A FAREWELL TO CREATIVITY? THE MISADVENTURES OF ART IN THE INSTRUMENTAL MEDIA SPACE

Abstract

Dear readers!
The editorial board of the scientific and practical online publication “Experience industries. Socio-Cultural Research Technologies” (EISCRT) is completing the current year 2024 with the fourth issue. The issue presents studies by domestic and foreign authors devoted to the analysis of the transformations of classical art under the influence of continuously aggravating socio-cultural and geopolitical challenges of modern civilization.
The issue opens with an article by Nizhny Novgorod researchers Dmitry Belashchenko and Ksenia Dolzhenko, devoted to the analysis of the spectrum of moral and ethical degradation of the artistic film elite of Ukraine in the post-Soviet period. The authors state the presence of stable conformist, anti-Russian sentiments among Ukrainian cultural figures, who are so in demand today by the propaganda machine of the Ukrainian state. This is what has largely allowed them not only to maintain their former popularity, deservedly received in the Soviet years, but also, due to the outright betrayal of the ideals of the common past, to increase it significantly, taking pride of place as media influencers, actively and profitably promoting ultra-nationalist ideas in modern Ukrainian society.
A study by Alexander Kashchenko and Vladimir Kiselev, the subject of which is Western art continues the section “Traditions”. The authors trace the path of Western European painting from the Renaissance to postmodern artistic experiments. They also specifically highlight the key moments of the metaphysical paradigm of classical art and state its decline because of the total secularization of the socio-cultural space. This is evidenced by the eccentric experiments of Western popular culture, presented to the Russian viewer in a number of exhibition projects in the period of 2014-2019.
Novgorod researchers Andrey Nekita and Sergey Malenko present the final article of the series devoted to the philosophical and cultural analysis of Dmitry Dyachenko’s film “Cheburashka”. The authors discover the presence of a huge number of “Easter eggs” that weave additional cultural codes into the semantic fabric of the Russian film to give this film product the guaranteed recognition and boost its popularity among the viewing audience. At the same time, there is an almost universal replacement of the film’s plot lines with artificially introduced cultural codes, borrowed in abundance by the production team of “Cheburashka” both from Western and Soviet cinema.
St. Petersburg social scientist Alexander Sekatsky devotes his article to examining the peculiarities of the transformation of artistic space, which, in his opinion, seriously affects the evolution of the entire Western civilization. As a result of such changes, new, much simpler aesthetic needs appear, called the aesthetics of “kawaii, twee” by the author, which indicates the capitulation of high art. In these conditions, a new “aesthetics of free elements” should appear, which will allow for a qualitative transformation of social optics, and after it, all social practice.
The column “A Matter of Taste. Impressions of a Connoisseur”, which is traditional for our publication and led by Crimean colleagues Oleg Shevchenko and Anna Dorofeeva, presents this time a detailed analysis of the mythopoetics of the Koktebel terroir. The authors rightly see multiple parallels between the culture of winemaking, historical events, legends, literary and poetic heritage of Russian culture, associated in this case with the name of Maximilian Voloshin.
Pavel Lenkov and Egor Shemonaev, representing the scientific school of the Russian “Northern Capital”, offered their research for the "Horizons" section on the transformation of the fantasy genre into one of the basic symbols of modern mass culture. It is fantasy literature, fascinating and popular among readers in many countries of the world, that allows us to visualize the most complex problems of morality and identity, thus becoming the primary source for the subsequent adaptation of these cultural texts in full-length films and multi-season series, as well as in animation and video games.
This section is continued by the Belarusian philosopher Alexander Loiko, who presents the results of his own anthropological analysis of the use of artificial intelligence technologies in generative design practices on the pages of our publication. According to the author, the cybernetic anthropology of artificial intelligence allows us to begin reflecting on the ontology of creative activity and the mechanisms of its legal support.
Moscow researcher Svetlana Lyutova continues the Crimean theme in the development of Russian culture. In 2024, “Prometheus” publishing house published her monograph “Voloshin and Tsvetaeva: from Younger Symbolism to Postmodernism”. The issue contains a detailed review of this book, which is of interest not only to sincere admirers of the talent of Maximilian Voloshin and Marina Tsvetaeva, but also demonstrates unique methodological findings applicable to the analysis of the entire space of modern culture.
This issue of our publication ends with the “Event Review” section, in which we present a panorama of the most notable cultural and patriotic events, socially significant initiatives and projects implemented by regional branches of the all-Russian public movement “Russian Dream” in the second half of 2024.
The editorial board of the publication invites its good “old” and, of course, new authors in 2025 to a serious and professional dialogue about the history, current state and development prospects of domestic and foreign experience industries!

For citation:
Malenko, S. A. (2024). A farewall to creativity? The misadventures of art in the Instrumental media space. Experience industries. Socio-Cultural Research Technologies (EISCRT), 4 (9), 9–17. https://doi.org/10.34680/EISCRT-2024-4(9)-9-17