Academic literature on the topic 'Art, Modern – 21st century – Political aspects'

The goal of the article is to analyze certain aspects of Canada’s immigration policy in the context of contemporary realities, considering the concept of multiculturalism. In the paper, there are outlined the main stages of Canadian immigration policy and its impact on the politics of multiculturalism. The author emphasizes that the policy of multiculturalism, proclaimed by the Government of Canada in its modern interpretation in the late 1980s, has transformed in the first decades of the 21st century. It was caused by such factors as the rise of terrorist attacks, illegal migration and the widening of migration from South-East Asia. It was shown that Canadian immigration policy evolved to more open and liberal since the end of World War II, but at the beginning of the 21st century, the situation radically changed. This trend was especially noticeable during the activities of the conservative governments of S. Harper (2006-2015). Conservative government policy was marked by the introduction of restrictive immigration laws and the extension of bureaucratic procedures. In particular, some provisions of the «Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act» of June 19, 2014, were analyzed. It was emphasized that this legal action had been crushed by the Bar Association of Canada, as well as in the Open Letter of 60 well-known scholars and community members to the Prime Minister of Canada. Another trend of last developments in Canadian multicultural society was influenced by American negative attitudes towards Muslims. Today, the Government of Canada must review and substantially add a policy of multiculturalism. However, it should not become a hostage to the political struggle between liberals and conservatives in the contemporary difficult realities. The escalation of feelings of danger and intolerance, based on the dialectical thе «еnemy-friend» opposition, no longer works in a society. But people are looking for effective democratic dialogue in order to normalize relationships in the multicolored society of the early 21st century.

The analysis of features of iconography, stylistics, coloring and manner of execution of compositions of the Last Judgment is devoted to many scientific works. Despite this, the issue of the peculiarities of symbolism and source potential of the Stranger Judgment icons remains inexhaustible. The article is devoted to the analysis of the latest scientific research of the XXI century. Dedicated to the Ukrainian iconography of the Last Judgment. The main achievements and discoveries in the Work of Researchers are described for the development of the research of the Contemporary Issues in the historical and artistic key words. The potential of Ukrainian iconography research is also determined in the article. Studying the historiographical aspect of the research of Ukrainian icons, the specificity of approaches and areas of analysis of iconographic samples as historical sources by historians and art historians of the XXI century is traced. Historiography of the plot of the Last Judgment of the modern age is presented by the works of several authors: Ivan Himki, Lilya Berezhnoy, Marty Fedak, Lyudmila Milyaeva, etc. Analyzing this topic, we should mention that the literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries more focuses on aesthetic, especially on the artistic meaning of icons. Actually, the iconography of this period is formed -first as a branch of history and archeology, and from the end of the nineteenth century, as a branch of art studies. Studies of the twentieth century have some disadvantages caused by the influence of the Soviet period, in which there was no place for the icon just as a spiritual sanctuary, as sources of religious outlook of society. Particularly, this was due to the Marxist-Leninist “methodology”, that is, the approach to the icon as a painting, without taking into account its symbolic significance. With the restoration of Ukraine’s political independence at the end of the ХХ century the anti-religious propaganda was stopped and the community began to return to the spiritual origins, one of which is Christianity, including its components to which icons also belong to the Orthodox tradition. And precisely because of the great importance of the Ukrainian icon painting of the Last Judgment, there are scientific works of the 21st century that make it possible to look at the icon with completely different approach.

In a rather complicated manner, Max Weber’s writings contain general theoretical reflections that are now incorporated in the canon of sociological theory, in the analyses of social change in the form of historical and comparative sociology, and in reflections on political events, all in the guise of the diagnosis and critique of his own historical age. This article attempts to draw conclusions from the tensions between these aspects in Weber’s work by trying to discover how such a sophisticated combination of cognitive goals is possible today, and what limits it encounters. What the “light of great cultural problems” falls upon, what elements of the past determine the present, and what events are particularly important for understanding of a certain age are questions whose answers must regularly be sought anew. The author relies on the concept of “modernity”, or rather, on the field of interpretation arising around this term. He assumes that the given field is wide enough to better understand our present condition by means of this term. In the meantime, the author believes that for this understanding to be successful, present-day modernity must be appropriately positioned in this field theoretically, historically, and as the diagnosis of our age.

