Issue 62 (2026, 2) Summary

ARTICULT #62 (2-2026) April-June

SUMMARY

THEORY OF ART

R.M. SHAFER AND J.M. CAGE: ON THE PROBLEM OF PERCEIVING EVERYDAY SOUNDS AS MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS
Research article
UDC 7.01+78.01
DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-5-13
Received: February 17, 2026. Approved after reviewing: May 13, 2026. Date of publication: June 15, 2026.
Author: Romanov Nikita Aleksandrovich, PhD in Culturology, lecturer, Department of Advertising and Public Relations, State University of Industrial Technologies and Design (Saint Petersburg, Russia), e-mail: romanov_na@bk.ru
ORCID ID: 0009-0003-8459-305X
Summary: The article analyzes and compares the theoretical positions and judgments of R.M. Shafer and J.M. Cage, which substantiate the possibility and appropriateness of perceiving ambient sounds as a musical composition that requires attentive and conscious listening. The author takes the position that R.M. Schaeffer and J.M. Cage's “musical” interpretation of the sounds of everyday acoustic environments laid the foundation for the emergence and development of sound and auditory culture studies at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The work concludes that, in criticizing noise pollution, R.M. Schaefer substantiates the need to develop auditory attention and human participation in the formation of a favorable and aesthetically attractive soundscape composition, which can be modeled after the harmoniousness of classical music. At the same time, it is concluded that J.M. Cage not only reinterprets Western European musical art, but also emphasizes the need to reconsider auditory habits, which allows us to hear the beauty and diversity of environmental sounds. The results of the article can be used in the study of sound perception culture in the second half of the 20th century, as well as in the analysis of the genesis of the theoretical and methodological foundations of modern studies of auditory culture and their relationship with musical art.
Keywords: music, sound studies, auditory culture, sound environment, R.M. Shafer, J.M. Cage

For citation:
Romanov N.A. “R.M. Shafer and J.M. Cage: On the problem of perceiving everyday sounds as musical compositions.” Articult. 2026, no. 2(62), pp. 5-13. (in Russian) DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-5-13

read online / download pdf

“NOURATHAR”: MARY HALLOCK-GREENEWALT’S CONCEPT OF LIGHT ART
Research article
UDC 7.038.3+7.071.1
DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-14-25
Received: February 12, 2026. Approved after reviewing: May 20, 2026. Date of publication: June 15, 2026.
Author: Shchedrina Olga Mikhailovna, research fellow, the Educational and Research Center for Medieval and Early Modern Visual Studies, lecturer, the Department of Sociocultural Practices and Communications, Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow, Russia), e-mail: helga.shchedrina@gmail.com
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7587-0682
Summary: The article examines the concept of the light art “Nourathar” developed by the American artist and inventor Mary Elizabeth Hallock-Greenewalt (1871–1951) as one of the early attempts to conceptualize light as an autonomous artistic medium. Drawing on Hallock-Greenewalt’s own writings, as well as the theoretical approaches of M. Hansen, and O. Grau, the study reconstructs how the artist understood the specificity of the light medium and its impact on the viewer. It demonstrates that the theory and practice of “Nourathar” emerged at the intersection of engineering solutions and reflections on the properties of electric light, which allows Hallock-Greenewalt’s legacy to be considered an important element in the genealogy of media art and contemporary multimedia practices. Despite her significant contribution to the development of light-based art, her name remains little known and is virtually absent fr om Russian-language academic discourse. The article seeks to fill this gap and offers an analytical introduction to the theory and practice of “Nourathar” as a significant historical experiment in working with light as an artistic medium.
Keywords: Mary Hallock-Greenewalt, light art, media art, light as a medium, color music, immersion, visual culture, visual media

For citation:
Shchedrina O.M. “"Nourathar": Mary Hallock-Greenewalt’s concept of light art.” Articult. 2026, no. 2(62), pp. 14-25. (in Russian) DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-14-25

read online / download pdf

HISTORY OF ART

THE RUSSIAN IN THE SOVIET: NATIONAL MOTIFS IN THE ART OF THE MOSCOW METRO
Research article
UDC 725.314
DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-26-48
Received: April 29, 2026. Approved after reviewing: May 30, 2026. Date of publication: June 15, 2026.
Author: Litovchenko Valeria Alekseevna, MA in Art History, PhD student, Faculty of Creative Industries, School of Design, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia), e-mail: vlitovchenko@hse.ru
ORCID ID: 0009-0005-4016-7926
Summary: The article examines the principal forms and methods of representing the heritage of Old Russian architecture in the Moscow Metro, as well as their perception by Soviet architectural theorists as expressed in scholarly works and specialized press publications. Key historical, political, and cultural factors that influenced the use of national motifs by Soviet architects and monumental artists in architectural landmarks of the Stalinist period and the era of Soviet modernism are analyzed. Particular attention is devoted to the role of the Great Patriotic War in shaping the “Victory Style”, as reflected in the architecture of the Moscow Metro. The study focuses on the monumental painting, decorative elements, and architectural features of stations built between the 1930s and 1980s that exhibit the influence of the Old Russian canon.
Keywords: Moscow Metro architecture, Soviet architecture, monumental painting, metro art, Moscow Metro, Old Russian architecture

