Texts

POSTINDUSTRIAL CITY AND CULTURAL POLICY

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U periodu od Drugog svijetskog rata u velikom broju razvijenih zemalja nekada dominirajući industrijski urbanistički sistem doživio je potpuni kolaps. Nezaposlenost, fizičko propadanje centralnih dijelova grada i veliki socijalni problemi, termini su koji najbolje opisuju stanje gradova koji su svoj ekonomski razvoj bazirali isključivo na industrijskoj proizvodnji. Kao glavni trend za riješavanja ovih problema od kraja 70-ih, prvo u SAD-u a potom i u Evropi, nametnuli su se programi urbane regeneracije kao moguće metode za postizanje ekonomske restrukturacije. Nekadašnja industrijska područja su obnovljena i redizajnirana, i u njih su se uselili predstavnici raznih kompanija, pravne i finansijske firme i različiti komercijalni sadržaji. U želji da privuku što više investicija, i da se što bolje pozicioniraju u okvirima savremene globalne ekonomije, u gradovima je posebna pažnja počela da se poklanja definisanju njihovog identiteta i imidža, kao i razvoju ponude u oblasti zabave, sporta i kulture.

U ovom tekstu pokušaću da prikažem na koji način se formirao savremeni postindustrijski urbani sistem i koje su njegove glavne odlike, te kakvu ulogu u tom procesu imaju kultura i kulturna politika.

THE CITY AND CULTURE

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У тексту се третира питање града као културолошког феномена. Заступљене су релевантне теорије градова, како домаћих тако и страних аутора, у контексту промишљања града – у распону од његове „смрти“, рушевина и лаганог одумирања, па све до утопијских визија града као „органа љубави“. Овим радом је, такође, покренута дилема у вези утврђивања темељних вредности града, а која се тиче анализе противприродног, урбаног техноокружења, с једне стране, и грађана и њихових егзистенцијалних, лудичких и креативних потреба, с друге стране. Отуђеност и усамљеност, насупрот осећању топлине, припадности и блискости с градом и надаље представљају изазове како савременог града, тако и света културе, као и њему иманентног развоја нових урбаних простора и феномена.

CULTURAL VALUES BETWEEN CONTENTS AND PROMOTION – ONE EXHIBITION, ONE VIEW

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The focus of this paper is responsibility in choosing the way to present an artistic content as a broader process of re-establishing cultural values in relation to a particular audience made of generations that have reached adulthood in the past two and a half decades, in times during which the fundamental, global human, transcultural and universal values have been removed from the focus of the modern Serbian society. Also, the intention is to point out to more efficient ways for the presentation of cultural and artistic content, as part of a wider process of restoring the society’s trust in its own values. Respecting the fact that attitudes intertwine in terms of new functions and roles that museums have in contemporary conditions, the paper tends to point out the necessity of management strategies, not only in cultural policy, but also in cultural production. Confirmation of the strategy efficiency is evaluated by development of a society which has a firmly defined attitude to its values, to both traditional, existing values and future cultural values, based on a high level of professionalism, recognition of needs and capacities of one’s own people and their constant and planned improvement.

