The Green Bloc. Neo-avant-garde Art and Ecology under Socialism

Author(s): Maja Fowkes / Language(s): English

Expanding the horizon of established accounts of Central European art under socialism, this book uncovers the neglected history of artistic engagement with the natural environment in the Eastern Bloc. The turbulent legacy of 1968, which saw the confluence of political upheaval, spread of counterculture, rise of ecological consciousness, and emergence of global conceptual art, provides the setting for Maja Fowkes’s innovative reassessment of the environmental practice of the Central European neo-avant-garde. Focussing on artists and artist groups whose ecological dimension has rarely been considered, including the Pécs Workshop from Hungary, OHO in Slovenia, TOK in Croatia, Rudolf Sikora in Slovakia, and the Czech artist Petr Štembera, The Green Bloc: Neo-avant-garde Art and Ecology under Socialism brings to light an array of distinctive approaches to nature, from attempts to raise environmental awareness among socialist citizens to the exploration of non-anthropocentric positions and the quest for cosmological existence in the midst of red ideology. Embedding artistic production in social, political, and environmental histories of the region, this book reveals the Central European artists’ sophisticated relationship to nature, at the precise moment when ecological crisis was first apprehended on a planetary scale.

Az 1910-es évek orosz némafilm-kultúrája. A forradalom előtti Oroszország túlságosan is emberi tragikomédiája

Author(s): Anna Varga / Language(s): Hungarian

American melodrama targets eternity, while Russian melodrama targets nothing. In this respect it can be stated, that the Russian silent movie in the 1910s was remarkably modern. The concentration of the motives of unbearable existence, scandals, being betrayed, and collapse result in an aesthetic vacuum. By the end of the films we get to experience the exhaustion of time: "time stops". In this vacuum, for the rebellion of life the only possible way to return to time is found in the question "What shall we do?" The young motion picture demands time in motion. According to the author, the particular situation of the "sacred" and "demonic" Russia one hundred years anticipated the universal situation of humankind today. In the long disappeared artistic golden age we can find the alternatives of today and tomorrow. The analyses of the films, whose modernity will never die, are a variation on the theme by Walter Benjamin: future exists as long as the present finds its mission in regaining derailed futures embedded in the past. Our totally corrupt world needs to be redeemed. The Russian silent movie was already a far cry in the 1910s, but not the silent cry of fear, like in German expressionism, but the cry of rage.

Joga w kontekstach kulturowych 2

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Yoga in cultural contexts 2 is a publication associated with a joint project (realised since 2013) of the Department of the Theory and History of Culture of the University of Silesia and of the Department of the Management of Sport and Tourism of the Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice. Within the framework of this project annual scholarly interdisciplinary paper-workshop conferences are organised (since 2014). These are meetings of researchers who represent inter alia the humanities, social sciences and the sciences of physical education) with the people who practice yoga.The conferences are followed up by publications; although these are not conference volumes strictly speaking; the articles which are featured there are considerably extended versions of papers and the works which are submitted to the editors. In 2016 Wydawnictwo AWF in Katowice published the first volume: Yoga in cultural contexts 1 (ed. Janusz Szopa, Aleksandra Budzisz).Yoga in cultural contexts 2 is also an interdisciplinary work; it contains the works of specialists in the field of cultural studies, indologists, specialists in the field of religion, sociologists and psychologists. There are texts which are devoted to yoga as a complex system of beliefs and practices which are deeply rooted in the cultural context of India as well as to yoga as a phenomenon which gains increasingly greater momentum in the culture of the West. The monograph is supplemented by a dictionary which familiarises the reader with concepts which are important for the problems in question.