Abstract. The article explores the image of I. Mazepa in the context of numerous sources devoted to the personality of the Ukrainian hetman in historical science, literature and music. The analysis shows that the ideas of the great Ukrainian in the works of art evolve: from a traitor to a patriot. If in the 18th – 19th centuries artists created this image being inspired by myths, then from the early 20th century and up to the present time the historical approach has been dominant. In this paper the author suggests performing aspect basing on the vocal and scenic image of I. Mazepa created by him on the stage of Kharkiv National Opera and Ballet Theater named after M. Lysenko. The interpretation of the extraordinary personality of the Ukrainian hetman gives the audience an opportunity to look at Mazepa from a historical perspective. It is noted that his image in this performance is not limited to a national vision, but acquires a universal character. I. Mazepa’s personality is of great interest to modern Ukrainians living both in their historical homeland and far beyond its borders. At present, contradictory assessments of Mazepa’s role in the chronicle of Ukrainian history require the establishment of historical and artistic truth. P. Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazepa is perceived as a fruitful material to search for a new interpretation of the image. It was first performed on the stage of Kharkiv National Opera and Ballet Theater named after N. V. Lysenko on July 2, 2017 to mark the 330th anniversary of Ivan Mazepa’s election as hetman of Ukraine. This fact gives a chance to bring into focus a relevant performing interpretation of the image of this outstanding figure in Ukrainian history. Among the numerous historians and literary critics cited in the article, we find a new interpretation of Mazepa’s image in contrast to music studies (N. Lupak’s dissertation). The method of analysis is conditioned by the creative practice of the KhNAOBTh and its own performance experience. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the reinterpretation of Mazepa’s vocal and scenic image in the production of the P. I. Tchaikovsky’s opera of the same name on the stage of KhNAOBTh named after M. Lysenko (2017) basing on the critical analysis of scientific historiography. The attitude towards I. Mazepa as a historical personality and a person has always been ambiguous. He combined the incomparable: on the one hand, he was a great military and political figure who fought for the creation of the Ukrainian state, on the other hand – a treacherous traitor; at his initiative, 26 Orthodox churches were created throughout Ukraine and, at the same time, he was an apostate devotee who took part in the destruction of Ukrainian cities and villages; a person capable of loving in the broadest sense of the word. He had everything that attracted and aroused great interest of writers, composers, artists, directors not only in our country but also far beyond its borders. And each author interpreted the image of Mazepa in their own way. In the 19th century, the image of the Ukrainian hetman fell into the area of artistic interests of M. Staritsky. He, like Voltaire and Byron, used the Western European legend of Mazepa in the novel “Mazepa’s Youth”, which was appropriate for its genre (historical-adventure). Naturally, the idea of “independent Ukraine” did not fit into Russia’s interests. In Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazepa (1883), based on A. Pushkin’s story (libretto by V. P. Burenin) everything is quite complex. It is important to note that many researchers of Tchaikovsky’s creativity believe that in Tchaikovsky’s Mazepa historical facts are sidelined while lyrical love scenes dominate. There were a number of questions when the image of Mazepa was ctreated in the original Ukrainian version of the opera on the stage of Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after N. Lysenko. The main one is how to maintain faithfulness not only to historical but also to the life’s truth? The times of the Hetmanate in Ukraine were silenced for about 300 years, and, in particular, the true life of one of its most famous representatives was unknown. But in order to create an image, it is important to know the smallest shades of your character’s psychotype. As the lyrical scenes of Mary and Mazepa are the central line in the opera, it is necessary to understand what kind of relationship they really had. Kharkiv stage directors of P. Tchaikovsky’s opera (director Armen Kaloyan and conductor People’s Artist of Ukraine Garkusha) sought to convey this very episode from the life of Mazepa, who openly loves his darling and suffers from having to cruelly deal with her father and hurt her badly. In addition, there was created their own version of the text (by Victor Marinchak, Svetlana Oleshko and Mikhail Barbara) and changes were made to the musical dramaturgy of the opera. The main idea of stage directors was to transform the content of the opera into another field – to reveal the image of the hetman as a significant figure in the history of Ukraine, which was much more important for Mazepa than the alliance with Peter I. The difficulty of creating a vocal and scenic image of Mazepa lies in its multi-vector character, which should not interfere with artistic unity and integrity: Mazepa-lover (in the tradition of Western European romanticism), Mazepastatesman (Ukrainian national tradition) and, at the same time, in the interpretation of Kharkiv theatre Mazepa-traitor had to be neutralized (an enemy that is characteristic of Russian imperial thinking). The motives of torments, sorrow and, along with this, the rebellious nature of the protagonist become considerable in the opera, rising to genuine symbolism. Thus, in the vast number of works dedicated to I. Mazepa, his image is not limited to the national framework, but acquires a universal significance. Conclusions. Analysis has shown the evolution of ideas about the great Ukrainian: from traitor to patriot and legendary hetman. If in the 18th century the image of the Ukrainian hero was interpreted in many ways by its creators on the basis of myths, then in the 20th – 21st centuries the historical approach prevails in understanding performing interpretation of Mazepa. The creation of a complex, extraordinary personality on the opera stage requires from the performer, in addition to knowledge of Mazepa’s vocal part, a thorough study of various axiological judgments. The above given interpretations of I. Mazepa’s image reflect the irreconcilable confrontation and “blood” belonging of one or another author to different systems of values of the worldview. Such interpretations indicate that the image of I. Mazepa is interpreted as a symbol, an archetype of the national opera tradition. Undertaking further study of the theme can involve performing analysis of Mazepa’s image on the stages of Kyiv and Odessa opera theaters with a view of understanding the performing principles when teaching young vocalists in the class of solo singing.