CULTURE AND VIOLENCE: SELF-DESCRIPTION OF THE CORE OF THE SEMIOSPHERE AND SOCIABLE OPPRESSION

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The topic of this paper spans different aspects of sociable violence in the bordering prose of Ivo Andrić. Such phenomena have been considered in a semiotic key, from the angle of theory on semiosphere with the dominance of inelastic semiospheric cores of cultures. The emphasis has been place on the investigation of violence as a form of self-security mechanism of cultural systems. Thus the torture over the individual and the collective, and its different psycho-physical forms – modus procedendi i.e. the practice of such cultures is, more or less, manifested in all cultural segments. Violence is a significant ruling mechanism in an inelastic semiospheric core and it is performed up the entire hierarchy of social ladder. By analysis of Andrić’s historical prose, and on the topic of suffering in Bosnia in a hiatus of three kingdoms, significant differences have been noticed in self-describing of cultures of the East and the West, as well as their different attitudes towards the nature of violence, torture, harassment and humiliation of the subjects, or those who break the codes of self-description of semiospheric core. When speaking about violence, some indicators have been noticed that modernized Europe has somewhat changed standards of self-description in relation to cultural tradition of the Porta. Namely, even though Europe from the times of the Middle Ages and later, all the way to crucial reforms of the codes of self-description (originated under the influence of a wide wave of enlightenment and later the French bourgeois revolution) had known the cruelty of violence even during legal execution of a legal norm, its significantly changed standards in favour of humanization of legal norm and war ethics in the 19th century – contributed to the fact that remaining practice of cruel violence of the Turkish system in Europe in recent times sees it as a barbarian act and incivility and strives to eliminate this brutal violence from legitimate standards of self-description of the European culture. Just moral opinion, founded on contemporary understanding of the respect for personality, which assumes avoiding of suffering – was the crucial parameter which contributed to humanization of the then legitimate brutal violence, typical of the inelastic semiospheric cores such as those of the Ottoman empire.

NATIONAL ART AND CULTURE PORTAL AS A PR TOOL

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The aim of this paper is to present an example of best practice of a Russian arts and culture portal as a PR tool – the Megaproject „KULTU.RU!“. This portal is an example of a socially significant endeavor to include the Internet into the development of arts and culture. Another goal of this paper is to present an idea for a Serbian national project for development of art and culture using IT and the Internet to form the mechanisms for stimulation and support to arts and culture, for promoting Serbian art and culture of the XX and XXI century, for building of the Serbian reputation globally and for forming of a positive image of the country, stimulating creation of new art projects, assisting in building theatre and cinema audiences by the Internet classes, forums, conferences etc. The paper considers in detail the perspectives of such a project in terms of all forms of arts and culture, starting from the theatre, cinema, literature, art etc. It also points to the possible self-sufficiency and profitability of such a project as a very significant element of its functioning.

TRADITION AND TRANSITION/CULTURAL CONTROVERSY

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What underlies the controversy of the cultural identity of Serbia which has been in transition for over two centuries? I have looked for answers in the unstable, hybrid and dynamic concept of the Balkan identity. The Balkans, as a specific ethnic and culturological mix, as a place where noble barbarogeniuses meet with barbarianism, the European Orient, the melting pot of traditions and global trends, is a specific platform from which we have observed construction of presentation and mixing of our attitude to the national identity with the attitude to the culture in general. Analogy between the 19th century process of modernization and Serbia today is obvious, both in the steps for building cultural and national identity and in the latest consequences of the poor social transformations. The transition from a traditional to a modern society, modeled after West European paragons, has always neglected at least one of the key integrating factors. Hence the uncoordinated social and cultural policies and poorly directed social emancipation in general have led to ignorance of or misinterpretation of own culture, tradition and models, causing long term incompetence for preservation of cultural (as well as political) independence in these regions. This text poses some questions related to the deficit of modernity and the cultural imperialism that has remained in the Balkans as a consequence of colonial dominance. The marriage of the politics and the esthetics is analyzed on the example of visual representation of national identity, through portraits of the ruler – Knez Miloš Obrenović – a clear indication of the attempt at developing a cultural strategy and defining a unique national cultural model. Equating the notion of national identity with political mentality has shown that passive traditional mentality (static and non-communicative) is an obstacle to forming a modern cultural identity which is innovative and capable of forming its own perception of politics. The political transformation of the system, which legged behind overall social transformation, has brought about an unsustainable cultural policy (which should be a foundation for the modernization of state) as well as maintenance of the status quo attitude to the dominant centre. This is why mere erasure of the colonist identity models and acceptance of new models were not sufficient to establish own national and cultural identity. The never-ending process of modernization has caused permanent indefiniteness of the modern cultural policy, since in the unstable period of transition we still choose between traditionalism and global culture, all the while additionally emphasizing the differences and controversies without creating a field of free cultural fluctuation. Returning to the Balkans as a cultural paradigm of Serbia, the cultural policy of today should communicate with the visible wealth of diversity without contradicting either tradition or transition, in order to avoid the inferiority in recognition of or indifference for production, presentation and preservation of its own cultural riches.