Inny/Obcy. Transnarodowe i transgresyjne motywy w twórczości Petera Weira

Author(s): Magdalena Kempna-Pieniążek,Przemysław Pieniążek / Language(s): Polish

The book traces a change in the perception of the work of Peter Weir that has been under way in recent years, marked by a shift from interpretations focusing on spiritual themes to approaches emphasising the situation of the author immersed in the context of “Global Hollywood.” It also presents the most important aspects of wanderings undertaken by Weir’s protagonists, who search for a deeper dimension of existence that could help them define their identity and alliances in the world where “everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and place.” It expresses the conviction that the origins of both motives – transgressive and transnational – may be found in the dichotomy of the Other / Alien, conspicuously present in Weir’s films. For this reason, while focusing on the figure of the outsider, the book draws attention to the nature of transgressions that are taking place in Weir’s works. On the one hand, there is confrontation with whatever is mysterious. Exploration of different states of consciousness leads through the world of dreams and myths – a path that Weir’s protagonists travel to face their own weaknesses and limitations imposed by the oppressive system of culture. On the other hand, Weir’s films never stop mediating between the points of view of national and trans-national identity, between the genre cinema and the artistic cinema, and between creativity and convention, thereby consolidating the unique position of the film director as an Alien, both in Hollywood and in Australian cinema. The dynamics of these tensions have determined the character and the form of this book. Peter Weir’s works are not discussed here in a strictly chronological order, a more important criterion being the evolution of selected story threads and their related contexts which define the unique element in his work. Chapter One is concerned with the two most famous Australian films by Weir: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and The Last Wave (1977), which established the range of themes he often returned to in later works. Next chapter offers interpretations of Gallipoli (1981) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). If the former is perceived as a realisation of the idea of Australian national cinema, the latter marks Weir’s accession to mainstream world cinema. Chapter Three is devoted to his Hollywood films. The analysis of Witness (1985), The Mosquito Coast (1986), and Fearless (1994) draws attention to the point of view of an Alien who observes America and American culture from a certain distance. This theme is then continued in Chapter Four, which focuses on the figure of the outsider – a character typical of Weir’s films, who can be seen in statu nascendi in Dead Poets Society (1989) and The Truman Show (1989). Finally, Chapter Five brings together analyses of Green Card (1990), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), and The Way Back (2010), in which the transnational motives receive more prominence than in other films by Weir.The interpretations offered in this volume provide an argument for the claim that the work of Peter Weir is a fruit of the genre cinema and the artistic cinema coming together, as well as of the interaction between Australian cinema and Hollywood (and, in the background, European cinema). In the light of most recent research, it appears as a transnational phenomenon, a result of a combination of themes borrowed from various systems, not only cinematographic but also cultural.

Sztuka i jej wartości

Author(s): / Language(s): Slovak,English,Czech,Polish,Ukrainian

“The monograph Sztuka i jej wartości (Art and its values) presents both art and values in three well-integrated parts: theoretical considerations focused on art, a practical approach towards art – the way it personally affects one and the way it is experienced and created – and the process of broadly understood aesthetic education. . . . Talking about art, we come very close to issues connected with its individual branches, both traditional and modern. We can also look for the values it brings on various levels: in already completed works of art, in the creative act itself, in interpretation, and in the act of reception. This multifaceted presence of values in art is evidence of both its richness and the vast possibilities it offers, and points to the need to implement it in education.” From a review by Prof. Elżbieta Szubertowska.

Antropologia tańca

Author(s): Anya Peterson Royce / Language(s): Polish

In her dance studies, conducted from an anthropological perspective, Royce combines her own experiences of dance with ethnographical knowledge and knowledge of culture, which enables her to situate dance within other performative arts. The publication is a textbook for theatre studies students, ethnologists exploring the topic of rituals and central-American rites, students of cultural studies and the humanities, as well as practitioners analysing dance in action (instructors, choreographers) or specialists in dance therapy.

Miasto płci. Dyskurs miłosny Marii Peszek

Author(s): Katarzyna Kułakowska / Language(s): Polish

A study on the works of Maria Peszek and also a guide to performative art, including broad contexts of literature, anthropology, society, social conventions, gender and politics. Owing to the applied methodology, the poetic works of the actor have been analysed using tools originating in cultural studies. The anthropological context of experiencing the city and gender is also noticeable.

Tele-wizje. Sezon drugi

Author(s): / Language(s): English,Polish

Body stories

Author(s): / Language(s): English,Polish

Wideo w sztukach wizualnych

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Video is among the youngest media formats currently used as a means of artistic expression. At the same time, it has become one of its most important paradigms, influencing the contemporary image of art to the greatest extent. In its history – lasting more than half a century – video has undergone substantial evolution, morphing from an instrumentation of creative experiments in the electronic medium and radical political interference into a new sphere of cultural activity, a contemporary field of creative transmedia, comprehensively present in current social practices. Video in the Visual Arts offers a reflection on this evolution and on the variable relations between the medium and different artistic concepts which create the image of visual arts today. The authors put forward theoretical considerations defining the scope and forms of video found in art, and analyse its historical manifestations. The texts contain analyses of communicative and cultural aspects of video, of metamorphoses it has undergone in its lifetime, of its variegated sets of aesthetics, contents and circulation, but also of its relations to different art disciplines. A broad overview of video as a means of expression has been provided throughout the book.

