Artistic Process Research Articles

From Perugino to Picasso revisited: Electrophysiological responses to faces in paintings from different art styles

Behavioral research (Ventura, et al., 2023) suggested that pictorial representations of faces varying along a realism-distortion spectrum elicit holistic processing as natural faces. Whether holistic face neural responses are engaged similarly remains, however, underexplored. In the present study, we evaluated the neural correlates of naturalist and artistic face processing, by exploring electrophysiological responses to faces in photographs versus in four major painting styles. The N170 response to faces in photographs was indistinguishable from that elicited by faces in the renaissance art style (depicting the most realistic faces), whilst both categories elicited larger N170 than faces in other art styles (post-impressionism, expressionism, and cubism), with a gradation in brain activity. The present evidence suggest that visual processing may become finer grained the more the realistic nature of the face. Despite behavioral equivalence, the neural mechanisms for holistic processing of natural faces and faces in diverse art styles are not equivalent.

Высокорельефная чеканка в казанско-татарской ювелирной традиции: историко-технический анализ

The article is devoted to identifying the origins and regional features of the technology of high-relief coinage in the Kazan-Tatar jewelry tradition. The main source was the electronic database of Tatar jewelry from museum collections, collected within the framework of the academic project “Jewelry of the Turkic peoples of Eurasia: general and special” (Russian Foundation for Basic Research 2013–2014, No. 13-06-97056). The research was based on a systematic technical and stylistic analysis of traditional jewelry and a detailed synchronous-diachronic examination of Bulgar-Golden Horde and Tatar products with three-dimensional images. Reconstruction of technological techniques related to this type of artistic metal processing made it possible to identify specific features of the formation of decor. The manual method of obtaining a unique relief using punches with a figured striker predominated. The decorations are characterized by the following: two or three-level bas-relief, the absence of a “locking” profile, the principle of “compositing” that underlies the conventionally interpreted floral and plant motifs, geometric orderliness, subject to the laws of the central-radial composition. The completed form of the decoration corresponds to the typical features of “notch chasing”, which is a marker of the Tatar craft tradition: smooth relief and “grain” background. An integrated approach allowed us to conclude that the origins of the existing artistic and figurative system can be traced in artifacts of the Bulgarian and Golden Horde silver of the 11th–14th centuries, made by embossing, stamping, and punching on a matrix. The formation of technological features was influenced by the traditions of high-relief coinage, which received regional development among Kazan silversmiths in the 17th–18th centuries. The specifics of Tatar relief coinage as a whole were formed in the context of Islamic art.

Музыкальное искусство России начала ХХ века: Альтернатива

The essay is devoted to characterizing a trend opposed to the onslaught of contradictions, disharmony and various destructive influences brought along by the new century in the Russian musical art of the early 20th century. This trend was embodied in the composers’ turn to the humanistic traditions of the past, as well as in the constructive and positive aspirations of modernity. The desire to defend the principles of humanism was mainly associated with the spiritual values of the Classical era. In particular, the author provides insight into the formation of neoclassicism in Russian musical art starting with the late works by P. Tchaikovsky (the orchestral suite “Mozartiana” (1887)). Special attention is paid to the works by S. Taneyev (the cantata “At the Reading of a Psalm” (1912-1915)), N. Myaskovsky (String Quartet No. 4 (1909-1910)), S. Prokofiev (Symphony No. 1 (1917)), Z. Paliashvili (the operas “Abesalom da Eteri” (1910-1919) and “Daisi” (1919-1923)). As a result, it is concluded that the sphere of humanism and harmony, despite being hardly a central trend in the context of the musical and artistic process of the 1910s, was, however, undoubtedly significant, clearly reflecting the reaction to the deforming trends of modernity. The fundamental shift in worldview that occurred in the 1910s – the first half of the 1920s was expressed in the weakening of the considered trend, the growth of contradictions.

