
"Total Recall" and "Delete" are the alternative interpretations of the omnipotence of an artificial universal Hyper Memory hypothesis. The first book teaches us to remember, the second — to forget. We are faced with the necessity of reflection pro et contra. Yet, why not try to slip out of this suffocating binary logic? Why not seek out a "third way" that connects the oppositions? In this digital age of a Hyper Memory Panopticon, it's possible to reformulate one of Ludwig Wittgenstein's famous thoughts: "Whereof one cannot remember, thereof one must forget".

Key words: memory, forgetting, digital age, electronic revolution, Hyper Memory, Panopticon

References

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Alexander LYUSY

Russia, Moscow.
Russian Institute for Cultural Research, Seniour Rearcher.
PhD in Cultural Science.

Imagenomics Of History

The article discusses the master-narrative of historical conditions — together with the attraction of real and imagined mechanisms of the symbolical exchange of memory and oblivion. The article presents the narrative approach directed on interrelation of cultural history with practice of historians in their work with memory. In addition, the article discusses the attraction of the experience of modern art and Walter Benjamin's idea that thinking is necessary not only through movement, but also through the cessation of movement. The article also expresses the idea of creating a situational interactive monument of the flight of history and memory, for the purpose of finally getting out from under the yoke of history.

Key words: symbolical exchange, general economy, narrative function, discourse, avant-guard, reconstruction

References

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Vyacheslav SHESTAKOV

Russia, Moskow.
Russian Institute for Cultural Research.
PhD, professor.

Memory as a Reality of Historical Time

The rememberance of history is a special ability unique to human beings. Without memory, there would be no history, no civilization and no culture. Memory, in the history of art, plays a very special role — one where continuity and inheritance are of the highest importance. Art itself is an effective instrument against the death of memory, preservation of the past, and cognition of the future.

Key words: history, memory, memorial, time, past, future, death of memory

References

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Vitaliy DARENSKIY

Ukraine, Kiev.
National Academy of Personnel Management / Center of Arts and Culture. Department of Theory and History of Culture.
PhD, Seigneur Lecturer.

Poetry and Philosophy: Two Types of Existential Memory

The specifics of poetry and philosophy, as a phenomenon of existential memory in its correlation with the human subject, are analyzed in this article. The function of poetry and philosophy, as an essential remedy for a holistic worldview, are also discussed. In addition, acomparative analysis of poetry and philosophy, as regulators of human psychics and existence, are also proposed here.

Key words: poetry, philosophy, subject, worldview, existence

References

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Lev YAKOVLEV

Russia, Saratov.
P. A. Stolypin Volga Region Academy of Public Administration.
The Department of sociology, social policy and regional history. PhD in sociological sciences, professor.

The Foretime Colonization

Cultural memory is closely linked to historical memory. The past does not exist in accordance with our perceptions of the past, but only our ideas about it. These ideas vary, and do not constitute a reliable reflection of the actual past. These ideas are socialized, and thus can be censored and corrected by the official ideology. Historical memory constructs a virtual past. In the fixation of the past, artistic texts play a key role, together with historical narratives, between which there is an obvious convergence. Changing the types of discourses of fiction and cinema, has the effect of changing the patterns of cultural memory, making it more individualized and fragmented, and often denying meta-narratives. In addition, another effect is the redirection of value judgments in regard to modern designs. For the last 150 years, cultural and historical continuity, in the traditional sense, has ceased to exist and has been replaced by new models that symbolize the genesis of new social and cultural identities.

Key words: cultural memory, historical memory, text, virtual past, epistemic uncertainty, the structure of cultural memory, cultural and historical continuity

References

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Roman ABRAMOV

Russia, Moskow.
National Research University Higher School of Economics
PhD in sociology, assistant professor.

Anna CHESTIAKOVA

Russia, Moskow.
MA student — National Research University, School of Economics.
Magistrant fakul'teta sociologii.

Nostalgic images of the Soviet's Recent Past:The Media Activism of Leonid Parfenov

Post-Soviet nostalgia is an important phenomenon in the collective memory of both Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The concept of nostalgia is at the center of many theoretical debates about the production of a collective memory. A theoretical analysis of the characteristics of nostalgia is not possible without the concept of a collective memory. Therefore, our paper consists of two parts. In the first part, we analyze the relationship between the concepts of collective memory and nostalgia, and provide a definition of nostalgia in the context of the humanities. The second part of the article is an analysis of the popular series of publications by Russian journalist and social activist, L. Parfenov, which are devoted to the history of the Soviet's recent past. The uniqueness of these publications is based on the integration of facts and information about major historical events and phenomena, as well issues that relate to everyday life. These publications have reached a wide readership and create a nostalgic image of the Soviet's recent past. We explore the reasons why the publication of the collections of the "Namedni.Nasha era" have evoked such nostalgic emotions in readers.

