Media culture is currently receiving particular attention in scholarly research: identifying the specifics of its existence within cultural space and the mechanisms of its development, analyzing its structural elements, and examining its functions, texts, and interactions with other cultural phenomena. One such phenomenon is folklore, which is experiencing renewed interest in culture in connection with the search for the root causes of preserving and affirming identity and the pressing issue of preserving traditional spiritual values. This article examines its interaction with media culture, identifying their common characteristics: mass appeal, anonymity, variability, and collectivity. It is emphasized that media culture not only transmits folklore elements but also generates new forms, such as internet folklore, memes, and folklorized media texts. Particular attention is given to the role of television and cinema as part of media culture in the preservation, development, and popularization of folklore. Simultaneously, it is demonstrated that the modern media landscape significantly influences folklore culture, transforming its forms and modes of existence. This article analyzes examples of the use of folklore plots, images, characters, established folklore formulas, its structural patterns, and other elements in various components of media culture. It notes that the mediatization of folklore involves several stages: from the technical recording of traditional texts to their reworking in new media environments and subsequent dissemination in popular culture. The two-way nature of the interaction between folklore and media is emphasized: folklore culture adapts to the conditions of the media space, enriching itself with new forms, while media culture utilizes traditional folklore texts, images, and stylistic devices to enhance its impact on the audience, expressiveness, and accessibility of expression. Thus, the dialogue between folklore and media culture contributes to the preservation of national identity, the transmission of cultural meanings, and the formation of a modern communicative space.

This article examines the impact of artificial intelligence-based algorithms on the film industry, specifically on film selection. It draws on Martin Scorsese’s thesis that algorithmic recommendations transform viewers into consumers and can lead to the elimination of cinematic masterpieces that do not meet the criteria for “success”. The paper’s novelty lies in its analysis of the limitations of algorithms in relation to the specific nature of visual material, namely its multilayered nature and multilevel interpretation. This analysis goes beyond traditional discussions of the conservatism of artificial intelligence.

The article analyzes the principles of recommendation algorithms in the film industry (collaborative and content-based filtering), including the personalization of posters and trailers. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of images as multilayered objects that can be interpreted at various levels: from visual perception to a deep understanding of meanings based on experience, knowledge, and culture. Examples from psychology (picture diagnostics), art history (Erwin Panofsky’s levels of interpretation), and semiotics (Roland Barthes’s analysis) are cited to illustrate the variability of image perception. The author concludes that artificial intelligence, “trained” at the basic level of object recognition and interpretation, is unable to encompass the full diversity of viewer perceptions and adequately assess the semantic depth of visual content. Using advertising analysis as an example, the limitations of artificial intelligence in semiotic analysis are demonstrated, suggesting that, due to the imperfections of recommendation systems, viewers’ abandonment of independent choice will indeed lead to a loss of meaningful content in film viewing.

Thus, despite advances in algorithms, their capabilities cannot replace human perception, preserving the need for independent film selection by viewers who are susceptible to the superficiality and errors of recommendation technologies. Their limitations create a demand for the preservation of viewer freedom of choice.

The author attempts to characterize some aspects of the educational work and creative work of composer M.A. Shmotova, revealing important aspects of the formation of the Creative Workshop association at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The idea for its creation belonged to composer S.S. Berinsky, editor of the Creativity section of the Musical Academy journal, and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. The All-Union Seminar of Young Composers at the Composers’ House in Ivanovo became the platform for the organization of the Sergey Berinsky’s Music Club, where listeners could discover a panorama of the latest music by Russian composers from across Russia. The culmination of the club’s activities and the seminar’s work was the Creative Workshop festival, held in Moscow in 1997, whose program included performances of large-scale and chamber works written during the seminar. The author of this article traces the development of a new generation of composers in the context of the formation of the Creative Workshop association under the leadership of S.S. Berinsky. After his death, composer M.A. Shmotova took on the task of continuing the club, seminar, and promoting contemporary Russian music. An analysis of some of her vocal music confirms the cultural traditions of the Creative Workshop, embracing musical composition as a meaningful phenomenon and fostering creative cross-fertilization through fruitful collaboration with representatives of various national schools in Russia. One such project, in particular, was the cantata Blue Ice of Baikal, written in the Buryat language for D.V. Pokrovsky’s ensemble, saxophone, theremin, percussion, organ, and violin, which was performed at a festival in Irkutsk in 2019.