W kręgu muzealnych przedmiotów

Author(s): Justyna Żak / Language(s): Polish

This creative and ground-breaking dissertation confronts one of the main dilemmas of contemporary museology: the issue of ontological status of museum objects and their perception. It shows a disputable and unclear status of museums and different aspects of the relationship between the public and the exhibits, it explains current approaches to understanding culture and the cognitive dissonance among them. It also analyses a modern style of exhibiting museum objects, revealing numerous problems connected with their authenticity and encourages using museum education in pedagogy.

Antropologia praktyk językowych

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Development and concretisation of the original perspective concerning the word anthropology, which was formed at the Institute of Polish Culture at Warsaw University and used in language practice research. The perspective is considered the best method to perceive the language as cultural phenomenon. An extensive theoretical introduction justifies this approach and puts the undertaken research into the context of contemporary changes in cultural studies. The volume contains twelve articles which present study cases of language practice seen as cultural practice in historical context: from antiquity to modern times, from the forms of word art to swearing and searching the web.

Tu i teraz. Dylematy artysty-pedagoga wobec paradygmatycznych reorientacji sztuki ponowoczesnej

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Filmowe pejzaże Ameryk

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

As a continuation of the "Europe’s Filmscapes" volume, "Americas’ Filmscapes" presents a variety of approaches to filmscape studies, based on the conviction that American landscapes have been mythologized to a far greater extent than the European ones. The issues of film topography and geography are often shown in the book in their relation to different auteur strategies (Wes Anderson, John Carpenter, John Ford, Patricio Guzmán, Alfred Hitchcock, Claudia Llosa, Michael Mann, Kelly Reichardt). The essays collected in the volume also present selected problems of the genre topoi (western, horror, slasher, zombie film), Hollywood studio landscapes, the role of landscape in the films about discovering the New World, and the aesthetic function of wasteland in contemporary road movies.

The Chopin Games. History of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in 1927-2015

Author(s): Ada Arendt,Marcin Bogucki,Paweł Majewski,Kornelia Sobczak / Language(s): English

The book presents the history of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition narrated from the anthropological-cultural perspective and based on extensive source material, which enabled the authors to explore the less known aspects of one of the most important music competitions in the world.

Orientacje muzyczne młodzieży z ogólnokształcących szkół muzycznych II stopnia

Author(s): Marta Jadwiga Kędzia / Language(s): Polish

Analysis of the complexity of music, its understanding and impact on the functioning of each person has become an impulse to carry out research on the musical orientation of young people studying in a comprehensive secondary music school of 2nd level. The author introduces the term musical orientations. Definition of the term refers to a specific type of life orientation, understood as a self-reflection and the image of her/ his own professional career, based on knowledge acquired in the process of education, level of perception, musical sensitivity, musical interests and real and/ or projected activities. The results of the study allowed to create a full picture of young people being educated in the system of professional music education, selected for their musical talents.

Zawsze błądzić pośród wiatrów. Antropologiczne studium ewolucji strukturalnej westernu filmowego

Author(s): Piotr Fabiś / Language(s): Polish

Wander Forever between the Winds. Anthropological Study of the Structural Evolution of Westerns a book about films that are carriers of myth. The western is a myth in the original sense of the word, which can be described as follows: A myth is a story about sacred things. Sacred things do not necessarily belong to the supernatural order. Sacred things are things that are most important to a society. A myth is also a story about events which create a structure that can be applied simultaneously to the past, present and future. In Wander Forever between the Winds, the western is initially a myth about the creation of society through a social contract, then evolves to become an antimyth seeking to imitate history, and finally, in the history of the western as a film genre, the period of life after death begins, which continues to the present day.