Site-integrity: An embedded and embodied approach to practice-based research

Practice-based research in the arts typically uses artistic processes and creative artefacts as part of its methods and approach. The focus is often on exploring and understanding the creative process itself rather than simply producing a final product or outcome. Such approaches have evolved from the understanding that life and experiences of the world are multifaceted, and that art offers ways of knowing the world through a more experiential approach compared to the intellectual and verbal ways that have traditionally dominated western discourses of knowledge. When it comes to practice-based research in the arts, audiences can engage with representations in a sensory, emotional, psychological and intellectual manner, expanding and deepening their understanding and knowledge. This article examines the key features of practice-based research through an analysis of ‘site-integrity’. By making artworks with and for a site-specific community, site-integrity directly responds to the social, religious, political and architectural discourses present. By implicitly performing involvements in, as opposed to observations on site, the research activity becomes an embedded engagement in the world of which it is part. The aim of site-integrity is to ensure that the research process is beneficial to both the researcher and the site community and that the research outcomes are useful, relevant and applicable in the real world. The focus of this article is to critically examine the role of artistic fieldwork in research, as well as to explore the ethical implications and effectiveness of such methods of engagement. By questioning the role and impact of such methods, the article may contribute to ongoing debates around the use of artistic and creative approaches in research and the broader implications of such approaches for knowledge production and dissemination.

The Pedagogy of Waiting: A Reorientation to Time with Artists with Disabilities and Creative Growth Art Center

This paper is rooted in my investigation of the artistic processes and practices of artists with disabilities through field observations at Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California. Through this investigation, I develop the concept of a pedagogy of waiting, which allows for a consideration of embodied differences. This pedagogy of waiting is conceptualized by and with 1) the everyday artistic processes and practices of artists at Creative Growth; 2) my positionality of being a Chinese art educator and researcher in an art studio, Creative Growth, in the United States; and 3) my conceptual and theoretical exploration with philosophers and disability studies scholars. Among the artists who informed the pedagogy of waiting is Latefa Noorzai, a native Farsi speaker and immigrant to the United States. The temporalities demonstrated through Latefa’s art practice and the pedagogical practice at Creative Growth challenge the normative temporalities in art learning and art making. The pedagogy of waiting is both informed by people with disabilities and as an alternative to able-bodied and able-minded pedagogies.

Emotional Transportation and Identification in Screenwriting: A Pilot Study

Abstract Within the academic domain focused on the artistic practice of screenwriting, this exploratory study assesses the presence of emotional transportation and character identification processes within the solitary screenwriter’s creative imagination during the writing process. Screen-writing research is facing a dichotomy of the screenwriter who embodies both the role of a narrative specialist and that of a visual storytelling poet. Screenwriters often work in isolation, even in collaborative projects, leading to a tension between solitary work and collaborative roles. Narrative theories in screenwriting have mainly centered on identification of the audience, neglecting the screenwriter’s perspective. However, screenwriting can serve as a platform for experimentation and a reflection of new ideas, insights, and hands-on experience, meeting the demand for a systematic understanding of the writer’s processes. The results of this study provide preliminary insights into the mechanisms of emotional transportation, identification, and eureka moments in screenwriting practice. The study suggests that the transportation effect in writers is induced by a feeling of security, which arises from the limitations of the assignment. The data also suggests that pressure can lead to more original dramaturgical solutions. As such, this experimental pilot study already sheds light on the screenwriter’s artistic process. Yet, it has limitations, including a small number of informants and the novelty of the research method.

Cultural Significance of the Baoning Temple Murals in Shanxi, China: Perspectives from Artists and Art Historians Influenced by Cultural Heritage

Culture and tradition have a crucial role in molding societies, safeguarding shared experiences, and fostering a sense of identity. They are the threads that connect us to our past, spanning the gap between our roots, values, and traditions. The objective of this research is to examine the paintings at Baoning Temple from the perspective of culturally astute artists and art historians. The purpose of the research was to better comprehend the murals' cultural significance by uncovering its historical background, artistic processes, symbolic representations, and engrained interpretations. A qualitative research approach was employed to conduct semi-structured interviews with 10 selected artists and art historians. A thematic analysis was conducted on the murals of the Baoning Temple in order to identify recurrent themes and patterns. The inquiry revealed several crucial aspects, such as the historical context of the murals, the artistic techniques employed, the symbolism and depiction depicted, and the diverse cultural interpretations of significance. It was determined that the murals captured the cultural legacy of Shanxi by fusing indigenous and foreign motifs. This work makes a valuable contribution to the field of art and cultural heritage studies by providing a comprehensive analysis of the paintings at the Baoning Temple. The results demonstrate the correlation between cultural heritage and creative interpretation, enhancing our understanding of their historical and cultural significance. This study emphasizes how important it is to value and protect these murals as precious cultural treasures.

