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This paper is part of an extensive study of the dynamics in performing arts in an era of an explosive development of breakthrough technologies. Thе article deals with key terms such as ‘posthumanism’ (Steve Nichols, 1988; Donna Haraway, 1991; Robert Pepperell, 1995; Katherine Hayles, 1991; Manuel de Landa, 2003, etc.) in the sense of existing in a state beyond being human; ‘transhumanism’ (biotechnological development of human beings); ‘digimodernism’ (Alan Kirby, 2009); ‘cyborgism’ (David Krep, 2007); ‘hybridisation’ (Edward W. Said, 1978, Homi K. Bhabha, 1994, Philipp Stockhammer, 2012), etc. The critical discourses upon these newly coined terms are not homogenous, but are often, in fact, a series of contradictory ideas. Usually, issues of ethics and morality, language and communication between different types of social systems are also under consideration as well as of the intellectual efforts for interdisciplinarity. Some of the best examples are also considered towards creating new stage hybrids by using new technologies in Bulgaria and abroad.
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The article expands on artist Damien Hirst’s views of art. Looking in detail into his creative career, the study gives the major challenges facing the artist’s accomplishment. The factual selection traces key events and problems in Hirst’s artistic development. This paper is an attempt at following, on the one hand, the role of PR in art that brought about his undoubted popularity, and his creativity, on the other hand. The analysis is based on Damien Hirst’s personal contribution as a PR promoter of his own work. Hirst challenged audiences through his arrogant behaviour. He radically changed the views of art, using basically Minimalism, Pop Art and Francis Bacon. His style, manner, image, and behaviour played a major role in the artist’s career as PR techniques, developed by Hirst himself in this particular case. The analysis deals with the consistent building of Damien Hirst’s personality, his ideology, gaining popularity and establishing him as a an emblem of one of the best known artists in contemporary world, underscoring the role of the PR campaign he himself carried out.
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The term ‘scenography’ in Bulgarian theatre has developed undergoing a transformation in its own right. It is this transformation that is central to this study. This paper seeks to examine the ways in which both theatre and critics have perceived this component of a production. Another main point of this study is the issue as to what has necessitated the switch from the popular until the mid-twentieth century term ‘theatrical scenery’ to the term ‘scenography’. The development of the terminology resulted from the changes in the understanding in Bulgaria since the mid-1920s onwards of the significance to a theatrical production of the space and its design. That was an interesting process related to the changing mindsets and generations in theatre. The paper seeks to analyse the major processes that have resulted in the changes in the terminology and the understanding of stage imagery. It is first of all done using the examples of key productions staged at the National Theatre in the period between the 1920s and the early 1960s, where the periodization is tailored to the development of the term. The production designers, who have worked there being behind the transformation, are also covered by the research.
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This article, the first in the series, is devoted to the work of Żeleński-Boy as a theater critic. In his witty feature articles Boy discussed theatrical performances, sharing with the audience his view on the quality of the theatre programme, way of adapting literary texts, actors’ skills of creating a stage role. The article presents the views of Boy on shaping the repertoire of Polish theaters of the interwar period, especially with regard to the French farce and comedy. On their basis Boy demonstrated diversity of tradition of Polish and French theater and explained the impact of historical conditions on the differences in the treatment of stage entertainment.
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Christo [Vladimirov Javacheff] and Jeanne-Claude [Marie Denat] came to Australia in 1968 and with their site-specific installation had a profound impact on the development of conceptual art in Australia. Christo was born in Gabrovo in 1935 and was a graduate of the Fine Arts Academy in Sofia. His partner in art and life, the Frenchborn artist, Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009), met Christo in Paris in 1958 and together they became two of the most influential artists involved in conceptual art on the world stage. A peculiarity of their work was the ‘wrapping’ of objects leading to a transformation in their physical and conceptual existence. Their project in Australia was immense in scale, raised many significant conceptual questions and involved a large number of Australian collaborators for whom this was a defining moment in their development as artists. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s project was titled Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia and was held over two months in 1968-69. It involved the spread of 1,000,000 square feet (92,900 square meters) of erosion control fabric with 35 miles (56.3 kilometres) of rope, with a total length of 2.4 kilometres and a height of 26 meters which completely transformed a scenic stretch of the Australian coastline. This was a controversial event which divided the Australian art community and in retrospect has been viewed as a transformational moment in the development of Australian art. This paper examines the significance of the event from the perspective of almost fifty years.
