Aim. This paper focuses on the work of American historian Joshua First, who explores Ukrainian cinema from the second half of the 20th century. The main goal is to highlight First’s methodological innovations, particularly his interpretation of cinema as a tool for the politics of looking and identity. The study also examines his introduction of the terms «folkloric regime» and «ethnographic regime» to explain the tension between official ideology and the visual representation of national identity. Methods. The analysis is based on a close reading of First’s monograph and the key sources he engages with (including Benjamin, Adorno, Bourdieu, Thompson, Mignolo, Anzaldúa, Golubev, among others). A multidisciplinary approach is used, combining historical, cultural, philosophical, and visual analysis. A central method involves comparing Soviet films from the Stalinist and post-Stalinist periods, such as those by Pyryev, Savchenko, Parajanov, Osika, and Illienko, and examining visual images in museified spaces like open-air museums and ethnographic landscapes. Results. First identifies two distinct modes of representing the national: the folkloric regime, used to exoticize and idealize local cultures under Soviet ideology, and the ethnographic regime, which seeks to visually reclaim authenticity. Through an analysis of Carpathophilia as both a cultural and political phenomenon, First shows how Ukrainian cinema – especially in films like Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors – became a space for decolonial expression. The study pays particular attention to the dynamics of gaze, space, authenticity, and the symbolic recognition of the Other in Soviet visual narratives. Conclusions. Joshua First’s research offers a fresh rethinking of Ukrainian Soviet cinema and visual culture. His innovative terminology and analytical tools reveal deeper layers of political, cultural, and identity-based struggle within the visual sphere. The work contributes significantly to decolonial approaches in the humanities, opening new perspectives on local experience, transgression, representation, and memory. It is relevant not only to film historians but also to scholars of culture, identity, and postcolonial Eastern Europe.

Purpose. The article explores the possibility of establishing a historical basis for the existing artistic representations of Ostafy Dashkovych, a prominent statesman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the first third of the 16th century. Methods. The study of this topic employs both general and specialised scientific research methods. In particular, it is grounded in the principle of historicism and makes use of logical, chronological, and comparative approaches. Results. The portrait image of Ostafy Dashkovych remains a subject of debate in modern scholarship. Both artists and historians have engaged with this topic. The most well-known and widely circulated depiction is the portrait by the Polish artist Jan Matejko, created in 1874. It was not until 2021 that two Ukrainian authors made new attempts to create an artistic representation of Dashkovych. A key issue remains the use of reliable historical sources in reconstructing his image. One such source is the painting The Battle of Orsha, possibly created during Dashkovych’s lifetime. This artwork is particularly significant, as there is reason to believe that Dashkovych participated in the battle and may be depicted alongside Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky. Conclusions. Reconstructing the image of Ostafy Dashkovych in artistic form is impossible without reference to 16th-century historical sources – particularly the written description of his appearance from 1529 and visual materials from the period, such as the painting The Battle of Orsha. Moreover, there is reason to believe that Dashkovych may have participated in this battle and could, therefore, be represented in the painting.

This article aims to systematise and analyse the key methodological and thematic dimensions of research on technological utopias presented at the international conference “Understanding Techno-Utopias Across the East-West Divide: Creators, Enablers, and Audiences” (Basel, 25–27 June 2025), and to identify the principal contemporary trends in this field. Methods. The study draws on an analytical review of late-twentieth-century approaches in the history of technology; a systematisation of conference presentations by methodology; and a comparative thematic analysis of papers, discussions, and visual materials. Results. The analysis shows that twentieth-century techno-utopias are approached primarily as socio-technical projects that reveal the complex interplay between technologies, expert knowledge, ideology, state power, and public reception. Participants employed a wide spectrum of methodologies, including the Large Technical Systems (LTS) paradigm, the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT), and Actor-Network Theory (ANT), as well as environmental history, visual history, and the cultural history of technology. Systematising the papers made it possible to distinguish three core thematic clusters that mirror current research priorities: 1) the subjugation of nature and the infrastructural “re-drawing” of landscapes, encompassing megaprojects aimed at radical transformation of nature (e.g., dam construction or climate engineering); 2) technology transfer and adaptation and intercultural dialogue across the “Iron Curtain,” covering studies of the import of Western technologies, ideas, and practices (for example, refrigeration technologies, camera manufacture, and urban planning concepts) and their transformation in the Soviet context; 3) the use of technology as an instrument of social engineering and control, where technologies are examined as tools for shaping identity and governing society (e.g., through the health-care system, the application of cybernetic principles in urban governance, or computerisation). Conclusions. The studies demonstrate that the relationship between technology and the public good was re-thought in the twentieth century. New approaches to analysing technological development and its societal effects have foregrounded the multiplicity of actors. Overall, the findings make visible the ambivalence of modernisation, in which utopian promises frequently yielded dystopian practices.