Edebiyat, Kültür ve Sanatta Şiddet Temsilleri – Konferans Özetler Kitabı 2021

Author(s): / Language(s): Turkish,English

Now we are nearly at the end of the first quarter of the twenty-first century, but violence still permeates in our lives at various levels. Various forms of violence occurring at levels of interpersonal, self-directed, collective, state, warfare, child and youth violence, intimate partner violence, environmental violence, and animal violence lay bare the complexity and pervasiveness of the phenomenon, yet it also brings along the necessity to discuss violence from multiple perspectives. Undoubtedly, violence that we have been facing and/or enduring in our lives are mostly man-made; however we need to raise awareness about the interrelatedness of various forms of violence directed not only to human beings but also to all nonhuman beings, including animate and inanimate entities, around us. In this way, we could rethink the definition of violence and enhance our understanding of the concept from wider perspectives. The abstrats collected in this book aim to discuss the concept of violence, its various forms and its representations in literature, culture and arts in order to raise awareness about the interrelatedness of various forms of violence directed not only to human beings but also to all nonhuman beings, including animate and inanimate entities, around us. In doing so, this book intends to contribute to the field of violence studies through the reconsideration of the meaning of violence from multiple perspectives. Bizler, neredeyse yirmi birinci yüzyılın ilk çeyreğinin sonlarını yaşamaktayız, ancak şiddet hayatımıza hala çeşitli düzeylerde nüfuz ediyor. Kişilerarası, öze yöneltilen, kolektif, devlet, savaş, çocuk ve genç şiddeti, yakın eş şiddeti, çevresel şiddet ve hayvan şiddeti gibi çeşitli düzlemlerde vuku bulan şiddet biçimleri olgunun karmaşıklığını ve yaygınlığını açıkça ortaya koymakla beraber şiddet kavramının farklı açılardan tartışılması gerekliliğini de ortaya koymaktadır. Kuşkusuz, hayatlarımızda deneyimlediğimiz ve / veya katlandığımız şiddetin büyük çoğunluğu insan eliyledir, ancak şiddetin tanımını yaparken sadece ‘insana yöneltilen’ veya odağında ‘insan’ olan şiddetin yanı sıra çevremizdeki canlı ve cansız varlıklara yöneltilen şiddeti de konuşmak hususunda farkındalık yaratmak elzemdir. Bu sayede şiddetin tanımını yeniden yapabilir ve kavramı farklı perspektiflerden görerek bakış açımızı zenginleştirebiliriz. Bu kitapta derlenen özetler, şiddet kavramını, çeşitli biçimlerini ve edebiyat, kültür ve sanattaki temsillerini tartışmayı ve sadece insanlara değil, çevremizdeki canlı ve cansız varlıklar da dahil olmak üzere tüm insan olmayan varlıklara yönelik şiddetin çeşitli biçimlerinin birbiriyle ilişkisi hakkında farkındalık yaratmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu açıdan, bu kitap şiddetin anlamının çoklu perspektiflerden yeniden ele alınması yoluyla şiddet çalışmaları alanına katkıda bulunmayı amaçlamaktadır.

Zarządzanie wartością dla klienta a marketing doświadczeń w instytucjach kultury. Działania współczesnego teatru i filharmonii

Author(s): Wioletta Krawiec / Language(s): Polish

The modern market (including culture) is an arena of dynamic changes related to the development of modern technologies and communication. Customers are more demanding and change their attitudes from passive to active. They become co-creators of the values and experiences offered to them. This phenomenon introduces cultural institutions active on the market into a process of continuous development. Their market success, on the other hand, is possible thanks to the combination of many management skills. Undoubtedly, these include the ability to manage value for the customer, or to manage their experience. The area defined above has been subject to empirical research among cultural participants (theatres and philharmonics) and managers responsible for marketing activities of cultural institutions. The main subject of this monograph is the concept of customer value management, which was analyzed through the prism of experiences marketing in the activities of cultural institutions in Poland (mainly theatres and philharmonics). The content presented in the book generally includes: - diagnosis of the stages of the theoretical model of value management and customer experience based on the analysis of the functioning of theatres and philharmonics in Poland;- comparative analysis of the consistency of the proposed values by theatres and philharmonics with the expectations of cultural participants; - to determine the impact of the marketing of experiences on the activities of theatres and philharmonic institutions and their reception by cultural participants. The book is addressed primarily to cultural managers, people employed in cultural institutions, cultural animators. Issues discussed in the monograph will also be useful for students or other people who are studying the knowledge of customer value management and marketing experiences in cultural institutions. This publication can also be used as a supplement to the material in the field of service marketing, marketing of non-profit organizations or marketing management in cultural institutions.

Łódzkie festiwale teatralne. Historia i współczesność

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

The book is a monograph of Lodz theater festivals, including festivals organized in drama, off, puppet, children’s and youth theaters, as well as in the opera theater, as well as in other cultural institutions. These reviews took place in Lodz in the period from the 1960s to 2016. The festivals, initiated by regional artistic circles and fitting into the history of Lodz and Polish culture, are watched by students – today graduates – of the theater specialization at Cultural Studies at the Institute of Contemporary Culture at the University of Lodz.