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The article is part of a study on Bulgarian theatre under socialism. It focuses on the repertory policy after the political changes from 1944 onwards. The new authorities gradually and systematically got control over all of them. The main priority was to rehabilitate the people and arts were believed to be the possible tools to achieve this goal. In this way, the authorities linked culture, arts and theatre with propaganda. A party-political regulation over culture, and respectively, over theatre, was enforced in all areas, from repertories to personal cases. Total control was exerted universally, but especially over the texts and the repertories, which were treated with increasing attention.
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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the role of theatre education in creating a coherent and well-thought repertoire policy of an institution. In this context, questions arise about the role of culture in education and in shaping social attitudes as well as critical thinking skills. The author analyzed the research problem on the basis of selected educational activities (aimed at different audiences) carried out at the Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz. The use of theatrical and quasi-theatrical forms in education/pedagogy implies not only the development of sensitivity to art, but above all, breaking down communication barriers and gaining new experience and knowledge.
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A conversation with Dorota Krakowska, daughter of Tadeusz Kantor. Interviewer: Łukasz Wojtusik
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Dolls and mannequins were a significant inspiration for artists of the interwar period. This motif was also used by Taduesz Kantor, especially in his play “The Dead Class”. The influence of the pre-war tradition as well as Kantor’s work can be seen in a new project called The Retired Men.
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I had an opportunity to experience first-hand the perception and memory of Kantor’s art. I travelled around Europe and visited the places where he had staged his performances. And yet I still cannot fully comprehend as how it is possible that our theatre message was so accurately and correctly understood by the audiences in the world’s leading art centres and those in the more provincial cities which Kantor visited with his performances.
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Tadeusz Kantor and Dani Karavan’s paths were astonishingly similar before fate brought them together in Italy in the late 1970s. Both artists had given up their painting careers for scenography so that they could create their own artistic worlds. Thus, in June 2015 while looking at his work dedicated to the Polish artist, Karavan said: “Knowing Kantor was one of the greatest gifts that life has given me.”
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In-print advertising at the turn of the twentieth century was sporadic, but following 1910, advertising went viral both in the press and the public domain. Meanwhile, the earliest critical reviews were published in the press dealing with the advertisement phenomenon, as well as guides instructing how to use ads. Bulgarian artists joined the process of designing business ads. Some of them were already well versed in designing books. Due to the widely formed low opinion and the specifics of this graphic printing product, the process of claiming authorship refers to the changed attitudes towards the artistic manner, which got new value after 1920. Art ads were preferred for securing success a priori. The advertising image had to be attractive, gripping and eye-catching owing to its visual form and style, but it had also to be recognisable, related to the everyday life of the Bulgarians or at least to represent an attainable ideal. Both Bulgarian decorators, graphic designers and cartoonists such as Charalampi Tatchev, Alexander Bozhinov, Ivan Penkov, raiko Alexiev, Ivan Enchev-Vidiu and artists known predominantly for their easel paintings such as Ivan Mrkvička (he designed the poster for the first Expo in Plovdiv), Konstantin Shturkelov, Ivan Nenov, Ari Kaluchev, etc., made every effort to cope with this task.The issue of the early twentieth-century advertising in this country, including the visual images of business ads, is almost unstudied by Bulgarian researchers in the areas of history, journalism, mass communications, social studies. The published art studies offer general views of the specific niches of performance of Bulgarian artists in the field of applied graphics. The issue of Bulgarian the early twentieth-century business advertising and of the contribution of Bulgarian artists is expecting its new readings.