The purpose of this research is to analyse the concept of the camera as a virtual observer of events and its role in the creation of slow cinema. The research methodology is grounded in the history of ideas, as the study focuses on a concept that requires clarification: the camera as an observer – that is, as a virtual character within the cinematic world, whose primary role is to perceive events and alter the ways in which they are viewed. This concept was developed by integrating the notions and characteristics of shot duration and spatial composition within the frame (in cases where they allow the observer’s agency to emerge), and by reformulating the parameters that define the frame as a technical element into the properties of vision. Analytical methods were employed in examining historically described camera techniques, while synthesis was used to construct the defining features of the ‘camera-observer’. Results. To identify and describe the parameters characteristic of slow cinema, we examined film theory and studies on the stylistic approaches of directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean Renoir, Béla Tarr, and others. The concept of the camera as an observer encompasses a set of interrelated techniques: the use of 'dead time' (temps mort), which enables prolonged observation; planimetric and recessive spatial compositions; and the shifting roles assumed by the camera – as passive viewer, real participant, and active director. It also engages with the interplay between close and distant modes of viewing. This concept is closely linked to spiral and circular narrative structures, as well as to the typically detached behaviour of the dramatic character. The observer is imbued with the capacity to reveal the emotional qualities of a situation or location, not through dialogue, but through mood or behaviour – calmness, apathy, continual wandering, and movement from place to place. Conclusions. The features and connections described constitute the concept of the 'intelligent camera', which selects how to present a situation and embodies socio-emotional behaviour. Through the transformation of the camera’s technical parameters into those of an autonomous participant – when the camera assumes an independent role as an observer within the virtual world of cinema – slow cinema emerges as a distinct genre.

This article explores the contextual parameters underlying the development of art history as an academic discipline in Soviet Lviv in the mid-twentieth century. One of the key considerations behind the formulation of this problem - “the transformations of the post-war decade (1946–1956)” - is the chronology of the formation and professional activity of many leading Lviv art historians in the second half of the twentieth century, whose publications helped to shape the distinctive canon of Ukrainian art historiography. The aim of this article is to examine the activities of institutions that continued, revived, or initiated research in the field of art history in post-war Lviv during the 1940s–1950s, viewed through the prism of individual life trajectories and the scholarly achievements of their representatives. Beginning with the figures of Ilarion Svientsitsky, Władysław Podlaha, Mieczysław Gębarowicz, Pavlo Zholtovskyi, Borys Voznytskyi, and Volodymyr Ovsiychuk, and drawing upon documentary sources and historiography, the study seeks to reconstruct the institutional dynamics of change shaped by the ideological imperatives of the post-war Soviet regime. Methods. The research draws upon historical methods grounded in the concepts of ‘situated knowledges’ and positioning, as well as a network approach, which is particularly suited to studying individual scholars within their professional environments and circles of communication. Results. Applying the network approach made it possible to trace the dynamics of transformation within both existing and newly established scholarly and museum institutions in Lviv during the post-war period. The study identified the specific features of their “transformations” as they adapted to the ideological objectives of Stalin’s programme for the colonisation of the western territories of Ukraine annexed after 1939, a process reflected in the organisational mechanisms of their academic activity. The article also examines the contributions of key figures engaged in art-historical research in Lviv. In particular, it contextualises selected stages in the scholarly careers of Pavlo Zholtovskyi, Olena Zbronets, and Borys Voznytskyi. The main focus rests on the tension between individual professional choices and the official demands and directives imposed upon art history by the Soviet authorities. Conclusions outline the nature of ideological transformations in the museum and academic institutions of postwar Lviv under Soviet control and reveal elements of indirect resistance manifested in the activities of several generations of scholars. At the same time, they highlight several aspects that appear especially promising for further research on the historiography of Ukrainian art within an epistemological paradigm.