The article is devoted to the sociological understanding of the poverty analysis methodological aspects as a topical social problem of today. Despite the defining poverty eradication as the number one goal in the Millennium Declaration and the priority task of sustainable world development by 2030, numerous scientific/political discussions and practical recommendations for overcoming poverty, it remains one of the most acute socio-economic and moral-ethical problems of humankind. The manifestation of multiple poverty factors — situational, socio-demographic, socio-economic, socio-political, socio-cultural, institutional — only increases the need for a clear understanding of the root causes of the existence and reproduction of this phenomenon. Within capitalism, they consist of abandoning the principles of Keynesianism and the welfare state and the transition to the principles of neoliberalism, which determine the socio-economic essence of the society in today’s globalized world. It is no coincidence that analysts of all the most influential international organizations directly or indirectly recognize that the ineffectiveness of the fight against poverty is a consequence of the existing rules of modern social life. Poverty is an integral part of capitalism, one of the most acute and widespread forms of inequality and injustice inherent in this social order. The multifaceted nature of poverty phenomenon and the variety of approaches to its assessment led to the emergence of a giant thesaurus on these issues (absolute, relative, social, multidimensional poverty etc.). Identifying and assessing poverty, adequately to the complex realities of life, are essential points not only from a cognitive-analytical point of view but also for the elaboration of effective measures to overcome it.

The article addresses the issue of Ukraine’s civilisational agency in the modern world. The authors state that a civilisational destiny of a state is determined by geopolitical actors claiming a superpower status, the state’s own choice, people’s will, its political and intellectual elite. Then, a state becomes a unit of international relations and law, world geopolitics, science, art; a civilisational actor of history, the present, and the future. Ukraine strives to become such an actor, have its civilisational project, and implement it. Our country is located between the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian civilisational societies, thus its capacity to be an actor in the modern globalised world is contingent on efficient cooperation with both of the societies. The authors believe that the implementation of the civilisational project of Ukraine as an actor and not as an object of modern world lies in systemic cooperation with the international actors which accept freedom and dignity of a human being as fundamental values. The authors single out the civilisational measures of such a society, which is a society of trust, social and political partnership, and balanced interaction of the rule of law and civil society. In its civilisational project of the 21st century, Ukraine should stand for a society of innovations and information, where a person can live up to her full potential. It is about the worldview transformation of consciousness and relations among people, countries, civilisations, and civilisational worlds. The implementation of this project is a fundamental condition for ensuring the national security and existence of Ukraine as an independent state. That is indeed a noble cause of Ukraine and its people in the multifaceted world of the 21st century. Keywords: Eurasian civilisational society, Euro-Atlantic direction, agency of Ukraine, independent state.

Introduction. Decossackization is a complex issue of modern historiography of the Cossacks. The scientific relevance of the decossackization issue is caused by shortage of generalizing studies. The social and political relevance is connected with the Cossack Renaissance in modern Russia. It is possible to see a major boundary in decossackization, which divided traditional and modern history of the Cossacks. Methods. The author uses the method of analytical historiography, complex, structural and comparative analysis of historiographic sources, quantitative analysis of the nomenclature of studies. The bibliography statistics is received on the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI) database. Analysis. Defining Decossackization: definitions, approaches, periodization. Soviet and post-Soviet historiography. The newest historiography of the 21st century. Alternative and expanded renderings of Decossackization. Approaches to how Decossackization should be determined in the legal systems of Russia and the USA. Determining Decossackization as the genocide of the Cossacks. Considering V.V. Putin and Patriarch Kirill’s expressed opinions on Decossackization; the influence of these opinions on the historiography in question. Emphasizing the topicality of researching Decossackization in the historical memory of the Cossacks. Most works on Decossakization were published already in the 21st century, but they amount to only about 1 % of the whole number of studies devoted to the Cossacks, which means that new studies into the question will be both topical and necessary. Results. The scholastic research into Decossackization stems from Soviet historiography. The post-Soviet period saw a wide range of opinions and suggested approaches to the problem of Decossackization. In the 21st century politicians, church leaders, lawyers, historians and the Cossacks themselves have reached a consensus on that Decossackization must be viewed as a tragedy. New researchers agree with the definition of Decossackization as genocide or a kind of cruel mass repression in the Soviet Russia.