Key words: collective memory, nostalgia, utopian thinking, restorative nostalgia, reflexive nostalgia

References

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Alexander KOTYLEV

Russia, Siktivkar.
Komi State Pedagogical Institute. PhD, senior lecturer

The Actualization/Deactualization of Educational Concepts in Cultural Memory
(an example of Stephan's textual development)

The Stephan's text is comprised of all the works devoted to the acts and doctrine of Stephan of Perm, a Russian 14th century missionary. During the period spanning from the15th to the 21st century, this text is transformed from history into myth. The idea of Christian education also changes, at times being perceived asmore rational, while in other periods it is perceived as being more mystical.

Key words: historical consciousness, mythological thinking, medieval missionary work, historiography

References

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Pavel KRYLOV

Russia, Saint-Petersburg.
Institute of History (Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg).
researcher, PhD in History.

The dispute over "Ingrian Heritage":
The construction of Ingrian identity, Finno-Ugric traditional culture and new-Ingrian Occidentalism in Saint-Petersburg and the surrounding region

The present article explores the phenomenon of Saint-Petersburg's society spanning the period of 2000–2010 — and the construction of a regional identity around the term "Ingria" or "Ingermanland". In the 17th century, the province of the Swedish Kingdom included the territory of the contemporary Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad region. The protagonists of this new identity don't recognize any ethnic factor, regarding their identification as Ingrians, in contrast to the Finns of Ingria, a sub-ethnic Finnish group, living in the Russian Federation. These "new Ingrians" emphasize their belonging to a region of European civilization, prior to the foundation of Saint-Petersburg by Peter the Great in 1703. The principles of openness, self-identification and a liberated personality strongly contrast to the ethnic closeness between the majority of Russian Finns, who claim to have an exclusive monopoly on the name of Ingria. From 2000–2008, this was a cause of great dispute. Nowadays, however, the dispute has been transformed into a state of mutual understanding through cooperation in cultural and commemorative actions and projects.

Key words: identity, regional identity, Ingria, Ingermanland, ethnic constructivism

References

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Nadezhda GOLIK

Russia, St. Petersburg.
St.Petersburg State University. Faculty of Philosophy
PhD, Full Professor of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Culture Department.

Modern Crisis: Philosophy of Culture's Helicopter View

The culture of any society is a clear parameter of its "quality" — its capability to develop, improve, transform and evolve into something else. In some cases, such transitions can be qualified as a decline (or degradation) of culture — a "crisis" or disaster. In a directsense, a catastrophe or crisis is often a sign of a cultural "cancer", as it were — an unhealthy growth and multiplication of unhealthy cells, which eventually overcome the healthy cells. Thus, a cultural crisis often marks the beginning of the culture's demise, in the same way as a cancer is often the beginning of an organism's death. So-called "demonstrative consumption" has played the role of "cancerous cells" in the development of modern crises. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the spread of "cancerous cells" has achieved epidemic proportions: demonstrative consumption has, in fact, become the universal illness of specific dependence, describing a condition of public and individual health. Modern research studies emphasize the destructive character of demonstrative consumption, resulting in strategies of greediness, aggression and envy (resentment).

Key words: culture, crisis, "cancer" of culture, demonstrative consumption, resentment

References

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Parham SHAHRJERDI

Iran

How was Blanchot possible? Iran: The Destruction of Literature

Parham Shahrjerdi — Iranian poet, translator, board member of "The Society of Maurice Blanchot's friends", founder of the site "The Space of Maurice Blanchot". In this essay, the author questions how a translation could be possible under conditions where neither the language, nor the social and political horizon are suitable for such a translation, due to specific, mitigating circumstances. The essay attempts to help readers comprehend such a literary piece, as a translation.

Key words: French philosophy of the 20th century, translation, politics and literature

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Michael STEPANOV

Russia, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg State University. Faculty of Philosophy. The center of mediaphilosophy. Researcher.
St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Institute of Cultural Research. Researcher, PhD.

Machine turn: Invention instead of Methodology — Interview with Gerald Raunig

Post-industrial technological civilization demands new research technologies. Beginning from continuous predictions and exclamations about cyborgs reducing the machine to a completelyt echnical level, universal gadgets and avatar duplications in social networks — the capitalist machine becomes a biopolitical megamachine. The concept "general Intellect", used by Marx to explain collective knowledge in its various forms (the sciences, practical knowledge of production) — is at the center of modern, postindustrial criticism or cognitive capitalism. Modern criticism expands Marx's "general Intellect" in regard to extensive areas of general knowledge and new forms of social and interpersonal relations, as well as social interactions.

Key words: machine theory, machine, turn, methodology, cognitive capitalism, general intelligence, Invention, Gerald Raunig

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Alina VENKOVA

Russia, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Institute of Cultural Research. Deputy director.
PhD in cultural research, senior lecturer.

The Abstract Machine and the Machinery of Shifts. Transversal Activism of War Against Art
On Gerald Raunig's "Art and Revolution: Transversal Activism in the Long Twentieth Century" First Russian translation

This book shows an extremely important movement in the contemporary social condition, known as 'transmodrnism' — a profound combination of social development theory and unexpected aesthetic speculations. The author explores the concept of 'revolution' in contemporary philosophy and critical theory. Principal events of Western and early Sovet activism are discussed as a phenomena of the whole process of social transformation, under the power of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's concept of the "abstract machine".

