This article explores the culture of perpetuation as a relevant practice for preserving historical and cultural heritage in contemporary urban landscapes. Issues of cultural and historical memory have become particularly relevant in today’s rapidly changing society. Monuments, as cultural texts, not only preserve historical and cultural heritage but also actively participate in shaping the modern urban environment, ensuring the continuity of generations and preserving cultural identity. The study of monuments as cultural texts is linked to changing sociocultural paradigms in diachronic dynamics, as well as to cultural aspects reflecting social, emotional, and identity processes in society. The aim of the article is to conceptualize the monument as a structural and semantic category possessing a set of attributes and characteristics inherent in cultural texts, within the context of diachronic narratology. Contextualization is becoming a crucial principle in obtaining cultural knowledge. Using monuments and memorial sites in Belarusian cities as examples, this article attempts to substantiate these forms of memory and analyzes their essence and significance in the context of the phenomenon of absence. This article examines forms of spontaneous memorialization as a sociocultural contextualization of events in contemporary culture. It provides examples of how spontaneously emerging sites of memory undergo the process of institutionalization. The novelty of this study stems from the emergence of new forms of memory, which acquire specific characteristics distinct from those of artifacts in previous historical periods. These include, monuments created using augmented reality technologies and digital projects. The intertextuality of monuments allows them to become part of contemporary culture, transforming them from historical relics into relevant components of cultural memory. This article concludes with a discussion of the prospects for further study of monuments as cultural texts, and a comprehensive understanding of the cultural context of their existence, amidst the expansion of humanities knowledge about the culture of memory and the diversity of relationships between text and culture.

This article analyzes the so-called visual turn, which represents a subsequent shift in the philosophical paradigm of modern knowledge. This concept boasts the broadest level of generalization among related concepts, such as the iconic turn and the pictorial turn. It is widely recognized that the visual turn occurred after the linguistic one, to some extent modifying its implications. The article provides a comparative analysis of the outcomes generated by these two phenomena. By reviewing the scholarly discourse on the causes of the visual turn, the study categorizes the factors that facilitated this shift and underscores the role of fine arts within its structure. The current stage of development in fine art serves as both a prerequisite and a mode of its implementation, as contemporary painting and graphics significantly shapes the content of the visual turn. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the impact of the postmodern cultural situation on the formation of this phenomenon. It reveals the significance of the emerging digital reality for the visual turn within the structure of cognition. To investigate this process, N.A. Bernstein’s model of the levels of construction of movements is applied. The structure of the visual turn is presented as a result of the development of systemic inversion in the hierarchical system of levels of human activity. A comparison with the similar structure of the linguistic turn is provided outlining the connection between these two phenomena. It demonstrates that during the visual turn, one of the subordinate hierarchical levels of human activity acquires a dominant role. The role of artificial intelligence in the visual turn is separately considered. On this basis, it is concluded that the visual turn is not a coincidental confluence of circumstances, but a predetermined stage in the evolution of cognition, driven by both ontological and epistemological factors.

This article examines the concept of memory politics. The key issue concerns the study of popular culture as a tool for the formation of collective memory (common memories constructed and transmitted within communities through language, rituals, and interactions, according to the concepts of M. Halbwachs, F. Ankersmit, J. Alexander, and J. and A. Assmann) within the framework of contemporary Russian historical policy. The aim of this study is to analyze how contemporary Russian cinema, as an instrument of popular culture, is used in historical policy to shape collective memory. The article describes current sociological research on the perception of Russian films by contemporary Russian audiences. Using a phenomenological methodological approach, the article analyzes Russian films released between 2014 and 2024. The methodology is grounded in the phenomenological approach of V. Kurennoi. Based on the analysis, the authors conclude that contemporary Russian cinema, functioning as a key instrument of historical policy, purposefully shapes collective memory through the creation of mythologized figures of memory, supra-historical archetypes, and legitimate images of the past, and also actively constructs national identity and legitimizes the political order.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the ideas and meanings of South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho’s film Parasite in the context of contemporary social issues and the stylistics of metamodernism. Concepts of such critics of capitalism as M. Serres, Z. Bauman, M. Mann, and others are used as a theoretical basis for studying social issues. To understand how effectively the film addresses the social issues, the author turned to D. Bordwell’s film analysis theory, which focuses on two main aspects of cinema: form and style. Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite is characterized from the perspective of metamodernism, whose theorists focus on the emergence of a new artistic language capable of expressing contemporary reality in artistic form, as well as the need to incorporate this language into a new cultural landscape. The analysis of Parasite was based on a content analysis using elements of H. Korte’s systemic analysis, a review of interviews with director Bong Joon-Ho, reviews by Russian and international film critics, and audience feedback. The article concludes that the analyzed South Korean film promotes social change. Such films highlight fundamental universal ideas and values relatable to everyone, regardless of location or social status, and provoke reflection on the essence of the modern world order. At the same time, the director has managed to maintain a fine line between the seriousness of modernism and the irony of postmodernism, which is expressed in a metamodernist style. All of this contributes to the popularity of South Korean cinema among film critics and experts, as well as audiences worldwide.