This article aims to explore Soviet technological utopianism through the lens of amateur photography in the Ukrainian SSR, with particular attention to the social history of technology. The article, too, strives to demonstrate how technical limitations and socio-political conditions shaped Soviet photographic culture, and how amateur practices often transcended official ideological frameworks. Methods. The study employs interdisciplinary approaches of the social history of technology, Actor-Network Theory, and the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT). It relies on archival sources, materials from photo laboratories, vernacular visual archives, and Soviet-era publications. Methods of visual anthropology are also applied to interpret everyday photographic practices. Results. The analysis shows that Soviet authorities sought to use amateur photography as a tool of propaganda and socialist construction. In practice, however, photo laboratories and clubs failed to fulfill political tasks, while mass amateur photography evolved into a private practice of memory preservation, status display, and family identity building. The production of cameras in the USSR, particularly the “Kyiv” models, illustrates the tensions between imported technologies and local social needs. Conclusions. Amateur photography in the USSR did not serve as an instrument of the Soviet utopian project but rather reflected the conservative values of society and the quest for private space. It reveals the complex interplay of technology, politics, and everyday life, offering deeper insights into the dynamics of Soviet visual culture. The study emphasises the significance of private visual archives as a source for reconstructing the social history of Ukraine.

The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the historiography of research on ruins in urban and techno-utopian spaces. The paper identifies analytical clusters, defines their functions, and proposes a new concept of «ruins of imperialism», relevant for understanding the transformations of the material heritage of Western Ukraine in the Soviet context. Methods. The methodology combines historical-cultural, sociological, and visual analysis. The study draws on historiographical approaches to the study of ruins, including Georg Simmel’s ideas of ruins as material carriers of time and nostalgia, as well as contemporary research on urban, industrial, and political transformations. Particular attention is given to the analysis of visual and cultural practices. Results. The historiographical analysis identifies four interconnected clusters of research on ruins. The first cluster – ruins and the techno-utopian decay of infrastructure – considers ruins as negative markers of socio-political and modernisation processes. The second cluster – ruins as instruments of political and ideological mobilisation – examines how ruins are integrated into urban transformations, shaping collective memory and cultural meanings of regimes. The third cluster– visual and cultural representation of ruins in art – treats ruins as active symbols shaping perceptions of historical time, memory, and social processes. The fourth cluster – ruins in the context of memory studies – considers them as material mediators of collective identity and cultural memory. In this study, ruins are analysed not only as physical decay but as symbolic spaces, which intertwine history, social processes, and cultural imagination. Based on this analysis, the concept of «ruins of imperialism» is suggested to designate the material remnants of infrastructure and architecture of former imperial regimes in Western Ukraine, which after World War II were either integrated into Soviet modernisation or remained marginalised. This concept is relevant because it allows these objects to be understood as visible traces of historical rule, while also assessing their role in shaping local memory, nostalgia, and identity in the post-imperial space. Conclusions. Ruins elevate material heritage to the status of an active cultural and social agent, which shapes understandings of history, memory, and identity. Infrastructural and architectural remnants of former empires in Western Ukraine did not disappear following integration into the USSR but were transformed into symbolic and functional spaces. The concept of «ruins of imperialism» allows for an analysis that combines material traces of history with their impact on local memory, nostalgia, and cultural identity. The study demonstrates that the continuity and transformation of imperial projects within the Soviet context created a multi-layered space where past and present interact in symbolic and social dimensions.