The article deals with the value-semantic, communicative and cultural aspects of the phenomenon of the art fair being defined as a space for updating the works of contemporary artists and the exchange of ideas and senses, considering historical preconditions for appearing of the art fair. It analyzes art fairs as the most various level of the modern stage of art market development. Based on Art Basel study, it identifies substantial changes of contemporary art fairs which contributed to the formation of a new model of the art market at the beginning of the 21st century. The new role acquired by the art market due to its unifying nature has been noted. The author reviews the cultural specifics of art exhibitions, galleries, the value of art works, the formation of artistic tastes of people as well. The importance of studying and considering of the art fairs for understanding of the new model of art market development is substantiated. The article outlines perspective directions of further culturological research of the art market and art fairs. The performed analysis of the international art fair Art Basel shows the approval of the fair model of the art market due to the globalization processes, the formation of a new leisure culture and the need for a new way of art actualization.

The article describes and analyzes the current approach to urban planning on the example of two emerging cities: Iskandar, Malaysia and Songdo, South Korea. The aims and objectives of the modern city as a multifunctional, sustainable, flexible and competitive environment of the future. The article also describes forming factors and enterprise. The main ones are industrial enterprises, the intersection of roads and external transport. Examines the specific characteristics and problems of the cities of Songdo and Iskandar that are associated with the geography of the place, climate, socio-economic and cultural context, lack of resources, cultural values and other aspects. Special attention was paid to the description of the development planning strategies of cities and their common problems associated with the scale, speed of growth, development and management of complex and dynamic objects. It identifies the community in shaping the modern urban environment, regardless of climate, cultural, political and socio-economic contexts. The construction of a new city from scratch is not a new idea. In the XX century in the world of urban planning practice shows a huge number of examples. The most interesting foreign experience, where during the XX century was observed four waves of development of new towns, and were submitted to various concepts. New cities provide a unique opportunity to learn from the wisdom and functionality of the existing towns and avoid the mistakes of the past, allowing us to re-create ways of using cities. The ambitious projects of urban scale are subject to numerous risks associated with economic feasibility, suitability for housing and the lack of dynamism, as demonstrated by many post-war and the new colonial cities. New cities offer unprecedented opportunities to experiment with innovative ideas, learn from past mistakes, to reproduce the beauty and energy created by the city and integrate technologies from the earliest stages. Starting from scratch means that new cities have the potential to resolve and improve problems of existing cities to be more intelligent and less wasteful and more socially open and creative.

Abstract While in our accelerated world everything seems to change, basic values are here to stay. I believe one such aspect is education and training. Although our educational system is built on a relatively permanent basis, instructional methodology on the whole has undergone substantial changes despite that all of the educational system has preserved its role in transmitting, presenting, and preserving knowledge. Since in our fast 21st-century world myriads of facts and fake or questionable information is available, students require new knowledge along with new and perhaps different answers. We believe that education, due to its ability to provide scientifically sound answers to the respective challenges, is vital today. Recent paradigm shifts have led to fundamental alterations in the form of information and knowledge acquisition supported by modern, state-ofthe-art ICT-based methodological solutions and learning environments. The study focuses on the theoretical and practical aspects of such learning support schemes or solutions.

Scenario House, a gallery based installation, is comprised of a room constructed as a ???family room??? within a domestic space, a television with a looped video work and a sound componant played through a 5.1 sound system. The paper is intended to give my work context in relation to the processes leading up to its completion. This is achieved through clarification of the basis for the installation including previous socio-political discourses within my art practice. It then focuses on ways that the installation Scenario House is based on gun practice facilities such as the Valhalla Shooting Club. Further it gives an explanation of the actual production, in context with other art practices. It was found that distinctions between ???war as a game??? and the actual event are being lost within ???simulation revenge scenarios??? where the borders distinguishing gaming violence, television violence and revenge scenarios are increasingly indefinable. War can then be viewed a spectacle where the actual event is lost in a simplified simulation. Scenario House as installation allows audience immersion through sound spatialisation and physical devices. Sound is achieved by design of a 5.1 system played through a domestic home theatre system. The physical design incorporates the dual aspect of a gun shooting club and a lounge room. Further a film loop is shown on the television monitor as part of the domestic space ??? it is non-narrative and semi-documentary in style. The film loop represents the mediation of the representation of fear where there is an exclusion of ???the other??? from the social body. When considering this installation it is important to note that politics and art need not be considered as representing two separate and permanent realities. Conversely there is a need to distance politicised art production from any direct political campaign work in so far as the notion of a campaign constitutes a fixed and inflexible space for intellectual and cultural production. Finally this paper expresses the need to maintain a critical openness to media cultures that dominate political discourse. Art practices such as those of Martha Rosler, Haacke and Paul McCarthy are presented as effective strategies for this form of production.

