GAZE OF THE OTHER AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE: ТHE ANIMALS AS PROVOCATION

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Primarily relying on the texts of Jacques Derrida, Jean Baudrillard, Deleuze and Guattari and Theodor W. Adorno, this article contemplates the provocation that cats, often representative of animals in general, been able to direct us towards philosophy. Aside from the proverbial penetrativeness of the cat’s gaze which has a physiological cause, a historical and phenomenological reconstruction of its significance points to the valuable incentive that it has represented for the understanding both unity and singularity of life forms, the awareness of our epistemic limits, the release of anthropocentric prejudice, the articulation of existential situations and the insight into a humanistic policy of discrimination. The author concludes that the cat’s character, in its best literary and philosophical offshoots, warns of impingement that the Western rationality committed to everything that could not be included under its claim to universal authority, and suggests that the way of redemption for the wrongdoing leads across selective adoption and criticism of the same heritage, but now in such a manner that it could be considerate and responsible toward both discursive and the unavailability of the Others.

THE QUALITY OF TV PROGRAMMES FOR CHILDREN IN SERBIA, AS SEEN BY CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS

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There is no research in Serbia about media habits of children or the quality of TV programs for children. This research was done on 458 children aged 9-11, and 412 parents from four towns in both suburban and rural areas in Serbia. Most results concur with the findings of foreign researches. The main results are: almost half of the children are unselective when watching different programs on TV, usually without parental knowledge or guidance; children are significantly more satisfied with the quality of television programs than parents while the parents think that the quality is average; two thirds of parents significantly underestimate the influence of TV programs on children; programs for children contain a lot of violence; both children and parents think that the worst part about programs for children is that they are not educational or inclusive (very low rate of socially disadvantaged groups in these programs). The results also show that TV programs for children in Serbia have to be significantly improved and that the influence of TV programs on children and adolescents has to be addressed.

THE PRINCELY PALACE IN SAVAMALA – FOUNDING SERBIAN BELGRADE OUTSIDE THE TRENCH

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The princely court in Savamala has had an active and powerful role in constitution and promotion of the dynastic propaganda. With reference to the dual nature of monarchic government, a princely court does not exclusively refer to the residence of a ruler, but also stands for the institution of government that is a carefully chosen and structured space with the developed mechanism and manifesto of power. Planning, functioning as well as visual identity of any princely palace were always direct reflections of the royal image and the very nature of the actual regime. The palaces of the Serbian rulers changed abruptly in the 19th century, both in their positions and visual contexts, court ceremonies and the level of openness to the specific public. Those changes that have taken place at princely courts reflected the overall image of historical and social transformation of the Serbian state. In the early stages of his government, Prince Miloš understood and valued the power of political propaganda and already in the early 19th century he started and exerted an expensive public manifesto of power as his palaces had a crucial role in this important part of political programme. The choice of Serbian capital represented a key political issue. Prior to the official recognition of the autonomy and hereditary royal status, princely palaces were located in safely hidden landscapes in mainland Serbia. Now, when newly liberated principality was yet to catch up with the rest of the modern European states, Prince Miloš wanted Belgrade for its capital. The process of making the state/court complex in the district of Savamala revealed all the specific features of Belgrade and its urban development during the first half of the 19th century. Thus, raising the princely palace in Savamala will prove to be a crucial step in transformation of Belgrade into a modern European city

WESTERN CULTURE AND THE DIGITAL: FROM POLIS TO VIRTUAL COMMUNITY

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This analysis covers certain aspects of the development of Western culture from its beginnings in Ancient Greece to the contemporary tendencies expressed through digital technologies. The authors point out the possibilities, which are arising from ubiquitous use of modern digital technologies, for modification of contemporary Western culture framework and its adaptation to the now suppressed traditions inherited from the ancient times. The important aspects of development that had crucially defined the phenomenon of the Greek polis and set up permanent foundations of the Western culture are identified. Also, similarities and differences are discussed, along with the social innovations brought about by the widespread use of Web 2.0 technologies at the beginning of the 21st century. We have specifically analysed the processes of creation and functioning of a community and compared values based on which the Greek polis functioned with the values of today’s virtual communities. The phenomena of the feelings of belonging, mass participation, influence of the community on an individual and the importance of amateurism are explained as they originally appeared in the framework of polis. Finally, the potentials of revival of these phenomena are analysed in the context of the widespread use of digital technologies today.

ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OF SURVEY CONDUCTED AMONG VISITORS TO THE NATIONAL MUSEUM VALJEVO IN AUGUST 2016

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The initial aim of this paper is to present an analysis of the survey conducted among visitors to the central permanent exhibition of the National Museum Valjevo. The analysis relates to the visitors’ origin, reasons for coming to Valjevo and the Museum, their prior knowledge of the Museum, their experience and satisfaction. The survey was conducted in the period from 27 July to 26 August 2016, during which the Museum was visited by 417 people, 96 of which were from Valjevo, 6 from its surroundings (Kolubara County), 204 from other cities in Serbia and 111 from abroad. The analyses were supported by a kind of historical review based on archival documents from the records of visits to older exhibitions, so that the paper also presented a comparative cross-section of the total year-round visits in 1961 and 2016, with emphasis on the visits in August. The comparative results show that the total number of visits in 2016 was significantly higher than in 1961 (23,495 to 13,020) but lower when looking at the percentage of visitors compared to the number of city residents (39.8% to 45.7%). The increase of overall visits in 2016 was created by school trips, since at present, during the four months of the school trips, 19,690 visitors to the Valjevo Museum were registered in 2016 comprising for 83.8% of total annual visits, while in 1961 there were 7,401 (56.8%). The data obtained in comparative analyses suggest that today local population visit their Museum in much smaller numbers and percentages than they did a little over half a century ago, so that an absolute majority of visits are made by visitors from other places, especially those who came organized in groups, to whom a visit to the Museum was one of the points of their pre-planned itinerary, as well as individual visitors who in most cases have already had some previous knowledge of the Museum and intended to visit it during their visit to Valjevo. In order to increase the interest of the local population in their Museum, it is of the utmost importance to have varied, short-lasting programmes, primarily thematic exhibitions but also other types of programme activities: workshops, lectures, presentations, chamber theatre, music and film festivals and the like, while, when it comes to permanent exhibitions, various occasional animation programmes are crucial, as they breathe new life into the unchanging content. While such activities include the Long Night of Museums, it is also necessary to consider the need to organise similar events not only in May, when the Museum witnesses the largest attendance as a result of the school season excursions, but also in the months when the interest in the Museum offer fades.

