Macroparadigms of the Artistic Consciousness as a Basis of “Great Border” in Present-day Art

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of “great border” between the newest art of the latter part of the 20th century and the early 21st century and traditional art as it has been existed throughout millennia. A zone of major differences between these two types of art reflected in radically new features of language, richness and perception of the latest art, in emergence of new forms of artwork (art-objects, installations, performances, digital art, contemporary dance, post-drama theater) is expressed. At the same time the illustrative evolution of the very traditional art of today which brings it and the latest art together is emphasized. The article proposes a hypothesis of a central foundation-reason for transformative changes in art. The foundation of any artistic activity and artistic creation rests on a certain type of artistic attitude-towards-the world. Through alterations it has maintained the features of its basic paradigm unchanged. The author defines its essence as nature-centeredness. The radical evolution of modern civilization overshadows nature, places culture at the heart of people existence and results in the birth of a culture-centered paradigm of artistic consciousness. The article outlines its general characteristics defining the radical novelty of the present-day art. The key feature of such art is dominance in culture texts and some of its phenomena as a specific distinct and intrinsically valuable reality and a quest for the representation and internalization of its own diverse features of culture per se starting with its manmade (“artificial”), semiotic, activity-based, creative, communication, particular informative, tradition-driven nature and many others. Culture-centered art walks away from representing routine life events, telling “true stories”, reconstructing psychology and psychological relationships of people in every detail. Instead, it is turning towards accentuation and typology of ways and people life’ products, their cataloguing, towards analysis of culture memory, language and text structures, towards problemotization of the relationship between the cultural and the natural. Insufficient awareness of culture-centeredness expressed by theoreticians and practitioners of the latest art alongside with experiences of such awareness is mentioned.