This article explores Shen Yun dance, one of the fundamental and most complex genres of Chinese classical dance. The concepts of “Chinese classical dance” and “Chinese classical dance Shen Yun” are clarified. The contemporary element is emphasized as a distinctive feature of Chinese classical dance. Its revival was achieved through reproduction and reconstruction, driven by the need to preserve national cultural heritage and the accumulation of vast choreographic experience, despite the lack of independent status for this art form. The article analyzes Shen Yun’s concept of “body rhyme” — the harmony of external expression and internal content — the basic principles of its embodiment, the philosophical foundation (dance as a symbolic embodiment of Tao), the primary choreographic techniques, the characteristic props, and the style of the costumes. Particular attention is paid to the synthetic nature of Shen Yun dance. Stage practices of Peking opera and Western ballet, as well as elements and principles of martial arts, are presented in the context of their specific significance in Chinese culture. It is emphasized that the diverse manifestations of choreographic synthesis in Shen Yun dance reflect the nation’s fundamental mentality — not to create, but to transform what exists.

It is concluded that classical Chinese dance Shen Yun represents a synthesis of the choreographic aesthetics of ballet and Peking opera, including martial arts, adapted by the latter as the heir to ancient Chinese culture. Shen Yun is a blend of antiquity and modernity, of national and Western dance traditions.

In an era of rapid technological advancement, art has become an important form of cultural expression, changing the ways we perceive and experience culture. This article aims to analyze the narrative transformation of cultural heritage and its mythological underpinnings through the example of V. van Gogh’s static oil paintings and immersive art in the project V. van Gogh: An Immersive Journey. It focuses on the contribution of immersive art to the understanding and interpretation of cultural heritage.

The study focuses on how immersive art breaks the limitations of traditional cultural heritage narratives and provides audiences with a deeper sense of engagement and emotional resonance. Drawing on narratological theory and expressionist art, the study integrates immersive technologies such as multisensory interaction, dynamic presentation, and spatial arrangement, and explores their innovative application in cultural heritage narratives. The study’s findings demonstrate that immersive art offers significant innovative potential for cultural heritage storytelling, effectively overcoming the limitations of traditional static displays and providing audiences with a more emotionally charged, multi-layered experience. Immersive art activates images and places them in a multidimensional space, allowing viewers to explore emotional changes and narrative developments over time through sensory-realistic interaction and positional movement, resulting in a deeply emotional experience and a more personalized interpretation. Furthermore, immersive art breaks the limitations of traditional linear narratives, allowing audiences to experience the diversity and complexity of history in multiple dimensions. It is concluded that immersive art not only expands the boundaries of cultural heritage narratives but also transforms the viewer’s role into that of co-creator. This will open up greater opportunities for the dissemination of cultural heritage.

High praise for the long-term teaching work of the Soviet theater and film director, artist, screenwriter, and art theorist Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (1898—1948) in oral presentations and the memoirs of colleagues, students, and contemporaries has not led to a scientifically grounded study of the phenomenon of Eisenstein-teacher or the structure of his professional pedagogical personality. The director is the author of fundamental works on cinematography theory. Having received his Doctor of Art History (1939), he worked for many years as a professor at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). The aim of this study is to reconstruct Eisenstein’s professional pedagogical personality based on memoirs, original works, reminiscences, and other sources related to the director’s life, work, and teaching activity. Using the literary method, a significant volume of texts positioning Eisenstein’s professional personality was examined. Using the method of reconstruction and conceptualization based on the available information, the essential properties of the director’s pedagogical personality were formulated. Using the cognitive modeling method, a model of the professional personality of Eisenstein-teacher was created, including the following characteristics: 1. Implementation of positive pedagogy based on the development of creative individuality; 2. Combination of theoretical training with industrial practice; 3. Teaching theoretical material with reliance on visualization of presentation; 4. Combination of teaching cinematography as a system and improvisation; 5. Demonstration of learning outcomes through openness of the educational process and external evaluation; 6. Creation of a creative product with the involvement of documentary facts, scientific data; 7. Use of experiment and innovative methods in teaching and science; 8. Combination of objectivity of theoretical material with reliance on personal experience, experience of colleagues, “customization” of theory; 9. Physical development of the individual based on biomechanics. Eisenstein is considered one of the greatest teachers in the history of cinema, and his legacy remains relevant. Students from Eisenstein’s workshop became leaders of Soviet cinema, which proves the effectiveness of his teaching and the integrity of his professional pedagogical personality.

Since the second half of the 18th century, living pictures have spread in the French drama and musical theater. The visual basis for living pictures became works of fine art, which “brought to life” on stage with the help of actors and set design techniques. The main objects of reproduction were well-known paintings familiar to the French public. As a rule, living pictures borrowed the plot and compositional structure of an artistic canvas. They could integrate into the play or become the subject of an entirely separate work, with the action built around the event depicted in the painting. Over time, the technique became a staple in the staging practices of theater. The article devotes to the stage representations of Jacques-Louis David’s paintings in the French theater of the late 18th—19th centuries, which were partially reconstructed through archival materials. The first appearance of a living picture based on David’s painting took place in Voltaire’s tragedy Brutus in 1790. In 1800, on the stage of the Opera-Comique, the painting The Intervention of the Sabine Women was brought to life in the vaudeville The Painting of the Sabines, which won great love from the audience. The dramatic potential of David’s works was revealed in plays based on his paintings: performances with his living pictures remained popular until the end of the 19th century. In 1898, the Sabines appeared in the two-act ballet The Abduction of the Sabine Women on the stage of the Folies-Bergère Theater. In 1899, a living picture based on the painting The Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Josephine at Notre-Dame Cathedral on December 2, 1804 was staged in the third act of the lyrical drama More Than a Queen at the Théâtre du Port-Sen-Martin. The stage design of the plays allows us to evaluate the transition of the image from painting to theater: the original image-picture could be adapted to the requirements of the play or remain unchanged. These performances allow us to trace the methods and features of staging living pictures, which by the 19th century had spread across European stages. They an experimental practice, addressing the issue of the transmedial transition of images from fine art to theater in the 19th century, as well as a spectacular effect that brought commercial success to the play. Live paintings were a sign of a developing culture, which in the 20th century led to the emergence of cinema and informal art.