CONSTANTS OF THE CULTURAL CONTEXT AND TRANSITION

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The transition has changed a lot in Serbia, but there are a number of constants of the cultural context that the transition has not managed to affect. It could even be said that these constants shaped the course of transition. We need to keep in mind the global value orientations that are rooted in the tradition of the social being of the Serbian people, which continually reappear in both old sense and in new forms. In the long term, these constants make any qualitative leaps difficult and give a specific form to modernization trends. These include traditionalism, authoritarianism and their various derivative forms. These are global value orientations that seek to connect the past with the future and thus ensure historical continuity of the society. They shape a society which is internally contradictory and insusceptible to innovation.

CRISIS CULTURE AND CULTURE CRISIS: THE CASE OF SERBIA

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The crisis of culture reflects in the crisis of cultural values, cultural institutions and the foundations on which it rests. More specifically, the culture crisis is driven by: a serious lack of funds which prevents the cultural institutions from better responding to the demands that have been placed upon them; inertia found in the very institutions, resulting in extreme slowness with which they adapt their internal structures to the needs, even if they are not too affected by lack of funds; and inertia of the social system, bounded by traditions, beliefs and values, which has proven to be incapable of making the best use of culture and cultural institutions in the interest of national development. The gap between cultural institutions and social environment is caused by relative autonomy of these institutions. They tend to remain what they have always been in order to protect their own interests and values. In order to overcome the crisis, it is quite obvious that the culture and the society must agree on the need for mutual adjustment and adaptation. Planning of cultural needs must take into account the development of other social activities, in particular the development and financial aspect of the economy. Programs that do not comply with other programs of social life remain a mere collection of wishes and efforts that can often bring confusion into the social life. The development of certain activities over others should be replaced by a balanced and coordinated planning of all activities. Practice has shown that “the activity” of culture in the period of pre-transitional changes was not just part of the material sphere of work, but also its result – a distribution of total income through contributions. The state has set up the necessary infrastructure and established various cultural institutions. However, bureaucratic attitude towards culture and bureaucratic culture has often neglected the function of people in dealing with social affairs. It has bypassed the world of their needs, because its objective has been to keep the production and the culture separated. This is how the culture has become a guided activity, where the possibilities of manipulation are huge.

SCOPE OF THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE AND CULTURAL POLICY

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The author focuses on one aspect of the problem in defining the concept of culture – its importance for the conceiving of cultural policy, along with the following topics: 1. A Viewpoint: technological globalization – economic and legislative integration – cultural communication; 2. Some moments in the history of broader and narrower definitions and legal instrumentalization of the concept of culture; 3. The case of Serbia; 4. Advantages and disadvantages of theoretical and legislative use of the broader and narrower concept of culture, and a pragmatic recommendation for the use of the narrower term; 5. Culture as a collection of symbolical forms and practices, and a meaningful value orientation in the world and in life.

PLAY OR NOTHING

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Assuming that play is seriously endangered in modern culture, the necessity imposes itself for revalorization of the idea of play as an unavoidable value of culture. Edgar Morin shows that modern technoeconomic civilization is based on ”reductive understanding” of man. Homo sapiens and Homo faber have an absolute domination and they “determine and over determine” each other. According to him, the idea of homo excludes all that is demens – dream, passion, myth, all that is ludens – play, pleasure and amusement, and all that is amatro too – a man capable of loving. The fact is that the whole spiritual content of the world can be reproduced in play, proves that play is a foundation and an inavoidable value of culture.