For citation:
Litovchenko V.A. “Russian in the Soviet: national motifs in Moscow metro art.” Articult. 2026, no. 2(62), pp. 26-48. (in Russian) DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-26-48

read online / download pdf

CONTEMPORARY ART

GENERATIVE WASTE: MATERIAL EPISTEMOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMAGINATION IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN ART
Research article
UDC 7.036(6)
DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-49-64
Received: March 07, 2026. Approved after reviewing: May 30, 2026. Date of publication: June 15, 2026.
Author: Agbeniga Mayowa Johnson, postgraduate student, School of Design, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia), e-mail: m.agbeniga@hse.ru
ORCID ID: 0009-0008-6520-5396
Summary: This article examines upcycling as an artistic methodology through a comparative analysis of two contemporary Nigerian artists. Chidinma Solomon, a Lagos-based practitioner who transforms textile waste (Ankara offcuts, thrifted garments, tailors’ scraps) into large-scale figurative portraits that mobilize fabric as collective memory. Dr. Adeola Balogun, sculptor who constructs biomorphic “Rare Species” fish sculptures from discarded electronic panels, automobile components, coins, tin lids, and compact discs. Drawing on primary interviews (Lagos, November–December 2025) and systematic visual analysis of eight artworks through a five-dimension protocol, the paper argues that both artists enact a form of material epistemology that simultaneously engages aesthetic innovation, ecological critique, cultural memory, and pedagogical practice. Anchored in Tim Ingold’s materiality studies and Bill Brown’s “thing theory,” the analysis situates these practices within Arte Povera’s legacies and African upcycling aesthetics, proposing the concept of “generative waste” to describe how both artists transform discarded matter into the primary condition of artistic production.
Keywords: upcycling, waste art, Nigerian contemporary art, fabric collage, e-waste sculpture, materiality, ecological art, generative waste

For citation:
Agbeniga M.J. “Generative waste: material epistemology and environmental imagination in contemporary Nigerian art.” Articult. 2026, no. 2(62), pp. 49-64. (in Russian) DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-49-64

read online / download pdf

CINEMA

A STUDY OF THE CONTENT OF THE CONCEPT OF “SLOW CINEMA” IN CONDITIONAL-DISCIPLINARY FOREIGN TEXTS
Research article
UDC 791.43.01
DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-65-81
Received: May 01, 2026. Approved after reviewing: May 28, 2026. Date of publication: June 15, 2026.
Author: Teterkina Anastasia Sergeevna, MA student, Department of Cinema and Contemporary Art, Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow, Russia), e-mail: nastya_s_t@mail.ru
ORCID ID: 0009-0002-1305-2435
Summary: This article analyzes international academic discourse on the phenomenon of “slow cinema”, drawing on the works of M. Flanagan, O.E. Çağlayan, K. Schoonover, S.H. Lim, T. de Luca, and L. Kepnik. The study aims to deconstruct existing interpretative constructs and identify the underlying assumptions underlying various approaches to understanding “slow cinema”. Particular attention is paid to shifting the research lens in the analyzed texts from formal and aesthetic characteristics to an analysis of viewer perception, including in the context of the “time economy”, the “materialization of corporeality”, and other sociocultural transformations. The study establishes that “slow cinema” should be viewed not as a set of stable features, but as a discursive construct applied to specific films, within which their duration is considered a mechanism for organizing the viewer's sensory-perceptual experience. As a result, an attempt is made to initially systematize the identified provisions contained in the texts being objectified, and a conclusion is made about the need for further theoretical clarification of the content of the concept of “slow cinema” with the aim of subsequently forming a more coherent model.
Keywords: slow cinema, modernity, aesthetics of “slow”, audience perception, discursive model

For citation:
Teterkina A.S. “A study of the content of the concept of "slow cinema" in conventional disciplinary foreign texts.” Articult. 2026, no. 2(62), pp. 65-81. (in Russian) DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-65-81

read online / download pdf

TOPOI AND DYSTOPIAS IN THE NEW FILM THE MASTER AND MARGARITA
Research article
UDC 791.43-2
DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-82-100
Received: January 18, 2026. Approved after reviewing: May 26, 2026. Date of publication: June 15, 2026.
Аuthor: Molnar Angelika, PhD, dr. habil., assistant professor, Institute of Slavistics, University of Debrecen (Debrecen, Hungary), e-mail: mandzsi@gmail.com
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7896-1480
Summary: The article analyzes the use of toposes as a tool for constructing dystopian space in M. Lokshin’s film The Master and Margarita. The new cinematic version of M. Bulgakov’s novel is considered not only as an example of the application of modern forms of montage narrative, but also as a work structured through a system of toposes – the streets and squares of 1930s Moscow, residential and non-residential spaces, a psychiatric clinic, and the theater – each of which functions as a meaning-generating element of the multi-layered narrative and contributes to the formation of a dystopian model of the world. In the film, and consequently in this article, particular attention is paid to the architectural organization of space and the material environment. These elements, together with the color palette and bodily presentation, serve as key means of visual representation in the cinematic text, performing not a decorative but a structural-semantic function. Their study allows for the identification of ways in which the conflict between the creative individual and totalitarian power is represented, as well as the determination of the realization of their “authorial” function in the movie.
Keywords: new film The Master and Margarita, topoi; dystopian space, visual poetics, montage narrative, cinematic text, conflict between the artist and authority

