ADHERENCE TO RESISTANCE IN THE MUSIC OF POPULAR CULTURE
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAA division of cultural events to high and low, as well as differences
between the established and popular culture, are subject to a number
of interpretations of cultural theories. The right-wing critical thought
defended the “real” culture from the crude culture of the lower
social classes, while the leftists found mass culture positive for its
democratization. Thanks to the impact of the global media, position
of music occupies a high place in the hierarchy of industry and market
culture. The opposed relationship of art and popular music is being
relativized in terms of class identification. The ideology of taste, which
is also related to the possession of a larger or smaller cultural capital,
has adapted to the requirements of populism and market. Agreeing to
concessions is a kind of democratization of elite musical forms (for
example opera), and movement of various musical forms in the system
of two-way (higher / lower) and circular (from one form to another)
forms representing both resistance and compliance in mutual encounter
and permeation of classical and popular music, both in practice and
in theory. With the exception of the avant-garde “outages” in classical
music or lowest genres of folk, all other types of music (classical, jazz,
rock, pop, folk) have found some sort of balance in their relationship.
Along with the general crisis of the spirit of criticism, this certainly
contributed to value relativism, as one of the essential features of
popular culture.
THE WORDS TAKEN AWAY: DEFENCE OF CREATIVITY AND THE CONDITIONS OF RADICAL IMAGINATION
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAThis paper examines contemporary interpretations of creativity and
instrumentalisation of the concept itself, both in neoliberal discourse
and in public policies that have become the driver of ever deeper
society inequalities. A review of divergent production research from
the second half of the 20th century, as the foundation of all further
psychological studies, and the analysis of implicit social agendas
reveal three controversial points of theoretical starting points in which
creativity was viewed exclusively as adaptive ability validated by the
product – the outcome of individual achievement. A response to this
simplified concept of creativity has arrived from researchers focused
on emerging processes within the collective. In new studies, they have
confirmed the primacy of social interaction in a cognitive development,
shifting the research focus from adaptive to transformative function,
from productivity to processuality, from individual to group level of
creativity. Therefore, at this moment, it seems to be fully justified to
examine creativity in the light of wider social changes, considering the
conditions of Castoriadis’s concept of radical imagination, especially
because the neglected features of creativity are a common resource, as
well as a requirement of change.
OLGA KEŠELJEVIĆ BARBEZAT: INVISIBLE PARTICIPANT AND WITNESS TO AN EPOCH
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAIn this paper, for the first time in national historiography, the life and
work of Olga Kešeljević Barbezat, an art historian and actress, are dealt
with in more detail. Having arrived in Paris in 1936 with the intention
to defend her PhD thesis in art history, she established relations with a
circle of Yugoslav artists: Ljubica Cuca Sokić, Ivan Tabaković, Bora
Baruh, Petar Lubarda etc. During the Second World War she married
Mark Barbezat, a young intellectual who would soon launch L’Arbalète,
the publishing house well-known for the works of Jean Genet, Antonin
Artaud, Albert Camus, Lana Leclercq, Sartre, Eluard etc. Considering
the published correspondence between Barbezat and Genet, numerous
dedications in the books owned by the Barbezat family, Olgaʼs portraits
painted by some of the most influential Serbian twentieth-century
artists, the testimonies of the successors of their families, postcards
and letters sent to painter Nedeljko Gvozdenović (kept in the Archive
of SASA in Belgrade), as well as other material traces, this paper
discusses the role of Olga Kešeljević Barbezat on the cultural scene
of France, as well as the intelectual relations she had with the Serbian
artists whose works were part of the Barbezat art collection. At the
same time, knowing that the family heritage was put up for auction in
2016, after Olga Kešeljevićʼs death in December 2015, it is important
to think about the availability of any new material and possibly existing
personal correspondence with Serbian artists that would contribute to
the results of this research in the future.
POSSIBILITIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL ECONOMY AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAIn an effort to determine certain basic principles of Visual Economy,
it is natural and quite logical to first consider it in the context of
traditional media. This implies that we will have a smaller number of
media available, which enables us to better understand and define the
problems they deal with. In its further structuring and defining, a wide
range of the media and new visual aspects and possibilities that are
available to us in the modern age can be very helpful. Anthropologist
Deborah Pool defines the Visual Economy as a political, economic and
social matrix in which photos operate, and defines their production,
circulation, consumption and possession. Before any attempt to
determine visual economy framework, it is necessary to consider the
crucial and revolutionary role of the Internet today. The economy and
all the other phenomena that accompany it are inevitably included in
this vast network of computers. Also, visual perception is unimaginable
outside the context of the Internet. Even if we tried to do this we
would weave into that network, or at least we would feel something
was missing and that the whole was not completely rounded up. In
its primary sense, the Internet Economy refers to the basic economic
qualities of the Internet, and how the Internet service providers share
costs and provide services. However, many of the issues that appear in
the Internet Economy look similar to those in the traditional industrial
economy. The Internet Economy covers more and more areas of
the economy, and at the same time, every industry is not under the
influence of the Internet in the same scope. This secondary significance,
which is more important to us, refers to visual content on the Internet
(photos, pictures, films, etc.) and their consumption and affect on
the consumers from different cultures. Visual Economy is in some
way connected with Visual Culture, and there are many touch points
with Visual Anthropology. This is especially expressed in the field of
cinematography, which is a rich field for research, from both visual and
economic aspect.