Key words: Gerald Raunig, Transversal, activism, abstract machine, multitude, modern and contemporary art

References

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Arkadiy OROPAY

Russia, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg State Agrarian University. PhD, Associate Professor.

Pushkin and Limonov: "Strange Convergences" in Prophetism

This article is devoted to literary prophetism. The author believes that there is some connection between literary prophecy and the spatial characteristics of culture. The author concludes that, even as regards such ideologically and chronologically far-removed prophetic activities like those of authors like A. Pushkin and E. Limonov, they show an interest in the peripheral areas of social and cultural space.

Key words: prophetism, literary prophecy, the space of Russian culture, center, periphery, border, Pushkin, Limonov

References

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Vyacheslav SHESTAKOV

Russia, Moskow.
Russian Institute for Cultural Research.
PhD, professor.

Michael Alpatov and Hans Sedlmayr:
Russian Impact on Vienna's School of Art History

Michail Alpatov and Hans Sedlmayer first met in Vienna in 1929. They became friends, andexchanged letters for many years. Alpatov's archive at the Moscow State Art Museum,named after A. Pushkin, includes 14 letters, written between 1960 and 1978. These letters show the international influence of the Vienna School of Art, and contain important remarks about art history, iconography, etc. For the first publication of these letters, see: V.Shestakov. Tragedy of Exile — The Fate of Vienna School of Art History. Moscow, 2005.

Key words: art history, Vienna School of Art, iconography, icons, the Renaissance

References

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Oliver GRAU

Austria, Krems.
Professor of Image Science and Head of the Department
for Image Science at the Danube University

Phantasmagoric Visual Magic of the 18th Century and Its Afterlife in Media Art

The current article focuses on the reappearance of the phantasmagoria in media art and its analysis. The Phantasmagoria medium, developed from the Laterna Magica and part of the history of immersion, opened up the virtual depth of the image space for the first time, as a sphere of dynamic changes. Events explored in contemporary art and visual representation, and united through a number of contemporary media artists, are now merged in the Phantasmagoria.
In contrast to the Panorama, the Phantasmagoria suggests that contact can be established with the psyche — the dead or artificial life forms. It is a model for the functioning of illusionism, a material image machine as basis of an art work that appears immaterial.

Key words: phantasmagoria, technological art, media art, media theory, history of arts, machine

References

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Anna KONEVA

Russia, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Institute of Cultural Research.
Head of department. PhD in philosophy, senior lecturer.

Amnesia or Forms of The Objectification of Memory

As a rule, film directors tend to show the classic model of memory — where the memory is considered as a keeper of the Past and is perceived as an "information container". As a result, the majority of stories that portray the sense of memory are associated with the loss of memory or, rarely, with nostalgia for the Past. If the artistic model of memory, as nostalgia, stresses it as a process, the visualization of memory's loss transforms it in the object, distancing it from consciousness and imagination.

Key words: memory, amnesia, time, film, information, identity

References

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Francisca FOORTAI

Russia, St. Petersburg.
Leningrad State University n. a. A. S. Pushkin.
PhD in Art History, Associate Professor.

The Keeper of the Key: The Role and Place of Creativity and Paintings in Andrei Tarkovsky's films

This article is devoted to the seven outstanding films of A. Tarkovsky: "Ivan`s Childhood", "Passions According to Andrei (Andrei Rublev)", "Solaris", "Mirror", "Stalker", "Nostalgia", and "Sacrifice". The imaginative-artistic structure of these films is considered an indivisible hypertext with reappearing characters, symbols and philosophies. Great attention is paid to the role and the place of artistic masterpieces, existing in these motion pictures, which the authoress of this article examines and perceives as special keys revealing the metaphysical sense of the director`s creative work.

Key words: cinema, Andrei Tarkovsky, painting key, hypertext, reappearing characters, imaginative-artistic hierarchy, paintings in cinema

References

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Andrey FOMENKO

Russia, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Institute of Cultural Research.
PhD, seniour rearcher.

The New Baroque: About Tim Burton's film "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure"

The exposure of the cinema as a conditional idiom creates an affinity between Tim Burton's films and modernist art. However, Burton operates within the network of popular cinema and explores its conventions. "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" (1985), his first live-action film, is a kind of encyclopedia of cinematographic genres. The film's "horizontal" or narrative dimension is combined with "vertical" dimensions,, which function together as elements of a synchronous paradigm — in a style that is strangely reminiscent of Baroque literature.

Key words: Tim Burton, cinema genres, pop culture, Baroque

References

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Karina ANTONYAN

Russia, St. Petersburg.
Herzen State Pedagogical University. Department of theory and history of culture.
PhD in cultural research, senior lecturer.

A Review of M. Stolyar's book: "The Soviet Laughter Culture"

A review of the book "The Soviet Laughter Culture". The review focuses on the author's typology of laughter culture. Laughter begins with the ambiguous relations of Soviet ideology and power, as well as its opposition and interdependency.

Key words: laughter culture, Soviet culture, ideology, humor, religion

References

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