The research project uses still life as a means of exploring current events of violence and oppression. These events are represented through juxtaposing plastic toys with organic objects. The toys include a range of popular generic toys such as army men, cowboys and Indians and toy soldiers. The organic objects were selected for their relationship to the specific event being represented. The toys and organic objects were positioned to create interesting and logical compositions. Themes of the series include opposing objects and ideas pitched against each other such as plastic/organic, perpetrator/victim, violence/peacefulness and destruction/sustenance. Within each work the plastic toys take on the demeanor of the tyrant(s), whereas the organic objects adopt the role of the victim(s). The research project uses these themes to convey the message that violence is both a barbaric way of dealing with conflict and a senseless form of self-expression. I have used symbols and metaphors to build a visual language. For the language to be translated accurately a great deal of research has taken place into the appropriate still life objects for each work. Each work incorporates metaphors and or symbols for both the oppressor and victim within the event being represented. The studio outcome of this research project, Silent Bang, includes a series of highly detailed finished paintings of various scales. Silent Bang as a body of work is colourful and aims to be aesthetically pleasing in addition to conveying a powerful message that incites interpretation.

This visual arts based research explores the autonomous process of mark-making from the unconscious for the sake of expressing inner turmoil that comes with ‘Living in the Shadow of Death series’ (2014). The manner by which emotions are, in a sense, naturally released in automatic drawing and painting underpin the basis of this research as part of the development of an expressive visual language. ‘Living in the Shadow of Death’ is definitively concerned with how an emotional predisposition, a severe case of unconscious aggression due to struggles with the illness of Marfan Syndrome comes to the surface naturally and is expressed visually. Essentially, this research aims to answer the main research question: How might the act of drawing convey the power and complexity of emotion through the exploration of autonomous mark-making with unconventional tools, mediums and methodologies? This research inquiry rests upon three important benefactors and influences: Illness, anatomy and unconventional tools. What is discussed is an interdisciplinary regime of theoretical and practical research into Surrealist Automatism and a progressive development of this methodology formed from the perspective and approach of a Marfan Syndrome sufferer. The research includes an analysis of Automatism in the works and practice of artists Roberto Matta, Joan Miro and Andre Masson and their influence on the working methods of Jackson Pollock. To this end, the contribution made by Jungian therapy to Pollock’s Action Painting technique and experimentation with unconventional methodologies is explored. Furthermore, the practice-led analysis and documentation of information gained on Surrealist Automatism aided development of working procedures and how this guided the creation of a body of works entitled ‘Living in the Shadow of Death’ is discussed. Ultimately, the content of this research expands the discourse on what constitutes drawing tools, media and format, and how suffering from Marfan Syndrome extended and amplified the expressive potential of Surrealist Automatism and Action Painting exemplified in the development of an innovative methodology known as ‘Anatomical Automatism’.

Bibliography: pages 232-240.
This dissertation argues that abstract art is not ideologically neutral. In spite of many artists' anti-fascist stance early in their careers, the mantle of neutrality was assumed as a reaction to the protracted struggle between the two major ideologies confronting artists living in Europe and the United States of America in the period 1933-1953, namely capitalism and communism. These ideologies were not peripheral to artists lives, but were actively debated by both artists and intellectuals and resulted in the establishment of powerful cultural organisations. The ensuing growth in prestige and influence of left-wing artist's organisations was countered by a campaign which included direct suppression of left-wing artists as well as a form of ideological control. This control was vested in what has been called the specifics of patronage and is reflected in the establishment of the Arts Council in Britain and the private art museums in the United States. Changes in the art market have meant that, together with dealers and critics, these institutions wielded almost complete economic control over artists. The prevailing ideology of liberal humanism, which glorified individualism and defined democracy as a middle ground between the left and the right, favoured the development of a seemingly apolitical abstract art style. Analysis of the demise of the Artists International Association and the American Artist's Congress supports the conclusion that the figurative tradition lost prestige as a result of the stigma attached to Socialist Realism and the idealised realism demanded by National Socialism in Germany. Account is also taken of the attempt by well-positioned and influential commentators to identify all forms of realism with totalitarianism. It is not surprising therefore, that it was commonly believed that to paint in an abstract modern style was to strike a blow against fascism. In the same way that realism was identified with the regimentation of Soviet society, the avant-gardes' abstract experiments came to symbolize democracy. Drawing on the texts of writers, critics, artists and theorists, this dissertation shows that the force of the identification of progressive realism with totalitarianism, prepared the way for acceptance of the idea that freedom of expression epitomised freedom in general. In this way, anti-Stalinism and the post-war liberal philosophy of individual freedom, coupled with a search for 'essences' and the 'universal', directed artists inward to the medium of art as relevant subject-matter. This dissertation argues that this identification was ideologically motivated in respect to the balance of social and political power in America.

