Contemporary Audiovisual Culture Research Articles

Discourse of Expression of Image Representations in Contemporary Audiovisual Culture

The presented study deals with the issue of the discourse of pictorial portrayals in present-day audiovisual culture. The authors aim to find the basic parameters of the current discourse and discursive practices within audiovisual creation, especially film and television. They define basic concepts and categories and submit them to analysis. From this aspect, they examine aesthetic categories, especially aesthetic values ​​and functions in relation to the interpretation of image representations. They formulate the premise that the expressions of visual presentations are reflections of the digital technical-technological platform of audiovisual making, the ethos of postmodernity and postmodernism, and the ideal of consumption of experiences as one of the most important values ​​of present-day Western civilization. In a logical sequence, they deal with the matter of the ethos and value-related frameworks of postmodernism as relevant factors that condition the discursive practices of audiovisual creators. On the other hand, they name the mindsets of individuals, recipients of audiovisual statements, testifying to their specific desires for emotional encounters. They reach the conclusion that the discourse of the expression of visual representations in contemporary audiovisual culture has clearly defined parameters of creative approaches and reception expectations.

(Eco)Traumatic Landscapes in Contemporary Audiovisual Culture

(Eco)Traumatic Landscapes in Contemporary Audiovisual Culture

Discourse of Expression of Image Representations in Contemporary Audiovisual Culture

Discourse of Expression of Image Representations in Contemporary Audiovisual Culture

Ku percepcji polisensorycznej w badaniach literackich. O książce Aleksandry Kremer The Sound of Modern Polish Poetry. Performance and Recording after World War II

Towards Polysensory Perception in Literary Studies. On Aleksandra Kremer’s Book The Sound of Modern Polish Poetry. Performance and Recording after World War II The article reviews of Aleksandra Kremer’s book The Sound of Modern Polish Poetry. Performance and Recording after World War II (2021), which is the first to describe and scrutinise the phenomenon related to the formation of the modern culture of poetry audio realisations in Poland during the second half of the twentieth century. This phenomenon relates to the growing interest of poets in authorial audio realisations of their poetry that crosses the boundaries of the text by harnessing new technologies to distribute, manipulate and reproduce sound. This review aims to situate the book in a context of studies on the relationship between literature and sound in the age of secondary orality and to present its potential influence on the discussion regarding the function of the latest literature in the contemporary audio-visual culture.

Estetica dell’infezione: dal cyborg al teriomorfo

As long as cultural history has been passed on, art and science have always been connected. However in the past decades, while it has become more and more evident that traditional anthropocentric and humanistic values have led to a huge and unprecedented environmental crisis, the dialogue between scientific research and artistic production has been increasingly focusing on a new vision of humanity as an open, undetermined and transitory entity. This essay examines how recent technoscientific advancements and relating artistic imagery have boosted the evolution of a posthumanistic idea of identity, moving away from the concept of human cultural self-sufficiency and gaining consciousness of our dependance on interaction and blending with alterity. A series of selected examples evidence the wide range of mutation spreading in contemporary audiovisual culture, oscillating between the two archetypical concepts of the Cyborg and the Theriomorph. The viral diffusion of hybrid contents, as the emerging idea of organisms and technology invading each other, suggests that we are approaching a paradigm of infection, not in the sense of a dangerous invasion of human health, integrity and purity, but in terms of a deeply necessary hybridisation with otherness.

Aesthetics of Infection: From Cyborg to Theriomorph

As long as cultural history has been passed on, art and science have always been connected. However in the past decades, while it has become more and more evident that traditional anthropocentric and humanistic values have led to a huge and unprecedented environmental crisis, the dialogue between scientific research and artistic production has been increasingly focusing on a new vision of humanity as an open, undetermined and transitory entity. This essay examines how recent technoscientific advancements and relating artistic imagery have boosted the evolution of a posthumanistic idea of identity, moving away from the concept of human cultural self-sufficiency and gaining consciousness of our dependance on interaction and blending with alterity. A series of selected examples evidence the wide range of mutation spreading in contemporary audiovisual culture, oscillating between the two archetypical concepts of the Cyborg and the Theriomorph. The viral diffusion of hybrid contents, as the emerging idea of organisms and technology invading each other, suggests that we are approaching a paradigm of infection, not in the sense of a dangerous invasion of human health, integrity and purity, but in terms of a deeply necessary hybridisation with otherness.