The research exhibition Fashion That Doesn’t Exists (Chelyabinsk, 2024) explores the transformations of the Southern Ural fashion industry over the past 30 years. Initiated by the self-organized LongFashionWeekend team, the project aims to reconstruct local fashion history through archival research. Given the lack of systematic documentation of the region’s fashion scene, the exhibition becomes a tool for understanding regional identity, demonstrating how fashion in the Southern Ural region evolved from the Soviet light industry through the crisis of the 1990s to the emergence of independent brands in the 2010s and 2020s.

As part of the research, an exhibition was held that combined four time periods (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s), revealing key phenomena in each period through the prism of design, media, events, and infrastructure. The project placed particular emphasis on an educational program and interactive practices that engage viewers in a dialogue with the past as a means of gathering additional information.

The research revealed the lack of archives and the need to create a permanent exhibition. The project demonstrates that regional fashion is not a marginal phenomenon, but a significant part of cultural heritage, requiring academic understanding as a form of collective memory and a tool for rethinking the industrial heritage of the Southern Urals.

The study of female visual art is increasingly gaining attention from specialists in the field. However, among the many aspects of female artists’ work (particularly in the 16th century), self-portraits remain a relatively understudied area. Existing works devoted to female self-portraits of that period are few and often presented in isolated articles, making it difficult to fully understand the topic. This leads to general conclusions that do not always reflect the complexity and multifaceted nature of female artistic practice.

This study focuses on a systematic analysis of self-portraits by 16th-century Italian female artists, examining them not only as a form of portraiture but also as a source of insight into the social, professional, and cultural position of women of the time. Its relevance stems from the insufficient research on this topic and the need to develop a comprehensive approach that considers biographical, aesthetic, and historical aspects. The aim of the study is to create a typology of self-portraits by 16th-century Italian female artists, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of the specific features of female self-portraits and their place within the artistic tradition of the era.

A typological analysis of the self-portraits revealed that the dominant type is the image of a noble lady — an educated and virtuous gentlewoman, possessing both external and spiritual beauty. Another, though less common, type is the artist’s self-portrait as a saint or biblical heroine. The rarest type in 16th-century Italian painting was the professional female self-portrait, depicting the model as the artist.

A careful typological analysis of 16th-century female self-portraits challenges the widespread thesis in scholarly literature regarding their uniqueness within the context of the era: with a few exceptions, the artists’ images are entirely consistent with the traditions of female portraiture of their time.

This article explores the iconography and artistic features of the monumental paintings of Sigiriya, a Sri Lankan architectural and landscape monument, meaning “lion rock” in Sinhalese. On the flat summit of a rock plateau, rising almost 200 meters above the surrounding plain in the very center of the island, in the 5th century AD, King Kashyapa built a large palace and park complex, the ruins of which survive to this day. Sigiriya became a unique monument, a synthesis of the architectural knowledge and technical achievements of ancient Sri Lanka, demonstrating a high level of mastery in the visual arts. Only a fragment of the monumental painting that existed here in ancient times has survived to this day — 22 female figures painted on the rock face. Despite years of research, a number of questions regarding the purpose of creating the large-scale architectural and landscape complex of Sigiriya and the function of its individual elements, including the unique paintings, remain unclear and cause controversy within scholarly circles.

When studying the paintings of Sigiriya, a holistic approach is essential — their relationship to other artistic elements of the architectural complex, its layout, functionality, and overall conceptual design. Various interpretations of the female images of Sigiriya are examined, as well as iconographic and stylistic parallels. The author offers her own interpretation of the pictorial composition and its function within the spatial design of the complex.