The purpose of the article is to argue for the need to develop Syrian acting education (and theatrical art in general), enabling them to reach a new level and achieve a qualitative leap based on a scientific approach. The fundamental training principle proposed is the method of physical action, developed by classical Russian psychological theater and substantiated by its theorists.

From the emergence of theater in Syria (1865) to the present day, it has reflected all significant events in the country. Political news, coups, wars, occupations, and revolutions have not gone unnoticed by the theater, all of which have been embodied on the stage. This is why Syrian theater is usually characterized as political (influencing audiences through public opinion) and largely epic (the main principle of epic theater is the combination of drama and epic).

In Syrian drama, the influence of Brecht’s theory of epic theater was most noticeable between the 1960s and 1980s. Graduates of Soviet theater schools who returned to Syria initially attempted to work within the system of K.S. Stanislavski, but soon, confronted with reality, they abandoned this idea and continued working in the style of epic theater.

Russian psychological theater is a significant phenomenon in the global theater scene: just mentioning “psychological theater actor” makes it clear to those around them that this actor can seamlessly perform across any genre, any style. Moreover, the school of psychological theater (the school of experience) is integrated into the creative process of other arts: it extends beyond theater or film, with their various styles and genres, and is reflected in art in general. The author emphasizes that the skill of a professional theater practitioner is built on both school and methodology.

This article summarizes the practical results of the author’s theatrical and pedagogical work, in which the ancient art of Arab storytelling is adapted to the needs of modern pedagogy using the “circles of attention” method. It is concluded that the physical action method should become a fundamental principle of training an actor in Syria.

The significant role of Parisian artistic life in the history of Russian sculpture has been confirmed by numerous studies devoted to the evolution of Russian plastic art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Studying in Paris was a significant stage in the development of Russian artists, as it completed their artistic education. Interaction with leading French masters, studying the collections of the oldest museums, and participating in the exhibition practices of the French capital shaped their worldview and helped them develop their creative individuality. The aim of this article is to determine the extent of research into the relationship between Russian and French schools of sculpture in Russian art history during that period. Particular attention is given to issues on this topic that are currently underexplored and require further exploration. The object of this study is Russian critical and scholarly texts devoted to Russian and European sculpture, dating from the late 19th century to the present day. The subject of this study is the evolution of scholarly views on the development of Russian sculpture within the context of the artistic life of Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Iranian (Persian) gardens are an enduring legacy of ancient material and spiritual culture. A garden is not only a place for growing plants but also a place that has always been associated with mystical concepts by Iranians, a space for human interaction with the world, providing a sacred connection with nature. In other words, an Iranian garden is more than a cultivated plot of land; it is a gateway to another world. The aim of this paper is to analyze Iranian garden discourse during the Safavid period (1501—1736) and related concepts prevalent in Iranian culture and art.

During the Safavid era, centralized royal workshops were established to support artists, where poets, painters, and other artists collaborated. During this time, religious themes became increasingly prominent, contributing to the incorporation of mystical concepts into the artistic sphere. Carpet weaving was an important form of art during this era. Garden carpets (as a form of carpet weaving) are a striking manifestation of the Persian garden phenomenon, which has always been a focal point in Iranian art.

We examine the theme of the garden in an interdisciplinary context — as a dominant trend in artistic discourse during the Safavid era. The discursive theories of E. Laclau and C. Mouffe, as well as M. Foucault’s discourse theory, serve as the methodological basis for analyzing the phenomenon of the Iranian (Persian) garden. The scientific novelty of this study lies not only in its unconventional approach to exploring the theme of the garden in Iranian carpet art but also in the introduction of Persian texts, previously unused in the context of this topic in Russian art criticism. The use of these sources allows us to reconstruct the Iranian garden cultural discourse itself and identify the semantic structures that directly influenced the formation of carpet compositions. The results of this study allow us to answer the question of the role that gardening discourse played in the development of artistic expression and carpet weaving during this period. The findings demonstrate that gardening discourse had a significant impact on the development of carpet weaving and inspired artists and weavers to express their ideas.

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