„Sex Education”, czyli serial jako źródło wiedzy o świecie młodzieży

Can a TV series be treated as a space for pedagogical discourses? The answer seems obvious. For modern culture pedagogy, it is a reservoir of knowledge about society. TV series is a characteristic phenomenon in contemporary audiovisual culture. It describes our world in a very honest way. At the same time, it talks about problems affecting various social groups, which are often considered to be “not serious” in informal debates. The television series, as an element of popular art, is an interesting and valuable “social document”. The goal of modern education is to develop a reflective critical view of audiovisual products that surround us. A critical look at fictitious images of reality helps us better understand our world that is the most real. The article is a voice in the discussion on the Sex Education series, as an example of the image of today’s youth, their dilemmas and anxieties woven into school reality, as well as their relations with peer groups and parents.

The Use of Sound in Contemporary Television and Multimedia: Selected Features

The use of sound in contemporary audiovisual culture is explored, as the issue is topical for Ukraine, especially after the introduction of digital television broadcasting. Emergence of high definition television and the general development of multimedia technologies quickly became popular and outshadowed the traditional television. Therefore, the research is aimed to study creative experiments in the audio field that are faced by professionals in the industry while working on the audiovisual projects. The main objective of the study was to reveal and unfold the specific features of the use of sound in contemporary television and multimedia platforms. The specifics and contemporary state of digital television, its features and characteristics were considered as a basis for the application of sound in audiovisual works; a brief historical review of the establishment of digital television in Ukraine and in the world was made. The possibilities of using sound in modern television are analyzed in detail, their parameters presented in the official documentation of the digital television standard and the spectrum of variants of the use of sound on television and in multimedia are studied, based on examples from the world practice of broadcasting audiovisual projects and work on them. The theoretical basis for the creation of sound canvas in contemporary television and multimedia projects is demonstrated; the importance of development of methods for the use of sound on television, which enhances the overall expressiveness of the work, is outlined. The most vivid examples of the functioning of audio on foreign digital television that can be adapted for Ukrainian realities and used as a visual guide for the implementation of new opportunities for sound engineers while working with audiovisual projects, are presented; the main ways of interaction of the viewer with sound in contemporary audiovisual culture are discovered.

The definition of concept “video hosting on the Internet” in the contemporary audiovisual culture

Relevance of research topic. Video hosting is effective cultural platform and a channel for promoting values, views and ideas and one of the most influential new media now. Further study of its features can predict a person’s cultural views in the future.The aim of the article is to create a modern definition of “video hosting on the Internet”, which will include the cultural significance, achievements and the artistic and aesthetic component of this platform in audiovisual culture.Research methodology uses cultural and art-based approaches to the subject of analysis. The article also uses methods of systematic, comparative and art-study analysis. The author highlights the main features of Internet video hosting in audiovisual culture.The results of terminological exploration of the definition of “video hosting on the Internet” prove that there are several concepts of this term. The author’s concept allows adding to the existing information, sociological and cultural concepts as well as the art-study aspect, which essentially complements the characteristic features of this latest platform / genre form. The article summarizes the previous concepts of definition of video hosting and analyzes the differences and similarities of the above definitions. The author forms her own definition applicable to the field of audiovisual art. The study is based on the analysis of the existing structures and characteristics of video hosting narratives.Novelty. The author proposes a new concept for the definition of “video hosting on the Internet” in the contemporary audiovisual culture.The practical significance. The prospects for further research are related to the study of the art of video hosting on the Internet. The author believes that further research and confirmation of the hypotheses presented can be considered as an overview of the analysis of the general definition of Internet video hosting service and a significant step towards critical thinking of the appearance of new media.

„Nie myślę, lecz jestem”: mózg, umysł i serce filmowej postaci zombie w kontekście paradygmatu posthumanistycznego

The article presents the character of the zombie popular in the contemporary audio-visual culture by placing it in the context of post humanist paradigm. He concentrates on the brain symbolism representative for the character, which, in the classical understanding of the living dead, due to dissimilar functioning, makes it different from humans and their brain-like traits: the mind and heart. Analysing the recent films such as Warm Bodies and The Girl with All the Gifts, he demonstrates the present inadequacy of such a division. Unlike the classical Night of the Living Dead, they are in line with post anthropocentric and new materialism philosophy, by differently symbolically depicting the role and place of the human in the world. It is presently tantamount to the place of non-humans: animals, objects, artefacts and monsters including the living dead. The change of the cultural and film paradigm observed in zombie horrors indicates a deeper strategy of authors of those popular films.