This article aims to analyse the processes of social categorisation and the dissemination of stereotypes, focusing on the construction of the 'enemy' image and its key components as promoted by the Soviet authorities in Ukraine through graphic illustrations in medical popular science periodicals during the second half of the 1920s. Methods. The article is based on an analysis of visual and textual materials from the popular medical journal “Shliakh do zdorovia” (“The Path to Health”), published in the Ukrainian SSR since 1925. The research employs approaches from social identity theory and stereotype theory, as well as semantic analysis of both texts and images. Results. The Soviet regime pursued a policy of constructing antagonistic social groups and defining them in ways that allowed the population to identify them quickly. Through graphic illustrations published in newspapers and journals, the Bolsheviks created and disseminated negative portrayals of specific social groups. Medical periodicals had their own distinctive features: the image of the 'enemy' was shaped within the context of addressing public health issues. As part of broad campaigns against tuberculosis, alcoholism, and religion, the Bolsheviks portrayed the bourgeoisie, merchants, landowners, clergy, and officers of the Tsarist army in an unfavourable light. These groups were accused of having played an 'anti-people' role in the past, were blamed for current social problems, and their actions were contrasted with the alleged improvements brought about under Soviet rule. Other groups deemed 'undesirable' by the regime – such as folk healers, private physicians, and entrepreneurs more broadly were also subject to criticism. Furthermore, in the latter half of the 1920s, the regime continued to circulate traditional 'enemy' images from the revolutionary period, including those of the Makhnovists and White Guards. Conclusions. The Soviet system of propaganda and agitation relied on a variety of methods for disseminating information, including specialized periodicals such as medical journals. Graphic imagery played a key role in embedding desired messages in the public consciousness. In the 1920s, the Bolsheviks developed a complex image of the 'enemy', encompassing various population groups united by shared characteristics – such as affiliation with the 'former ruling classes', a lack of subordination to the new regime, or opposition to the Bolsheviks during the revolutionary period. This constructed antagonism toward internal 'enemies' played a crucial role in shaping the mentality and identity of Soviet Ukrainian society, particularly among workers and peasants, who were intended to form the social base of the Bolshevik state.

The article is dedicated to the identification and analysis of hunting scenes in Western European prints of the Early Modern period. It aims to examine how hunting themes were depicted in the graphic arts of the time, their types and forms, narrative content, and the reception of the ancient goddess Diana within the artistic context of hunting history. The study also includes a reconstruction of the history of the previously unpublished engraving Sacrifice to Diana from the collection of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine. Methods. In this research, alongside general scientific methods, iconography and the methods of social art history were employed to interpret visual sources. Results. In the 16th to 18th centuries, printmaking was a relatively young art form that had only recently emerged from the realm of craft and was rapidly developing due to the growing volume of printed materials. The author analyses hunting-themed engravings, their genre characteristics, and how they reflect changes in hunting practices, all within the context of Early Modern print culture. The image of Diana, the goddess of the hunt, inspired many artists to use her figure to convey values and ideals relevant to their time. The engraving Xenophon’s Sacrifice to Diana by Pietro Aquila, based on a painting by Pietro da Cortona (Berrettini), is examined and introduced into scholarly discourse. This work serves as an example of how an artistic subject could become a model for imitation and reinterpretation through the lens of the copyist. While the original artwork was commissioned out of the patron’s admiration for the figure of Diana, the engraving draws parallels between contemporary events and episodes from ancient Greek history. Conclusions. The article attempts to analyse the depiction of hunting in Early Modern printmaking, a task complicated by the relative scarcity of studies on specific graphic genres as an independent art form. The findings may be useful for thematic art history courses, particularly those focused on the reception of antiquity in the Early Modern period.