Universal Art Studies: Theory and Practice

Abstract

The centuries-long tradition of disciplines connected with artistic culture has always been directed towards the differentiated perception of each of the branches of art studies. Presently there are various approaches beginning to take shape towards the formation of an overall (universal) discipline of art studies as a discipline aspiring towards an allapproaching sweep of a multiple-point areal of basic facts, names, phenomena and tendencies of world artistic culture. The formation of this meta-discipline corresponds to the processes of human consciousness, which continue to acquire greater relevance. The author asserts that the multi-disciplinary approach requires in the most emphatic way the usage of cluster technology, which in this case presumes the integration of resources of the various branches of art studies for an integrated mastery of artistic space in all its diversity. At the same time, it is necessary to make use of the method of artistic analysis with which the conception-based foundation of the musical compositions becomes pivotal. All of this leads to the perspective of transferal beyond the boundaries of a special scholarly discipline towards the horizons of a generally valid picture of the world. By perceiving the art of music as a testimony of the epoch that generated it, by evaluating it as a peculiar instrument of cognition, and by bringing to light its capabilities in the plan of modeling the image of the world and man, we acquire the most abundant albeit still little researched resources of a colorific and multidimensional historical memory making it possible to expand significantly and enrich our perceptions. In the educational milieu the formation of a renewed world-perception realized with the participation of universal art studies would make it possible to realize in the best possible way the basic subject of “world artistic culture.” For the sake of elaborating on the expounded concept, the “Center for Integrated Research” has been founded at the Saratov Conservatory, being the only such center in Russian institutions for higher education. The director of the center is Doctor of Arts, Professor Alexander Demchenko. Keywords: general art studies, a multi-disciplinary approach, the artistic picture of the world, the Saratov Conservatory, the center for integrated artistic research.