This article explores the role of the imperial commission, the artistic qualities, and the perception of the summer mountain dacha Eriklik, a masterpiece of landscape art within the Livadia estate in Crimea. The study aims to interpret the semantics of the palace and park ensemble based on the aesthetic experience of Empress Maria Alexandrovna (1824—1880), the owner and author of the architectural design. Biographical documents and letters from the commissioner reveal the mental, intellectual, and sensory vision of the Eriklik mountain retreat, which possessed a therapeutic quality that could influence the viewer’s mindset, spirituality, and physical well-being, thereby inspiring contemplation and philosophical meditation. The study explores the transcendental, creative potential of the individual, through the power of thought, imagination, and artistic memory, that is, extrasensory experience to imbue the natural landscape with the qualities of a work of art.

This is the first analysis of the influence of childhood experiences on Empress Maria Alexandrovna’s worldview and artistic tastes. The paper examines in detail the young princess’s introduction to the way of life and customs of her parents’ German courts of Hesse and Baden, the philosophy and poetry of German Romanticism, the works of J.W. Goethe, and her passion for chinoiserie. It shows how the conceptions of art formed in childhood were reflected in a sovereign, individual vision of the image of Eriklik. The logic behind the inclusion of such a unique and extraordinary landscape ensemble in the context of the Empress’s biography is revealed.

The work draws on previous and new research on the biography of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Her letters, addressed to her brother Karl, Prince of Hesse and Rhine, mentioning Eriklik are published for the first time.

Documentary data on the history of construction, architecture, planning and development, and park design are supplemented by drawings and photographs discovered in archives. The topic of the typical view from Eriklik in Russian painting is addressed. The issue of the current state of the monument is raised.

French gastronomy is a significant aspect of French life, combining culture and language, providing plenty food for thought and analysis on their interaction, interpenetration, and mutual influence. In this article, the author proposes to consider the phenomenon of synergy in the development of French gastronomy and gastronomic literature. The gastronomic tradition in France developed not only as a culinary art, but also thanks in large part to the works of culinary critics and the literary works of chefs themselves. The article diachronically examines national characteristics and the broad genre palette of this interaction. Language captured culinary ideas, methods, and knowledge, transmitted and disseminated them through intellectual literary forms, and cemented them in the national consciousness. The empirical material for this article includes cookbooks, philosophical works, works by chefs and literary critics, and journalistic materials from the printed press, which have not previously been published in Russian and are unfamiliar to Russian readers, which determines the novelty of this study. The methodological framework of the work relies on an interdisciplinary approach and incorporates a range of scientific methods, including contextual-interpretive analysis, historical description, a diachronic approach, cultural-background interpretation, and an axiological method related to the study of culture as a set of values. The relevance of the topic stems from the linguistic and cultural focus of the study: the French gastronomic tradition has been understudied from a linguistic perspective. At the same time, gastronomic discourse in France is socially significant, embodying value-oriented categories of interest to researchers in various fields of the humanities.

Contemporary philosophy of culture faces an identity crisis driven by societal atomization and desacralization (disenchantment) of the world. This study analyzes Russian cultural and media practices that reinterpret Orthodox archetypes through C. Pickstock’s concept of liturgical order. The author suggests that these practices aim to transcend the trends identified by Byung-Chul Han as the crisis of narrative. Despite the Soviet secular gap, Russia maintains a continuity of Orthodox cultural archetypes, that provides a foundation for the re-integration of the Orthodox narrative into the contemporary landscape. The research demonstrates that Orthodox archetypes, reimagined through modern media space, offer an alternative to Western-centric theoretical models for reconstructing Christian tradition. An analysis of the examples reveals interest in these archetypes in contemporary Russian culture. Thus, the exhibition Russian Incredible interprets constructivism as a “meta-history” of Russian identity, linking the avant-garde with the Orthodox visual tradition. The labyrinthine space, structured on the principle of non-linear narrative, reveals a synthesis of the rational (geometry) and the transcendental, transforming a historical artifact into a transcendental medium. The media practices of the St. Antipas Church implement a soft inculturation of faith through branding, storytelling, and digital initiatives. Secular tools of mass culture become channels for sacred dialogue, avoiding didacticism. In the Russian context, the sacred is not so much reconstructed as actualized, offering an alternative to technocratic utilitarianism and postmodern relativism. Moreover, the popularity of the projects demonstrates a high level of public interest in the agenda. The novelty of this work lies in decolonizing the methodology and discourse of Radical Orthodoxy — a movement in contemporary theology previously focused on the Anglican and Catholic contexts. The study demonstrates that Orthodoxy is not an object of revision, but a resource for dialogue with the digital age. The integration of elements of the liturgical order (C. Pickstock) into contemporary sociocultural practices holds the potential to overcome the crises of secularism. The Russian context offers innovative models that are particularly significant in the post-secular context.

Requirements to Information and Articles