/ 1968
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THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE UTILITARIAN AND ANTI-UTILITARIAN IN EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE

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It has already been recognized that the philosophy of Francis Bacon, with utilitarian theory of knowledge and his view that man has rights over nature and should become her “servant and master” is the philosophical foundation for technological civilization. This paper sheds some light on the process of spreading of utilitarian values from the gnoseology to the moral and aesthetic field. This process is key offspring of the British philosophy. Another key offspring of the British philosophy is aesthetic reaction to the utilitarianism. Together, the two trends represent crucial philosophical events to have occurred on European soil, from the time of the renaissance to this day.

/ 1968
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THE PRODUCTION OF MEANING THROUGH LANGUAGE OF PHOTOGRAPHY

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By developing modern theoretical approaches, starting from linguistics, through semiotics to the theory of visual culture, photography is no longer considered as an objective and realistic visual representation of what was in front of the camera lenses at the moment of taking a picture, because it is also necessary to take into account protocols and codes that generate our visual experience. Although the photograph looks convincing, clearly and easily understandable because of its “apparent” visual similarity to what it shows, the way we view the photograph is not based solely on our natural perceptual ability. Scopic regimes are directly dependent on existing social practices, especially the language we use. If by language we mean any communication system that uses signs organized in a certain way, then visual representations can be considered as a practice of producing meanings determined by the visual language that will be the subject of our research. In the photograph we see and recognize what is depicted not only because photograph resembles it, but also because it belongs to the type of representation that we have learned to ‘read’ in a certain way. The relationship between the photograph and the object is not direct and natural, but conventional. Similarity is not based solely on the matching of their visual properties, but also on the practices that are involved in the production of meaning. 

/ 1968
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JEFF KOONS’S GAZING BALL

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The text analyses the artistic approach in Jeff Koons’s Gazing Ball. This art series consists mainly of famous artwork reproductions joined by lapis lazuli balls of highly reflective surfaces. Relying on the strategy of appropriation, Koons is pulling a line that connects several centuries of development of the West European art. The selection of artworks, which are reproduced and then exposed, is the result of a strategic decision, giving Koons the status of an artist-curator. By applying appropriation in Gazing Ball series, Jeff Koons has expressed his attitudes towards artistic heritage on several levels. Nothing remains spared, from an institutionalized art history, through dominant interpretative frameworks and understanding of the original – copy relationship, to the very experience of the artwork itself. Although Koons avoids an activist position, his work do not leave the observer indifferent. It invites him/her to re-examine his or her attitude towards artistic heritage.

/ 1968
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AESTHETICS OF THE CLASSICAL CHINESE PAINTING

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Over a period of one thousand years (7th-17th c.), a great number of works of a very broad spectrum in style, themes, genre and aesthetics were created in the Chinese fine arts. A special creative period was between the 10th and the 13th century, which also produced a great number of written works, in which the authors developed their aesthetics, explaining how they understand art and creativity, especially in relation to painting. In this work, we focus on creativity related to painting and on painting theories and aesthetics. Some of these texts are close to the texts on painting written by Leonardo da Vinci (round the year 1500), except the Chinese texts were mostly written several centuries before his time.

/ 1968
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IS THERE A NEED FOR PHILOSOPHICAL AESTHETICS

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The author examines whether philosophical aesthetic insights are relevant in our historical situation. This question was raised in the context of the more and more frequent contemporary attempts to establish aesthetics as a specialized empirical science or attempts to incorporate aesthetics in the already existing specialized sciences. The first chapter gives a brief overview of the (pre)history of aesthetics from its founding to the contemporary time. Then, using the teachings of Milan Damnjanović, the author examines some of the key assumptions of the empirically oriented ideas of aesthetics on the one hand, and the contemporary philosophical concepts of aesthetics, on the other. The third chapter examines the significance of philosophical aesthetics in relation to other non-philosophical aesthetic conceptions, and concludes that the problems of aesthetics, in addition to the empirical approach, also need philosophical enquiries and foundations.

/ 1968
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ART, NATURE, SCIENCE, CRAFT, TECHNIQUE

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The author discusses the possibility of defining the concept of art. Using classical types of definition is rejected as it is impossible to unambiguously determine the differentia specifica of art in relation to other human practices. Instead, the author suggests a different approach to this problem which is reflected in the examination of the differences between art, on the one hand, and nature, science, crafts and technique, on the other. While examining the relation between art and these other forms of human practices, the author also points out the most important historical transformations of the concept of art. Finally, the author concludes that, in the effort to define a modern concept of art, it is necessary to clear this concept of the inherited assumptions and prejudices that can distort its true meaning.

/ 1968
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EDITOR’S NOTE

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/ 1968
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REFLECTIONS OF THE SOCIALIST TELEVISION – A STUDY: FROM MEDIA SYSTEMS TO MEDIA CULTURES

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In reference to the ever actual topic of the socialist television, its influence and the programs it has created, using the form of research dialogue, this paper aims to give a review of the recently published book by Sabina Mihelj and Simon Huxtable – From Media Systems to Media Cultures, (2018). Focusing on the beginnings of television as a new media, which developed in parallel with the Cold War tensions, as well as its impact at the time of the communist rule and immediately after the communist rule in the countries of the Eastern Block, this comparative media study covers the interaction of the geopolitical relations in this part of the world on the one hand, and on the other hand, offers a modernized view of the same media that has shaped the modernity of everyday civil life and the socialist culture and art. The book allows for re-contextualization of the opinions about the media and culture of the Cold War era (those that were rooted and most frequently adopted and repeated), and also offers a revision against the social, political and media framework that existed in the countries behind the Iron Curtain, both in the second half of the 20th century and in this particular moment.

/ 1968
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DARKSIDE OF THE NATIONAL LIBERATION WAR HERITAGE

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The focal point of the article is the practice of using Yugoslav World War II memorials as scenery in music videos and fashion campaigns, as well as the controversies it raised in the social media in the past few months. Whereas some perceive it as commodification, fetishization and desecration, and regard it as abuse of such heritage in general, others support this form of using cultural resources and claim that it offers a new stage in the life of the memorials which had been destroyed or marginalized for more than a decade. The main issue arising from the ongoing dispute is that the boundary between acceptable and unacceptable mode of using the Yugoslav memorial heritage must be determined, extending onto the question of which authority should set these boundaries. In order to suggest a possible solution for overcoming the conflict, we have considered the causes for the increased interest in the memorial heritage of the former Yugoslavia and the issue of the conflict itself. Drawing on the distinct theories of heritage, commodification and cultural management, we advocate for a constructive critical dialogue that would include all the interested groups. In addition, the very opening of this dialogue would enable revaluation of the Yugoslav memorial heritage and hopefully prevent intensification of its abuse.