• Open Access close
• Journal of Education Culture and Society close
• Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage close

This paper analyzes the relationship between permanent monuments and temporary art projects, as temporality is one of the strategies employed by Romanian artists to counterbalance the support that the Romanian state has shown only towards monuments and memorials dedicated to affirming its value. The complex nature of public art requires a careful consideration of the different dimensions this practice employs, and for that the Western debate on this matter can be a reference point in understanding Romanian public art. We will be looking at possible aspects of the functions of these two main directions in Romanian public art, as they stand methodically one in opposition to the other, in connection with the texts of Piotr Piotrowski (Art and Democracy in Post-communist Europe, 2012) and Boris Groys (Art Power, 2008).

At the beginning of the XXI century Ukrainian art observed activization of the artist’s interest for the political life of the country. The starting point was 2004, marked by protests against unfair elections in the country, the birth of the first “Maidan” and “Orange revolution”. In a number of artistic actions organized by art groups we can see the reflection of the revolution events and, later, the frustrations of its ideals. The most striking manifestation of political issues in contemporary art in Ukraine was the great creativity following the second “Maidan” (2013). In this spontaneous Performance everyone plays a role: the participants are the protesters, official persons, fighters of “Berkut” and interior force troops, journalists and others. Protesters’ tents, barricades, a statue of Lenin and “Maidan” itself (or Independence Square) as a place of free will and creativity became the Symbols of the “Maidan” and its own art objects.

In general, community archives are grass-roots documentary initiatives built around a broadly defined community, which collect, preserve, describe and provide access to historical sources concerning a previously chosen topic, e.g. local history and traditions, a social movement, a minority, an ethnic group, an event or a person. The phenomenon of community archiving is not new, but only several years ago it started to be described by scholars in Poland.The article describes educational activities performed by two biggest and most influential community archives in Poland: the KARTA Centre Foundation in Warsaw and the General Elżbieta Zawacka Foundation in Toruń. Actions of these archives are shown referring to general understanding of education in historical archives, as well as specific situation of Polish archives, especially their mission to promote historical knowledge and local identity. Also promotional qualities of educational endeavours in archives are stressed. 

Interpretation of Metaphisics – the novel written by Lech Majewski, is the subject matter of theoretical, aesthetic and antropological considerations. Synthesis of arts: literature, film, painting and theatre, which occur in the novel, opens a perspective of intertextuality and provokes questions about ekphrasis, varied materials, ways of experience mediated by dispositives and reflections on humans among other problems. The crucial point in both: Majewski’s novel and this dissertation, is a triptych painted by Hieronymus Bosch – The Garden of Earthly Delight, which gradually annexes the featured world – becomes a basic figure in trying to show, how the aesthetization of reality brings Wolfgang Welsch’s cahegory of an(a)esthetics.

The ageing population is a great challenge for the whole world including churches, Christian communities, Christian families and the so-called “Christian countries”. The respect and support for elderly people is almost a common rule of social life in developed countries regardless of religious views. But in the Christian world this obligation has very strong religious justification – obligation enshrined in the Commandments of Old (the fourth/fifth Commandment) and New (the second one of The Greatest Commandments of Love) Testaments. Therefore between the Christianity – understood as a set of different communities sharing their beliefs in Jesus Christ – and aging population there are many very different connections including among others: honour and respect, privilege, obligations, giving – receiving relations, duty, charity, solidarity, dependency. They are present both in the teaching and the practice of different Christian communities starting with Churches, through NGOs and Christian societies, ending with Christian families. The paper shows some of these connections. It also tries – based on a case of Poland – to answer the question whether the Christianity is ready to face the aging of global population.

The paper is concerned with Maksimilian Voloshin’s Japanese woodblock print collec-tion. It starts with a short historical sketch of Orientalism in Europe and Russia, illustrating various highlights and the evolution of the image of the East in the minds of Europeans, and designed so that the emergence of Voloshin’s interest in Japanese art and his activity of collecting Ukiyo-e prints can be considered in the context of European Orientalism.

Aim. The aim of the research is to study the symbolic capital of northern cities (semiotic potential) contained in "urban texts" and the influence of the historical memory of a multiethnic region on the political process of the region and the country as a whole, through a comprehensive and interdisciplinary study of the symbolic space of cities in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Methods. The study used the cognitive approach, the method of space-time analysis, and the method of historicism and questionnaire survey. Symbolic space as a text is a heterogeneous content. Results. The results of the study show the importance of a symbolic resource as a brand tool, first, depending on the political context and introduction into the collective memory through a constant "reminder" of its importance and significance in the socio-cultural and everyday life of citizens. The resulting databases of monuments served as the basis for compiling a virtual album of monuments and art objects in the cities of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The research results can practically be applied in the field of education, politics, culture, in the study and promotion of the cultural and historical heritage of the regions of Russia. Conclusions. The urgent problem is the task of preserving the accumulated experience and values, places of memory, relics of the past, as well as ideas about the past that are stored in the memory of its inhabitants and the transfer of this knowledge to the younger generation.

The paper is based on the results of the project All This Painting hasn’t Gone to Waste, 2011, which deals with early 16th century sacral wall paintings in southern Slovenia. It tries to resolve out some dilemmas in communication with the wider public and presents main objectives in regard to awareness-rising and promotion of art heritage, for example encouragement of insti-tutions and individual experts for more intensive study and/or conservation-restoration work.

This paper will focus on the LL of Daugavpils from a diachronic point of view in order to describe the usage of the Latvian language in the public space since the middle of the 19th century until today, as well as the socio-economic and political factors which influence the language situation. Research sources are old photos which depict legible signboards, and photos obtained during LL research 2013. The role of the Latvian language in public information increased during the first period of independence, when ideas of nationalism become widespread and the first normative documents about language usage were approved. However, the stability of Latvian as the main language of the public was only established during the first Latvian Republican period at the end of the 20th century, when the State Language Law was passed and implemented in linguistic practice. Currently, the linguistic landscape reflects the political, socio-pragmatic, and social identity motivations of the owners of public texts, but within the confines of the restrictions imposed by language laws.

Thesis. Jan Švankmajer’s Kunstkammer is a project with a complex constellation of meaning that defies clear-cut categorization in the context of Pomian’s theory of semiophores.  Discussed concepts. The paper describes the kunstkammer art project created by Jan Švankmajer, a Czech surrealist, in the context of Pomian’s theory of semiophores and compares it to traditional and historical equivalents, using the concepts of micro- and macrocosm, the world as a stage (Theatrum Mundi), hermeticism, and alchemy.  Results and conclusion. Jana Švankmajer’s Kunstkammer should be analyzed primarily in the individual and subjective context, rather than in the social one. Originality/cognitive value of the approach. Pomian has described many examples of traditional kunstkammers, but there are also several modern collections that have not yet been described in the literature.