The re-construction of urban space in the place between art and architecture: Selected paradigms of in situ art of the period 1950–2000


 This study investigates in situ art of recent art history and its potential regarding the reconstruction of public space and its meanings. Paradigms of art and architecture conjugation in site specific interventions are examined with a view to answer questions such as the transformative role art can play when it constitutes a plastic phenomenon functioning in a complementary or reactive way as a part of the urban and social space. In situ’s art sculptural objects, due to their transitional form, serve as metaphors for space and time and their condition of constant change in the everyday life of the city. They constitute a physical input in the urban space that seeks to redefine its material boundaries and highlight the interaction between the individual and the city seen as an incomplete entity in a constant re-casting. Through the practice of repetition and movement, sculptural objects are put in dialogue with the objects we come into contact daily, taking part into a new aesthetic reality. It is about a process of re-configurating of the everyday aesthetics of the city, challenging the relationship between art and architecture and thus offering new modes of spatialisation. By examining specific paradigms from the in situ art of the second half of the twentieth century (e.g. Aldo Van Eyck, Daniel Buren, Rachel Whiteread), this paper, seeks to unveil the process of activating the coexistence of the visible and the invisible, the inside and the outside, the private and the collective that this specific artistic process offers in material terms. The main question that this paper seeks to answer is how in situ art- e specially when oscillating between art and architecture- affect the everyday flow of the undifferentiated space and time? How does it shape the coexistence and interaction between city’s objects and subjects? Which alternative – discursive – reality does it offer?

CONTEMPORARY ART AND ART MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES IN THE CONTEXT OF LOCAL SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN UKRAINE: THE CASE OF THE TEPLE MISTO PLATFORM

Most of the art projects related to modern art take place in the capital. Other Ukrainian cities mostly have few powerful centers for the promotion of modern art and few active representatives of art management. However, such initiatives outside the capital can have a significant impact on social transformations. The purpose of this article is to analyze the activity of art management of the public platform of Ivano-Frankivsk Teple Misto in the field of contemporary art. In the last nine years, this platform has implemented numerous projects that are aimed at social transformations in the urban community. One of the areas of its activity is the engagement of the city’s public with modern art through exhibitions, murals, performances, educational projects, etc. These projects were implemented through a number of grants from Teple Misto. Art managers of the platform work on the Warm Art program. After 2018, this program was transformed into other projects. Contemporary visual art has been chosen as the focus of artistic initiatives for the purpose of promoting artistic processes in the city. Since 2015, the projects Residence for Artists, Open Art Lecture Hall, grants for exhibitions, etc. have served this goal. In addition, the project promotes famous art figures of the 20th century from Ivano-Frankivsk and the region through the support of exhibitions of the art by Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit, Osyp Sorokhtei, Stepan Nazarenko and others

Graphic public health: an interview with Meredith Li-Vollmer

ABSTRACT Public health is a multidisciplinary field that encompasses a wide range of activities and initiatives aimed at preventing diseases, addressing health disparities, promoting healthy behaviours, studying patterns, and improving the overall health of communities. Within this landscape, comics emerge as a dynamic tool for raising awareness, promoting healthy behaviour, enhancing understanding of public health messages, and effectively reaching diverse audiences, including those with low health literacy and language barriers. Notably, Meredith Li-Vollmer’s Graphic Public Health: A Comics Anthology and Roadmap assumes a prominent role in this framework. Published by Graphic Mundi (an imprint of the Penn State University Press) in 2022, this anthology attests to the power of the comic medium to facilitate health communication while delving into a wide-ranging public health-related theme. This email interview with Li-Vollmer follows a tripartite structure. In the inaugural segment, titled ‘The Artist,’ Li-Vollmer offers a comprehensive exposition of her artistic processes. In the subsequent segment titled ‘Comics and Public Health,’ Li-Vollmer articulates the capacity of the comic medium to serve as a transformative agent in public health. Finally, in the concluding part, ‘Graphic Public Health,’ she deliberates on the core principles that shape her 2022 work on graphic public health.