A Research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the Degree Masters in History of Arts at the University of Witwatersrand, 2017
This research report has followed three periods in the history of the political struggle for freedom in South Africa, from the height of the Anti-apartheid struggle in the 1980s to the present day by way of exploring three exhibitions of resistance posters as case studies. It is located in the realm of political and art history. Looking at the positioning of the resistance poster in South African art history, the intension is to highlight how these exhibitions have used display strategies to construct values reflected in the resistance poster. The three selected exhibitions are as follows: firstly, Thami Mnyele and Medu Art Ensemble Retrospective (2008), Second is the exhibition Images of Defiance: South African poster of the 1980’s (2004). And the third exhibition Interruptions: Posters from the Community Arts Project Archive (2014).
XL2018

In 1964 Clement Greenberg suffered his greatest setback as the critical arbiter of modern painting. The "Post Painterly Abstraction" exhibition he had helped to organize at the Los Angeles Museum of Art was critically demolished, definitively shattering the myth of invincibility surrounding Greenberg's modernism, an aesthetic which had been a powerful influence in the United States and Canada in the post-war period. For many contemporary critics, the early to mid-1960's is the period in which a stultified and institutionalized modernism was finally usurped by an approach to culture that was less elitist and more socially engaged. The new cultural model that was taking shape within the Kennedy Administration's vision of the New Frontier sought to remotivate a sense of "national purpose" within the United States to counter the nation's preoccupation with consumerism and affluence. The pragmatic liberal concept of culture sought to rework the relationship between work and play in order to promote a new relationship between individualism and civic virtue. The impetus to re-shape the boundaries between art and society under the New Frontier was a direct response to the political and military challenge posed by the Soviet Union in the late-1950s, especially after the launch of Sputnik in 1957, and the inability of the Eisenhower Administration to respond to the anxieties generated by the intense superpower rivalry. This international environment also exacerbated the ongoing tensions between Canada and the United States, culminating in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis . Canadian Prime Minister Diefenbaker delayed in responding to the U.S. alarm over the presence of Soviet medium range nuclear weapons in Cuba, and the political firestorm that followed this delay highlighted the frictions that had developed in the unequal bilateral relationship between the United States and Canada after World War Two. While the Cold War was approaching its ultimate showdown, Greenberg was proceeding to a geographical margin of North America — Saskatchewan — to participate in the Emma Lake Artists' Workshops. Ironically, while Greenberg was extolling the virtues of Canadian abstract painters such as Art McKay and Kenneth Lochhead, going so far as to argue that the Saskatchewan abstract painters were New York's only competition, Los Angeles was asserting itself as New York's cultural rival . As a consequence of the phenomenal post-war growth of the military - industrial complex in the American Southwest, a fierce rivalry was developing with the traditional bases of power in the Northeast. The Southwest, and Los Angeles in particular, was the major beneficiary of the accelerated defense spending resulting from the heightened tensions of the Cold War in the 1950s. Partially in response to a regional dispute over military appropriations, the economic and cultural elites of Southern California sought to counter the pragmatic liberal agenda of the Kennedy Administration by promoting Los Angeles as the Second City of American Art. Greenberg's "Post Painterly Abstraction" exhibition was intended to draw attention to the Los Angeles cultural renaissance and the maturing of the city's independent cultural identity. Thus, Greenberg's sojourn to Saskatchewan at the height of the Cold War and during a crucial period of his formulation of his theory of modernist painting after abstract expressionism provides the focus for an examination of the status of modernism in the early 1960s, especially in the context of U.S.-Canadian relations and interregional rivalry between the Northeast and the Southwest. This thesis seeks to explain the complex cultural and political dynamic of modernist painting in the United States in the Cold War years of 1957 to 1965 and the effect of this dynamic on the development of Canadian modernist painting.

As an alternative to existing research which states that the phenomenon of displacement resists theorisation because of its complex nature, this study conducts a Phenomenological examination of the nature of displacement in which the interlinked losses in the key concepts of the consciousness of the displaced, namely Memory, Land and home and Identity, are navigated. It is shown that the current consciousness of society mimics these losses with the effect of displacement being experienced as a state of mind by contemporary society. By comparing selected artworks of artists Rachel Whiteread and Cornelia Parker, it is established that although manifested in diverse ways, contemporary artworks reflect displacement according to a set of broadly defined visual signifiers. The visual documentation of a site of displacement in the North West Province of South Africa and subsequently produced artworks underline these findings and highlight the elusive attributes of loss inherent in the displacement phenomenon.
Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology
M.A. (Visual Arts)

The research deals with phenomenon of mass art (mass culture) as one of the components of mass art modern world. An attempt to identify mass culture, mass art as a phenomenon is made and main approaches to its treatment and different aspects of its study in contemporary science are analysed. The first part of the work offers an overview of researchers’ views on the problem of definition of mass culture, mass art phenomenon and reveals ways of self-identification of it in the course of its development. Main features of mass culture, mass art are also studied. The second part of the work is devoted to the analysis of main approaches to the study of mass art and mass culture in early and in modern scientific works. As we see this phenomenon is widely examined by representatives of different research schools and scientific spheres. Philosophers, political scientists, writers, art critics, culturologists are involved in this process. The majority of the twentieth century researchers perceived mass culture as negative aspect of cultural social development because of its low level of quality and as a part of bourgeois culture focused on manipulating the minds of the masses. On the other hand the 21st century researchers realizing all the negative moments (idolatry, personality levelling) consider mass culture and mass art as natural necessary phenomenon of modern life, a base for development of professional art, a product of modern technology, show-business. The analyses of the phenomenon of mass art, mass culture gives us the picture of variety in opinions and approaches to this phenomenon as well as of the great number of aspects of scientific interest to the problem. In the majority of cases researchers’ concepts of mass culture, mass art clearly reflects the ideas of the periods they belong to.