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This paper deals with an artefact of late medieval repoussage, unearthed on the Shumen Plateau. It is an incomplete massive silver gilt ring with inlaid niello on the bezel cup, which supposes several things. Initially, the bezel setting in the middle was probably left empty. Later, an attempt was made to decorate it in tune with the already existing ornamental openwork around it. Defining these objects as sphragistic monuments still piques research interest. Some of the artefacts are signet rings in their own right, while quite a few have been used just as jewels. I believe that the ring in question was worn as a jewel and was not used to seal documents. The specs of the object––its form, ornamentation and technology of forging––as well as the abovementioned similar artefacts date it to the midor the late fourteenth century.
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This article aims to recognize the potential of theatre in the process of social work in Poland, taking into account the perspective of globally-used solutions as well as local conditions that mentally ill persons find themselves in. The results presented here originate from a qualitative study based on the method of participatory observation as well as interviews with members and creators of four polish theatres aim to show the role that belonging to a theatrical group plays in the process of empowerment. The research findings suggest that it is possible to treat the co-creation of theatrical groups by persons suffering from mental illnesses as a form of a social rehabilitation, underlining the meaning of self-determination, the sensation of having influence, the development of relationships as well as the possibility of identification with the status of an actor despite the increasing symptoms of illnesses. The experience of theatre, which helps to create the reality of human condition, carries with itself not just the reflection on a certain intangiblity of the contact between a social worker and a client, the deeply human imperative of help, but foremost the revelation of an inner covenant between social work and art, being fulfilled in unceasing improvement and the search for better ways to communicate.
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In this paper I demonstrate the concept of the Jewish godhead as presented in the drama Between Two Worlds: The Dybbuk by S. An-sky (Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport), and analyses the phenomenon of a dybbuk, which was very popular in the culture of Hasidim. It should be mentioned that the research subject became the Russian original of the text of An-sky’s drama. The text was found in St Petersburg in 2001. The original differs significantly from its Yiddish and Hebrew versions: the Russian version ofThe Dybbuk is preceded by a long “Prologue”, where the play’s author suggests its most important ideas to the viewers. Thus, the reinterpretation of An-sky’s drama, seen from a philosophical perspective, enables one to justify the thesis that the author was conscious of some incoherency intrinsically present in the realm of the religious beliefs of Hasidic communities, where both the God of Biblical and Talmudic narratives, and the impersonal godhead of Kabbalah were, simultaneously, worshiped. What is more: the author also focuses on the weakness of the godhead, as he or she has been deprived of his or her primordial, male-female, unity. At the same time, while analyzing An-sky’s text, I draw attention to the fact that in this play a dybbuk, an evil spirit existing in a living person’s body, is portrayed as a much better entity: An-sky’s dybbuk is a soul of a man who died prematurely, and who is wandering and missing his earthly lover, similarly to Shekhinah, who is missing her lover in heaven, and is wandering in exile, together with the Jewish nation.
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The aim of the article is to present the most important elements of the technique and aesthetics of works by the Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino. Due to the economy of means used, his opera work belongs to the most radical these days, yet at the same time most original group of works which binds the ecology of sound, as well as the aesthetics of silence. The first part of the text describes the composer’s biography together with the basic terminological scope related with the poetics of music, that is, the azzerare strategy, invisible action or the inner space. The second part of the text presents the opera context along with the analysis of “Lohengrin” – the opera upon which the means of creative and executive expression – used also in other Sciarrino’s works – have been outlined.
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August 29, 1952, in Maverick Concert Hall, Woodstock: a historic event takes place. The pianist David Tudor closes and opens the piano lid three times, without touching the keyboard itself, during the premiere performance of John Cage’s new composition. This piece, called “4′33″” has been written for a “silent piano.” It is a composition that is NOT to be played! Critics and the audience find the joke poor. Today, depending on the individual point of view, “4′33″” might be interpreted in hundreds of different ways.
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Treating silence as an effect created in a frame of work with manipulation of audience perception helps to overcome the dichotomized opposition of silence and sound. The way audience’s perception is manipulated helps to create a sphere of silence as in the series of “Blackout” performances by artist Tres, where all the devices in the building are gradually shut down. The point of departure of the panel comes from treating this category as performative. This perspective becomes the foundation for reflection on the active role of audience in a work of art and further departure in power relations in sphere framed as silenced.
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