IMPACTS OF CULTURE AND WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS

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There have been numerous economic crises in capitalism, both in the period of its rise and in all stages its development. Market economy is a risk per se, so that the risk is immanent to market economy and is in fact its middle name. The first responses to the global economic crisis mainly dealt with the failings of the liberal market, not with the state flaws and its role in market control. However, the market was not so liberal as it was debated during the birth of the crisis and certainly not the main cause of the crisis, since the state influence on the market reflects not only in regulations, but also in economic measures. Since market mechanisms also operate in culture, the concept of culture was relativized, the world of culture was identified with the consumer world, and the economic values gained importance in culture. As an expression of human creativity, culture has not taken a course in its development to change the world, but rather to profit – just as any other field of human activity. This paper studies the relationship between economic crisis and culture and their interdependence. Understanding of the relationship between economy and culture may assist in the fashioning of decisions that may be of influence in these areas.

PROTECTION, REVITALIZATION AND USE OF HERITAGE THROUGH CULTURAL ROUTE FORMATION SYSTEM

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“Cultural routes” are a term recently used in scientific literature to define cultural tourism offer based on a set of mutually connected tourist attractions and destinations. The way of travel within a cultural route usually consists of roads with significant scenic, cultural, historical, geological or natural values, and incorporates the sightseeing and interpretation of sites located within that route. Cultural routes can become tourist destinations because of their connections to renowned places, events and personalities. The formation of cultural routes as tourist products is considered to be a new way of protection, revitalization, use and presentation of cultural heritage. However, the concept of cultural routes as practiced in the world and in Europe is just beginning to be used in Serbia. This study presents the basic principles of forming cultural routes, gives an insight into existing initiatives and projects of cultural route development in Serbia, with a special focus to the national master plan “Roman Emperors’ Paths in Serbia” and its critical evaluation.

PARTICIPATIVE PRACTICES IN CONTEMPORARY SERBIAN ART

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Participative practices in art serve as an example of approximation and of different connection of art and culture, ie art and various social registers. These practices most directly recognize one of the key features of contemporary art – disapperance of the visible, tangible differences between artistic and non-artistic actions. Participative practices take on social patterns from various social and cultural registers, with an artistic purpose and the aim to critically correlate with the society, local environments, culture, in short, with the political aspects of life. This type of functioning inherent to participative practices was analyzed on the example of contemporary Serbian art, with a short historic overview to avantguard and neo-avantgarde art, as well as actual theoretical denotations (K. Bishop, B. Groy and N. Bourieau).

SYMBOLIC BOUNDARIES – THE ROLE OF CULTURAL FACTORS IN BUILDING, MAINTAINING AND CHANGING SOCIAL DIFFERENCES AND STRUGGLES

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The author uses the concept of symbolic boundaries to analyze cultural origins of social divisions. The analysis begins with consideration of Bourdieu’s idea of how cultural styles correlate with class formations, and is followed by a discussion regarding a strict division of culture into two poles – the popular and the elite culture. The main theories and typologies of taste are presented at the end of the paper, together with a discussion about taste-based social differences and the structuring of cultural features into stylistically coherent forms – lifestyles.

EDUCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS OF THE STUDENTS IN SERBIA

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In this paper we present results of an empirical research study conducted in 2009 on a sample of 985 students from 30 vocational study groups, located in 28 cities in Serbia. The aim of the study was to establish a relationship between individual elements of the social background of students from the colleges for professional studies and their educational, professional and life aspirations. The research has shown that there is a high social differentiation in colleges for professional studies, and a clear indication of greater representation of students originating from the lower and middle social strata. In this sense, for this generation of young people, higher education levels should not only facilitate acquisition of knowledge necessary to perform complex tasks, but also provide a social function in relation to the generation of their parents (workers) and grandparents (farmers). Determination of the social background has served as a plea for the „discovery” of perspective and aspirations of students in regard to their future.

CULTURAL HERITAGE IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

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The aims of digitization are preservation, accessibility and popularization of cultural heritage. It raises consciousness about the importance of cultural heritage and preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity. It provides small communities with powerful, non-expensive tools to preserve and present their cultural heritage. Wider audiences can have easy access to the world cultural heritage as well as to the local ones. From the viewpoint of the audience, the most important traits of cultural heritage presentations are interactivity and personalization. Sociological approach to the digitization of cultural heritage is focused on two problems: content and access. Which contents will be digitized and who will have access to them depends not only on the cultural criteria (value of cultural contents and cultural needs) but also on technological, economic and social factors: development and spread of ICTs, digital divide (on the global level and within a particular society), IT companies’ business policies, activities of cultural institutions and cultural policy. Several issues can be pointed out relating to digitization of cultural heritage: intellectual property issue, obsoleteness of the data carriers, and long-term economic support for repositories. When speaking about user experience, influence of different contexts on the reception and interpretation of cultural heritage should be discussed. Digital-born cultural contents as well as ‘unintentional archive’ made by internet users pose questions relating to selection, temporary nature of internet platforms, public versus private and commercial versus cultural issues. Digitization of cultural heritage is not a replacement for “live” cultural participation; it is a new tool for the realization of cultural policy aims, as well as a new field of experience and creation of cultural contents.