For citation:
Molnar A. “Topoi and Dystopia in the New Film The Master and Margarita.” Articult. 2026, no. 2(62), pp. 82-100. (in Russian) DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-82-100

read online / download pdf

HISTORY AND THEORY OF CULTURE

THE DIALOGUE OF ABSENCE AND THE PHENOMENON OF THE MEDIUM: DIFFÉRANCE, DELEGATION, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN THE ART OF IGOR MAYOROV
Research article
UDC 7.036+7.071.1
DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-101-114
Received: March 13, 2026. Approved after reviewing: May 25, 2026. Date of publication: June 15, 2026.
Author: Sosnovskaya Anna Mikhailovna, Dr. Habil in Political Science, Рrofessor, Chair of Journalism and Media Communications of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (North-West Institute of Management) (St. Petersburg, Russia), e-mail: sosnovskaya-am@ranepa.ru
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9736-0912
Summary: This article analyzes the phenomenon of identity in the work of the Leningrad artist Igor Mayorov (1946–1991). Moving beyond the traditional art historical comparison “Petersburg Zverev”, the author proposes to overcome biographism and the search for direct influences by synthesizing Jacques Derrida's concept of différance, Pierre Bourdieu's field theory, and Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann's social construction of reality. The paper argues that Mayorov 's identity is formed not as a sum of internal qualities, but relationally – in the space of differences (a “dialogue of absence”) with Anatoly Zverev and other significant figures. The article then extends beyond this opposition by introducing the concept of “delegated expressionism”. Drawing on biographical context (the act of self-sacrifice, taking the blame for his brother) and Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, Mayorov 's work is interpreted as a result of “delegation”: the era delegates to the outcast artist the right to speak in its name. An analysis of the materiality of his method (using zuhanden / ready-to-hand objects) through the lens of ruin theory (W. Benjamin) and ontology (M. Heidegger, G. Harman) reveals his works as a “ruin of the tool”, wh ere the creative process becomes inseparable from the result. Special attention is paid to the phenomenon of “phoenixation” – Mayorov's ability to stylize, understood not as forgery but as the rebirth of the lost (the “Nolde cycle”) and the highest form of service to art. Ultimately, Mayorov emerges not merely as an artist, but as a “medium” and a living archive of his time.
Keywords: Igor Mayorov, différance, delegated expressionism, Anatoly Zverev, field of art, social construction of reality, ruin, ready-to-hand (zuhanden), actor-network theory, Emil Nolde, Leningrad nonconformism, phoenixation

For citation:
Sosnovskaya A.M. “Dialogue of Absence and the Phenomenon of the Guide: Differentiation, Delegation, and Identity Construction in the Works of Igor Mayorov.” Articult. 2026, no. 2(62), pp. 101-114. (in Russian) DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-101-114

read online / download pdf

METHODOLOGY

VECTOR ANALYSIS AS A METHOD IN ART STUDIES
Research article
UDC 7.01+004.9
DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-115-133
Received: May 10, 2026. Approved after reviewing: May 28, 2026. Date of publication: June 15, 2026.
Author: Chernova Aida Maratovna, BA in Art History, MA student, Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow, Russia), e-mail: chernovaaida@jdwork.ru
ORCID ID: 0009-0005-6837-1750
Summary: This article introduces vector analysis as a computational methodological approach in art history. It outlines the algorithm of this method, which transforms formalized artwork data into vectors comprising discrete parameters independently defined by the researcher. For clarity and practical implementation, the algorithm is divided into three sequential stages: vectorization, metric analysis, and cluster analysis. The primary focus is on the applicability of vector analysis in art historical research. This method facilitates the identification of structural patterns within extensive datasets while maintaining full expert oversight. Additionally, the approach is designed to be accessible to researchers without substantial computational resources or programming expertise. An illustrative application of the described methodology is presented through an analysis of nine exhibition projects from the Nevyansk Museum. The study demonstrates how this framework groups objects into clusters and enables the formulation of data-driven hypotheses. Vector analysis is conceptualized as an analytical tool for processing large-scale datasets, thereby systematically constraining the interpretive field available to the researcher.
Keywords: computational art history, vector space models, distant viewing, close reading, similarity metrics, distance metrics, cluster analysis, feature extraction, computational modeling, exhibition analysis

For citation:
Chernova A.M. “Vector analysis as a method in art studies.” Articult. 2026, no. 2(62), pp. 115-133. (in Russian) DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2026-2-115-133

read online / download pdf