Impact of Teaching Palliative Psychology with Psychodrama and Arts Therapies on Psychology Students in Klagenfurt.

The Erasmus+ project "Death Education for Palliative Psychology" (DE4PP) under the coordination of the University of Padua investigated the effects of teaching palliative psychology with psychodrama and arts therapies, as positive effects on students' attitudes towards life and death were suspected through the use of these forms of treatment. Five countries participated in this project funded by the European Commission (Austria, Israel, Italy, Poland, and Romania). In Klagenfurt (Austria), 34 students from the University of Klagenfurt completed the pilot course entitled "Palliative Psychology" generated by the project partners. Course participants filled out psychological and satisfaction questionnaires at the beginning and end of the course, to measure the impact of teaching palliative psychology with psychodrama and arts therapies. The research involved a control group. In addition, six participants in the course participated in a focus group interview at the end, which included questions about their experience of the course; the impact of arts therapies and psychodrama techniques; experiences of verbal and artistic processing of death anxiety; and the meaning of life and death, representation of death, and associated feelings. The results, in summary, showed that processing of life and death had occurred in the participants due to the course they had completed. As part of the course, creative arts and psychodrama were bridges to death. Filling out satisfaction questionnaires, photovoice assignments, role reversal, and visualizing a personal social atom were seen by students in Klagenfurt as particularly effective methods for self-reflection.

Shedding light on the Light District : artistic processes in and around the Teatro de Contêiner

This articlepresents interviews with artists from Cia Mungunzá de Teatro and their partnersabout the artistic work carried out in Bairro da Luz in the centre of the cityof São Paulo /Brazil. In 2016, Cia Mungunzá was responsible for creating the Teatro de Conteiner (Theatre of Container), a cultural space established in one of themost impoverished areas of Brazil, where the level of poverty leads many to use crack cocaine and alcohol.The Teatro de Conteiner was installed as a result of an occupation of publicland by Cia Mungunzá de Teatro unknown to andunsupported by the state. Since then, the cultural space has been home tosocial and artistic activities. The possibilities for action by artists in theregion were placed alongside my (Vinicius Torres Machado’s)own experience in order to highlight the difficulties of thework and the achievements of the interviewees. Respondents Lucas and Verônicaare co-founders of the CiaMugunzá and areco-responsible for the occupation of the area. Dona Carmen is a former socialworker who leads a project in the neighbourhood that has moved into the Theatreof Container, teaching impoverished women how to sew. Finally Dentinho is asocial worker and artist in the area. The article seeks to bring the voice ofthese artists to reflect on thepresence of artistic works in places of extreme poverty.

X-ray-based examination of artworks by Cy Twombly: art technology and condition of the ‘Original Sculptures’

What are Cy Twombly’s sculptures made of? This article presents an overview of a non-destructive examination conducted on three sculptures by American artist Cy Twombly (1928–2011) as part of an art-technological research project at the Doerner Institut in Munich. The artworks are part of the collection of the Brandhorst Museum and belong to Twombly’s series of so-called ‘Original Sculptures’: assemblages of individual found objects, which the artist covered and modified with layers of plaster and white paint. To develop a long-term preservation strategy, the research focused on understanding the materials and construction methods used in Twombly's sculptures. In collaboration with the Chair of Non-Destructive Testing at the Technical University of Munich, the artworks were inspected using X-ray radiography and computed tomography. The results showed that Cy Twombly used various everyday objects made from wood, plastics, metal, and paper/cardboard to build the assemblages. Unexpectedly, the examinations revealed that the individual parts are solely held together by the coating of plaster and paint, lacking additional mechanical connections. The overall structure thus proved to be very fragile and highly sensitive to physical stresses, whether due to handling, transport, or strains in the microstructure caused by climatic fluctuations. Since little was known about Cy Twombly´s choice of materials and manufacturing details, the results offer valuable insights into the overall artistic process and decision-making of one of the most influential artists of the 20th/twenty-first centuries. Conservators can use the art-technological findings to monitor the sculptures ‘condition and develop or adapt long-term preservation strategies, including aspects such as ambient climatic conditions and handling storage and transport specifications. In addition, the knowledge generated can be used for further research on the specific materials and transferred to other artworks by Cy Twombly.