THE CULT OF SAINT ARCHANGEL MICHAEL AMONG BENEDICTANS IN THE AREA OF BAR MITROPOLY AND KOTOR EPISCOPACY AS A REFLECTION OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONDITIONS (9TH–13TH CENTURY)

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In the middle of the 9th century, the Benedictan order was on the rise in South Italy. Since the end of the 8th century, Montecasino has been the champion of cultural revival, and a network of abbeys has been established across the regions of Benevento, Puglia, Campania, Calabria and other regions. Members of this order, within European borders, were reputed missionairies who contributed greatly to the christianisation of many Germanic and Slavic peoples. However, the Benedictans from South Italy had suffered attacks by the Saracenes and other invadors who raided and plundered their monasteries, which culminated with their conquer of Montecasino in 883AD. Because of the strengthening of the Byzantine rule, the conditions on the east Adriatic coast seemed far more suitable and stable for life of monastery communities. Also, Slavic population settled back to Byzantine cities, and slowly, they moved towards the coastline zones, building good relations with the urban Roman population. The Slavs had still worshiped old gods or were only partly christianized. In addition to being respected as successful missionaries, the Benedicants raised their monasteries in rural communities close to main roads and city centers, while their way of life fitted in the mentality and habits of an aggrarian society. Christianisation of the Slavic population enabled spreading of cultural models from the city centres under the Byzantine rule, which lead to strenghtening of ideological positions and fortification of their factual rule. On the other side, the Holy See looked benevolently on these efforts, since the Benedictans almost unnoticably contributed to strenghtening of the Roman Church positions in Dalmatia. The Benedictans took their missonary endevours seriously, as we can see from a very smart selection of the cults of saints – primarily patrons of big abbeys.

CONSUMER SOCIETY AND FASHION

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The aim of this paper is to present the development of the consumer society between the late 19th century and today and to demonstrate the influence fashion has had on the entire process. The first part of the paper offers definitions and arguments concerning the very concept of consumer society. The second part of the paper demonstrates how development of the bourgeois society triggered the need for excessive consumption and all other accompanying social changes in the behaviour of consumers brought on by the new age. The conclusions of the paper involve an argument casting aside the viewpoint that it was actually consumerism that has brought on the democratisation of societies, as well as rejecting the idea that we make free choices when purchasing goods available on the market, while it proves we are under an enormous influence from the environments we originate from and also that our decisions are far from being spontaneous.

PIECES OF THE PIROT CULTURAL MOSAIC BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS

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The paper deals with cultural trends in Pirot between the two World Wars from the aspect of amateur choirs and music societies, atmosphere in famous inns as stages of the Pirot civic life and the multiconfessional structure of the quotidienne. In its essence and content, the text aims to shed light on the corners of historical realities of Pirot in between the two World Wars, reserved for cultural workers often anonymous and sometimes quite forgotten. The paper is based on yet unpublished original material deposited at the Historic Archives of Pirot, and based on the facts found in monograph publications dedicated to certain periods in the history of Pirot and its surrounding area. It can also be treated as a contribution to the history of culture in Pirot between the two World Wars.

ART ATTACK – CURATING VIOLENCE IN ART

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This paper aims to show how new and challenging trends in art generate and redefine ways of curating: It examines three trends. Firstly, the art being violently attacked; Secondly, the art incorporating violence and destruction as a part of its being; And thirdly, the art that attacks or fights back. The relationship between art and violence is conceptualised through the phenomenon of iconoclasm and the transformation of its meaning over time. Iconoclasm as a common name for acts of violence against works of art gradually evolves towards a positive meaning referring to innovation and avant-garde in art. Firstly, a brief history of violence surrounding art is discussed by examining two recent contemporary London exhibitions (Art under Attack: Histories of British Iconoclasm at Tate Britain and La Fine di Dio, Maurizzio Cattelan Lucio Fontana at Gagosian Gallery, London). Attacks on art were rarely driven by strictly aesthetic concerns; they were often motivated by ideological, religious and political values. Although iconoclast attacks were unique events they all include the same elements: an artwork, an artist, an iconoclast, an owner and an audience. The paper further explores a relatively recent trend where art begins to incorporate violence and destruction as a part of its discourse form. In the final section, the art that attacks examines art itself as an attack on contemporary issues or icons.