Most modern challenges facing society are shaped by the political elite and the transience of political processes that drive its actions. Political realities daily challenge full-fledged development of modern society. Political pragmatism which is reflected in the nature of political decisions made by the elite, increasingly goes beyond what is permissible and turns into political cynicism. Of course transience of political cynicism’s spread cannot be called the 21st century’s phenomenon.

Reflection on the scientific level of new media practices and systematization of a positive experience is impossible without identifying and describing the problem components and contradictions that characterize the modern informa­tion space in Russia or its particular regions. First of all, it determines the fact that the first decades of the 21st century marked the beginning of a new stage in the study of rapidly transforming media systems. Secondly, when studying the impact of these processes on the representatives of modern Russian society as a whole and its groups, the digital revolution assumes that not only the mo­bilization resources of social theories and actual practices are defined, but also predetermines the formation of a legal framework for the mass media, which must meet the requirements of time and the demands of society. The third part of the monograph “Mass Media as a Mediator of Communicative-Cultural Memory” is devoted to this problem. The legal field of journalism of the digital age and the legal aspect of the identity of Russians are considered in the context of their mutual influence. The axiological context of ethical and philosophical dominance in modern media texts and the analysis of the role of the media in maintaining positive ethnic identity has allowed the authors to consider several problematic nodes of actual practice at various levels of social dynamics. In particular, it has been proved that since it is through culture, as well as through media culture as a special type of culture, that the individual is socialized and society thus largely regulates the behaviour of individuals and groups, the consideration of culture as an Univer­sum opens wide prospects for research into the functioning of journalism as a social institution under the new conditions. The results of the sociological research carried out by the authors testi­fied that professional activity for the overwhelming number of respondents in conditions of active influence of the global network and possibilities of new information technologies became inseparable with personal intentions. They are reflected in their public discourse, the product of a more or less argumentative discussion of a fact, a problem situation, which is based on an openly broadcast text. It has been proved that modern practice allows the public discourse of a journalist, which influences the formation of primarily communicative memory of media audience representatives, to be differentiated into three levels: com­municative-event, communicative-containing and communicative-predictive. Today, mass media should be not only an information resource but also a platform (channel, tool) for presenting the whole range of opinions and de­veloping various initiatives of active representatives of this or that societies. Information activities of non-professionals in the media sphere, most often referred to as civic journalism, should in practice become an important factor in the development of conventional (contractual) and communication (dialogue) strategies. At the same time, the mythologization of reality, even via ethnic ste­reotypes broadcast by some media and bloggers, is a complex and controversial formation that manifests itself specifically at different levels of mass conscious­ness. It can contribute both to the emergence of new images, different views of reality, and the accumulation of incorrect opinions, false ideas, manifestations of aggression. The result is social, cultural, religious and political myths, sometimes even leading to various antisocial actions. Therefore, it is concluded that professional media activity requires from communicators, along with ethical and legal enlightenment and active life po­sition manifestation, the skills of creative (non-traditional, non-stereotypical) information expression in media texts.

Medical geographers employ geographical concepts and techniques to study issues related to disease and health. In its early stages of development as a distinct geographic subdiscipline, from the 1950s and into the 1980s, medical geography focused on disease ecology and health-care delivery as topics and spatial analysis as technique. These three areas have maintained their importance and research productivity within them has increased over the last decade. At the same time, since the 1980s, medical geography has evolved into new areas of concern. Both those who continue to call themselves medical geographers and those who do not identify closely with the subdiscipline have moved toward a geography of health that is less concerned with disease and the medical world and more with well-being and social models of health and health care (Rosenberg 1998). Health geography is characterized by an emphasis on place and place meaning, grounding in socio-cultural theory, and a critical perspective on health issues (Kearns and Moon 2000). The evolution of medical geography led to lively debates in the mid-1990s (Kearns 1993; Mayer and Meade 1994; Litva and Eyles 1995; Philo 1996) that have been put into historical perspective by Del Casino and Dorn (1998). By the end of the 1990s, the dichotomy between old and new medical geographers constructed during the debate was giving way to complementarity and synthesis. As examples, disease ecology was opened out to include political economic concerns (Mayer 1996) and multi-level modeling combined aspects of spatial analysis with a focus on place (Duncan et al. 1996; Verheij 1999). The structure of this chapter results from a decision made by the Medical Geography Specialty Group (MGSG) to base its contribution to this volume on papers presented at two special sessions on “Retrospect and Prospect” during the 1998 Association of American Geographers meetings in Boston. The six presenters were Michael Greenberg on disease ecology, Ellen Cromley on health services, Gerard Rushton on spatial analysis, Susan Elliott on women’s health, Jennifer Wolch on mental health, and Joseph Scarpaci on the developing world.