Музыкальное искусство России начала ХХ века: Девальвация

This essay is dedicated to the complexity of the position of the classical concept of humanism and harmony at the beginning of the 20th century, marked by its obvious displacement from the forefront of artistic processes and its opposition to tendencies associated with various "non-classical" manifestations. The unfolding events not only vividly symbolized the passing civilization but also foreshadowed the entry into a zone of colossal conflict and tragic sense of the world. The author identifies typical antitheses presented in the musical art of the early 20th century at the level of individual compositions, the level of the work of specific composers, and at the level of musical art as a whole. As a result, the preconditions for the emergence of dissonance are determined, including the antithesis of "objective – subjective," sometimes pushed to the brink of "objectivism – subjectivism."

Ecosystemic Practice-Research (for the Benefit of Others)

This writing is about the relationships between artistic processes, artistic works, and how we might frame these as practice research. It has two aims: 1) to describe when artistic processes are framed as practice research through written forms, and the implications of this timing; and ii) to propose that our responsibility as practice researchers is to draw our work deeply into dialogue with other artistic work that exists in tangible ecosystems of artistic practice. The alternative is the status quo in which we rely on arguments made by the authority of totemic theoreticians who exist beyond our communities of practice. These ideas are not specific to dance practice research, but rather are about practice research more broadly. As part of the writing I use as an example an artwork of mine that emerged through body-based practices – Children of the Soil – to explore the messiness of how we might reliably produce practice research while respecting the unfinished thinking of the artwork itself. 1

The Cure: working with separation and loss through song parody (lyric substitution)

"Abstract This paper describes a Gestalt experiment in song parody (lyric substitution). It demonstrates through a first-person narrative the healing impact of working with song parody on a process of separation and loss. Song parody is viewed through a particular Gestalt lens including a creative, experimental and dialogic process of inquiry. By weaving in the personal, the method and the therapeutic outcome in an evocative, and often haunting way, the paper lifts the theory of middle mode from its linguistic ground into the realms of experiencing; thus, furthering our understanding of it. Lastly, the paper illuminates the creative importance and significance of working with culture, making the case that culture, as a creative and artistic process, is a sine qua non in the therapeutic process and encounter, for it argues that the artistic creation of self is above all cultural. Keywords Gestalt experiment, middle mode, existentialism, song parody, creative writing, popular music, culture, adoption, Korea, The Cure."

Linguistic Re-reading of the Literary Text. An Alternative Understanding of Local Bilingualism in the Context of Globalization

Abstract In this paper, I present a possible interdisciplinary, predominantly linguistic reading of the literary text, taking as a starting point the work of Andrei Dósa entitled Multă forţă şi un dram de gingăşie [Lots of Power and a Touch of Gentleness], published in 2021 by Polirom Publishing House. This way of re-reading allows us to go beyond the basic narrative structure of the text and focus on the underlying meanings constituted by the language used in the shaping of local colour. In the contextualization of the narrative thread, in the case of this novel, translanguaging strategies appear, which are analysed in relation to the evolution of the main character and the constitution of his own identity in relation to the Other. The specificity of the artistic processing of the spoken language, the way in which the complementary activation of languages becomes a tool for characterization, and the creation of local colour can provide stable reading references even for texts written in other languages. In this case, the activation of lexemes, phraseological units, culturemes, quotations from Hungarian (predominantly) and English in the literary text written in Romanian support the presentation of the steps of the individual’s self-definition in finding the local specificity under the imprint of globalization. The present study explores the significance of the secondary semantics of bilingual situations in the architecture of literary texts in general and, at the same time, provides a possible way of re-reading the text by following the processes of individualization of the literary transfiguration of bi- or multilingual existence in the case of a contemporary novel.