AESTHETIC PHENOMENON AND ART: A MARCUSE’S CONCEIVEMENT

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Analyzing complete works author attempts to demonstrate Marcuse’s conceivement of aesthetic phenomena and art with the emphasis on the relation of art and revolution. In the article attention is firstly drawn to Marcuse’s doctoral dissertation. This text has significance in that Marcuse already here discerns a periphery subject (artist) as a subject of liberation. Author then offers a detailed examination of orphic-narcissistic civilization. That is the origin of aesthetic-sensuous revolution within framework of Freud’s theory. A status of art in capitalistic and in a version of socialistic society is then examined. While in the capitalistic society art is banalised by mass consumption in the socialist society art is instrumentally used for glorification and preservation of political order. Finally, author analyses qualitative change into society of aesthetic ethos which is rendered possible by sensitive cooperation of art and technology. Author’s intention is to offer critical, coherent and contextually situated interpretation of Marcuse’s art and aesthetic revolution.

COMPETING FOR THEATRE AUDIENCE IN DIGITAL AGE

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The main objective of this paper is to point out that it is possible to draw attention of a large number of people, in spite of their daily exposure to abundant media content, by using an original approach combined with an unexpected and imaginative idea and presenting the creative result via digital media. The paper will present the most successful guerrilla marketing campaign ever realized in Serbia for theatre art, named “Taxi drama”. The campaign was created for the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade in 2014, and had over 200 000 views on YouTube in a single day. The main conclusion of the paper is that creativity is crucial for attracting art audiences. Once more it has been confirmed that the new media have become indispensable when communicating with the audience.

PROCESSES OF TRANSCULTURALIZATION IN THE CASE OF MELODY TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR

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The concept of transculturalism implies a significant ideological position within postmodern Cultural studies, and it is actualized in the context created by the idea of a multicultural society which is based on the ideology and cultural policy of integration into European multinational space, where our community also tends to. Living processes of transculturalism are simultaneously intensified with the expansion of the modern communication technologies and general tendency of globalization. With the impossibility of regression on monocultural concepts it comes to light as inescapable, and therefore as needfull, precisely the understanding of positive sides in the transcultural processes and consequently the attempt of their implementation in everyday intercultural relations and manifestations. The intent of this work is to point out on complexity and stratification in processes of transculturalism and to consider theirs potential instrumentalization for the purposes of overcoming social tensions caused by the lack in understanding of cultural differences, but similarities too. These processes can be understood on the simple example of global transcultural phenomenon, melody popularly known as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

JAMES ENSOR: ARTIST SURROUNDED BY MASKS

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In this paper I will discuss the artistic oeuvre of James Ensor, focusing my attention on the significance of the mask motif and the importance of disguising in his self-portraits. As one of the most influential Belgian painters, graphic artists and caricaturists of the second half of the nineteenth century, he received recognition for his work relatively late, after he had already completed the most important part of his extensive opus, entering into the sixth decade of his life. Due to his specific attitude towards society and satirical approach to the complex political and cultural situation in Belgium, Ensor was often ignored or openly criticised, which at the time of his greatest productivity (the ninth decade of the nineteenth century) led to uncontrolled public behaviour and complete withdrawal into the solitude of his atelier. Stuck between his wishes and expectations, public ignorance and late fame, Ensor played diverse roles in his self-portraits. He represented himself as a confident artist in youth, as a successor of Dürer and Rubens. Disguised in a controversial iconic appearance, he identified himself with Christ. He saw himself as a martyr or a victim. He often felt like an outsider torn by demons, tormented by skeletons, and haunted by death. In the end, he was a visionary surrounded by masked citizens of his native Ostend, in which he spent his entire life. Creating a unique corpus of self-portraits in which elements of fantasy intertwined with the grotesque and theatrical, Ensor became a missionary of modern art, just like Van Gogh, Gauguin, Schiele, Cézanne. The mask in his oeuvre developed into a key instrument for reassessing identity with an ironic distance from the world in which Ensor lived.

ART EDUCATION AND TEACHER ROLE FROM STUDENT PERSPECTIVE

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In this article we have been focused on studying the ways in which elementary school students experience art education and work of art teachers. We were interested in how students evaluate the difficulty and attraction of Art as a school subject, how much they are satisfied with the work of their art teachers and how much the work of their teachers has contributed to this subject becoming easier and more interesting to them. The sample covered 215 eighth grade students from different urban and rural elementary schools. For research purposes, a questionnaire was designed containing open-ended and close-ended questions. The research results indicate that the largest number of students evaluated art education as medium interesting and very easy, also showing that students think that the attraction and the level of difficulty of the subject itself depend a lot on the teacher. The attraction and the difficulty of the subject mostly depend on: the method of work on the curriculum, the method of work of the teacher and the diversity of tasks given to students. The results therefore suggest that the professional competences of an art teacher are the key factor in successful teaching.