PRINCIPLES OF FORMING PUBLISHING SERIES
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAA publishing series is formed as a outcome of various activities and
regulations dealing with literary, editorial and publishing decisions
and contents, as well as cultural processes related to readers’ practices,
readers’ competences and audience development strategies. We
approach the understanding of publishing series considering four main
principles: (1) historical, (2) editorial, (3) paratextual and (4) readeroriented. In this paper, we have analyzed these four main principles
following the example of Croatian publishing series – Biblioteka HIT
(HIT Library of modern literature) edited by Zlatko Crnković – as one
of seven publishing series in Croatia between 1968 and 1991. Biblioteka
HIT had dominated the publishing scene in Croatia and Yugoslavia
during the 1970s and 1980s, both in commercial and cultural sense.
EVENT MANAGEMENТ IN THEATRE ARTS
/in Culture and Money /by Kcs21blAACultural events are very important for a community and its cultural
and economic development. Theatre performances as cultural events
are studied as a distinctive social phenomenon. In this article we will
observe theatre art and its development from religious rituals and poetic
plays to Broadway. Organization of an event such as theatre performance
is a very complicated process which requires the organizers to have
specific set of skills and knowledge. In addition to coming up with the
idea for the theme of a cultural event, it is necessary to consider a range
of convenient places and always have in mind the budgetary and other
limitations. Event management has become a special field of research
in a large number of educational institutions.
GRAFFITI – THE ART OF RESISTANCE
/in Culture and Money /by Kcs21blAAThere is no consensus when it comes to graffiti. The fact that we
balance between considering them art and considering their invasion
of our public space vandalism, tells mainly about our fear of inability
to control the messages they send. But whether consisting of an artist’s
name or a high quality drawing, graffiti messages carry a common
meaning. Following the trail of Monsieur Chat, a graffiti cat smiling
from Paris rooftops at the protestants during the social upheaval of
2001, the French director Chris Marker reflected on these post 9/11
events, reminding us that, just like in 1968, poetry gets born in the
streets. Graffiti initially emerged out of necessity, as a language of those
deprived of other, more conventional means of expression. They serve
a social function by expressing the society’s shared values, instead of
individual beliefs of their creators. By invading our public space they
alter our perception of reality, provoke critical thinking and awake our
social conscience. Regarding graffiti as a mean of communication, this
paper reflects on this phenomenon by analysing different segments of
communication process.
ART AND MONEY: THEATRES IN BELGRADE OVER THE PERIOD 1945–1980
/in Culture and Money /by Kcs21blAADuring the examined period, the state exercised ideological control
over all segments of public life including artistic creation. This control
was particularly pronounced in the years following the Second World
War, even though it was present throughout the entire period. In
theatres, it was expressed through various forms, of which the most
significant were political censorship on the one hand, and on the other,
their dependence on state financing. Since a lot has already been
written on the significance of the ideological factor, we will instead
focus on the influence of the financial circumstances on the formation
of theatre repertoires in Belgrade, between 1945 and 1980. Roughly
speaking, two major phases were identified. The first one, the period
of centralization, was the period of strong state control of the theatre
repertoires in Belgrade, also accompanied with firm financial support.
The other period, the period of decentralization, allowed theatres to
create their repertoires more freely, but also meant that they had to
partly obtain financing from other sources.
TAYLORIZATION MOTIFS IN FRITZ LANG’S FILM METROPOLIS
/in Culture and Money /by Kcs21blAAThe Fritz Lang’s cult film Metropolis seen in the context of ideas
presented by Frederick Winslow Taylor, the father of scientific
management, reveals a powerful message that the modern cult of
efficiency, according to which things can be done “in one best way”,
dehumanizes labour and turns humans into machines thus preventing
their spiritual accomplishment. The paper examines the presence of
Taylor’s ideas in Germany during the 1920s, as well as their global
impact on the art and culture trends, underlying their dystopic potential.
Through intersemiotic references to other literary and cinematographic
works, primarily Yevgeny Zamyatin’s novel We and Aldous Huxley’s
Brave New World, this interdisciplinary study confirms conclusions
of certain authors about the crucial importance of Taylor’s ideas in
understanding the world we live in.
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