Women botanical-illustrators and their successors in the Israeli culture: merging historical heritage with contemporary art

ABSTRACT Exploring the flora and fauna of the land of pre-state Israel stood at the heart of the Zionist venture. Zionist institutions took efforts to educate the Jewish population, trying to connect it to the land by learning it. This involved various ways of familiarising children and adults with their surroundings, with botanical illustration as an important agent working for that cause. This article aims to examine the three botanical women illustrators who contributed significantly to Israeli science and art, followed by three contemporary women artists whose art is inspired by them. Using a methodology combining visual analysis with the artists' interviews, it will be demonstrated how botanical illustration of the past is embedded in contemporary art. Both share a perception of plants as crucial elements populating the planet, and as objects of aesthetic investigation. These perceptions have led to various attitudes: first, exploring the plant in nature and observing it thoroughly throughout the artistic process. Second, the image created remains botanically identifiable, thus echoing a scientific approach. Third, the plant's Hebrew name is sometimes included. The noticeable inspiration of historical illustrators for contemporary artists lies both in the choices of the images themselves and in the practice of creating them.

The Dialogue of the Russian Realistic Tradition and Avant-Garde Trends in Painting in the “Studio of Konstantin Yuon”

The article examines the period of training of young Russian artists in the Moscow “Studio of Konstantin Yuon” in 1900–1917, who later became bright representatives of avant-garde trends in painting from the point of view of the mutual infl uence of the teacher’s creative manner and the artistic pursuits of novice painters who gravitated to the study of current trends in the European artistic process. The purpose of the study is to determine the nature of the relationship between the artistic principles of the Russian realist school and the creative attitudes of the representatives of future avant-garde trends in painting during their training in the studio of K. Yuon in the early 20th century. The results of the work show that despite the fact that K. Yuon was a representative of the Russian realist tradition, in his work of that period, as well as in the works of the students of his studio, there is not so much opposition between the aesthetic and artistic methods of Russian realism and the emerging avant-garde movements, but rather a dialog and mutual enrichment of plastic methods, which had a signifi cant infl uence on the formation of the creative manner of the artists.

MEANS OF VIDEO ART: KHARKIV PROJECTS «IN THE DARK» AND «LIUTYI»

The article examines the use of moving image and video practices as a means of visual activity in the cultural and artistic exhibition environment. The analysis is based on the influence of the visual in the context of social and contemporary art. This problem is raised in the theory of Ukrainian art criticism about Ukrainian video art in a visual way and represents the testing of art projects. The aim is to analyze and define the segments of visual activity of Kharkiv video art using the examples of the projects In the Dark and Liutyi. The analysis of sources and recent publications has revealed a high degree of research on the emergence of video art and the reasons for the emergence of a new screen form in the global context, but in the context of the contemporary development of Ukrainian video art and the peculiarities of the use of moving image in the practices of Ukrainian artists at the level of local and regional schools, it has not been properly and deeply studied. The artistic direction of video art, which emerged at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, has not received structuring and theorization of the main technical and technological means of reproduction and representation of forms and hybrid forms, including a study of the artistic practices of Kharkiv video art and its place in the general context of the regional peculiarities of Ukrainian video art. The study of these issues and the development of these principles are the most relevant issues for the Ukrainian artistic process. It is important to note that art projects such as In the Dark and Liutyi, which use video art, have a common idea, a common space and environment. They develop the aesthetics of a loft space for immersion in a new reality that creates a moving image and is also part of the contemporary creative industry. Artistic visions change the viewer’s emotions and mental component into a transformed sense of reality, causing a state of immersion, combining different and distant associations in one trope and leading to a synthesis of several sensations, which actualizes the personal, visual and deepens the social sense of the individual.