As globalization continues to be a reality around the world, the rules and context of business activity have been affected. Globalization increases the complexity of businesses and drives managers to be globally oriented. With globalization, people from various cultural backgrounds get together virtually and interact. National boundaries of countries are becoming less relevant. More significantly, the impact of technology and particularly information and communication technology (ITC), is the other characteristic aspect of the 21st century. ITC is essential in today's business and modern globalization as business partners are constantly in communication around the globe. This chapter discusses the effect of globalization and the global business environment as it is shaped by various economic and politic-economic blocks around the world.

The issues associated with this study are both physical and intellectual, as are the factors in urban development. The correlation of known data from inscriptions (epigraphy), literary references (ancient history and more recent government and church documents), evidence from destroyed and rebuilt buildings (archaeology), and modern scientific and technical findings (several kinds of engineering and subfields of geology such as seismology and sedimentology) can give a more complete picture of each city’s development than does one kind of information alone. Most of the necessary site-specific studies, however, have not been done. Our problem parallels the study of global warming, where precise records of weather events have been kept for less than 200 years. Urban elements must be studied by experts in that building type and in social expression. Ramparts need more study by historians of warfare, theaters by scholars of drama and literature, stadia by those who study the history of sports, plumbing by hydraulic, civil, and fluids engineers, and temples by historians of comparative religion. Insights into institutional and political aspects of ancient studies and the historiography of all the disciplines involved in ancient studies would be both useful and fascinating (Kardulias 1994). The benefits and difficulties of interdisciplinary research are clearer now to us than when we started. In considering the physical setting and geological processes in the Mediterranean area, is description sufficient or should scholars strive for explanation, even if this involves theory building? “In much of art history and classical archaeology traditional practices have continued without explicit theoretical support” (McNally 1985; but cf. Preziosi 1989). The theorists of archaeology and urban history desire comprehensive and precise theories—even in the absence of enough data to make that possible. Some data may be rescued by followers of one discipline after being ignored or thrown out by followers of another. The awareness of theoretical difficulty is part of the increase in consciousness typical of the second half of the twentieth century when we began to question the nature of both knowledge and culture.

This article covers some new forms of publicness in the field of art culture of the Russian city of Perm, e.g. dramatics as a performance in a street environment, and synthetic museum-theatrical form under the conditions of a stage box. The study was accomplished mainly via culturological method. At one time theatre left the urban environment, but in the 21st century theatrical forms have begun to permeate urban space again, the statement primarily concerns site-specific theatre. This is equivalent to the birth of new theatrical-city publicity, a new modality of the interpenetration of the public and the private. One of the best-known theatrical projects in this field is ‘Remote X’ (‘Rimini Protokoll’ band). Here, the close co-existence habitual to city dwellers turns into a social substrate, and a way to implement interpersonal artistic communication, thereby largely changing the disposition of the former, and transforming itself. Another new form of relationship between collective and individual aspects in the public sphere is the synthetic museum-theatre form, on the example of immersion dramatics ‘Permian Pantheon’ (Perm Academic Theatre, stager Dmitry Volkostrelov). The natural ‘calendar-seasonal’ tempo-rhythm of the dramatics creates a triple semantic effect risen from artistic reality. It immerses the viewer into the process of traditional subsistence in whole (actualisation of the cultural collective unconscious), represents cultural phenomena (which corresponds to the culture-focused paradigm of artistic consciousness of the second half of the 20th century to the early 21st century), reaches the level of worldview values, the philosophical generalisation of cultural-existential reality. Thus, on the example of two Perm theatrical plays the author can speak about the origin of new forms of publicness in contemporary culture to entail new relationships between publicity and privacy in the current realities.

Data-music reflects the ubiquity of data in modern society. Composers have not engaged widely with the opportunities opened up by this, despite the chance to overcome a gulf between academic art music and social engagement. Their reluctance might be traced to the challenge of reconciling abstract data and concrete sound, in political implications, and in technological barriers in computer music. The present paper argues that socially relevant music composition for the 21st century can adopt a programme of sonification grounded in politically acute data. As examples of such practice, two compositions are discussed founded upon US and UK social data sets, and realised via the SuperCollider programming language. The consequences for the composer of new music are further discussed from political and musicological angles, with the ‘purpose’ of writing such music analysed from the perspective of various commentators.