A hora dos amadores

Este artigo descreve e examina algumas influências exercidas nas fases de produção, circulação e recepção da indústria do audiovisual, de tecnologias e práticas de trabalho considerados amadores. Estes novos procedimentos têm desafiado o modo como indivíduos, tecnologias e interfaces não profissionais estão provocando uma mudança do paradigma de clareza e legibilidade que tem constituído a estética hegemônica da indústria do audiovisual. O artigo procura demonstrar alguns aspectos estilísticos do que chamamos de estética da imperfeição, que parece ser uma forte tendência na cultura audiovisual contemporânea.

Solidarity, dystopia, and fictional worlds in contemporary narrative TV series

One of the most spectacular cultural macro-events of the last five years, the rise of high-brow narrative TV series has proven to be indicative of several tendencies in contemporary audio-visual culture, both in Europe and in the US. The presentation of dystopian fictional worlds in Mr Robot, Westworld, Utopia, Legion, and several other series is perhaps the most significant manifestation of both the maturity of the TV series form, and the unfaltering interest of audio-visual culture in the utopian/dystopian subject matter. This paper illustrates the connection of the TV series to both solidarity and dystopia, and explains how contemporary TV series has decidedly manifested its artistic ambitions.

THE ANIMATED PAINTING IN NEW MEDIA ART: TECHNOLOGICAL AND COMMUNICATIVE FEATURES

Purpose of article. The purpose of the research is to investigate the animated painting as the kind of New Media Art. Methodology. The methodology of the research is based on using communicativistics and the concept theory as the basic methodological approaches in the analysis of the contemporary audiovisual art. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the work consists in considering animated painting as an outstanding artistic kind that significantly influences the development of the contemporary audiovisual culture. Conclusions. The collocation «animated painting» most fully corresponds to the newest kind of the New Media Art that represents painting in dynamics, which, however, is not an animation in its classical sense. The main technological features of the animated painting are reproducibility, transgressivity, diffusion in exhibiting. The most important communicative features of animated painting are the use of well-known cultural codes, as well as their parody; the use of non-narrative tools of influence on the audience. Thus, there could be observed the hybrid type of the technological embodiment and communicative specificity of the animated painting that substantially transforms the contemporary audiovisual art. The further investigation of the animated painting could shed more light on the problem of changing classic artistic tradition that takes place in the contemporary audiovisual art.

Main Objectives of Film Education in Poland: Institutional Context and Developmental Tendencies

This paper is focused on problems concerning film education in Poland. It concentrates on the changes in and different ways of defining the goals of film education, the aims or recipients of this type of education. By presenting several definitions provided by Polish experts, it shows the direction of the changes; for example the inclusion of film knowledge into a wider context of essential competencies of each participant of contemporary audiovisual culture. The paper shows that in the 80’s and the 90’s of the 20th century academics identified the relationship and mutual interdependence between literature and the cinema as the most important part. Now, however, they mostly focus on the role of film in preserving national and European heritage. Moreover, contemporary concepts of film education mainly deal with workshops rather than with theoretical studies. What are the effects of the changes and new tendencies? Film education is present in the curriculums of primary and secondary schools (but constituting only limited elements and playing a marginal role). In Poland there are ministerial programmes, institutional projects, public offerings and also competitive commercial offers. Although we can see positive tendencies in this area, the system of film education in Poland stillneeds a coherent policy and institutional care.

Hearing Films: A Contribution to the Discussion on Film Sound and Music Education

The paper presents a comprehensive overview of the issues of the broadly defined audial education (how to listen), with special regard to its meaning in the need of film education. Beginning with comments on the specificity of contemporary audiovisual culture and on the role of education in the matters of listening (including music education) in general as well as professional education, the author analyses the consequences of this state concerning incomplete film perception and interpretation resulting from underestimating the role of its audial layer. In the second part of the article the author points to and describes certain important initiatives aimed at the improvement of the previously shown negative situation.

Intermediality in Miranda Hart’s Performance

The article refers to the problems of intermediality in the context of contemporary audiovisual culture and performance of Miranda Hart – one of the most popular comedy artists in the United Kingdom. The aim of this paper is to examine her work in this context. It will start with the introduction of the term “intermediality” and will then present Miranda Hart, her depiction in contemporary culture. The main part of the article deals with the (pop)cultural works of art, focusing on the image of the artist emerging from this output, and final part provides a brief overview of her current audience and relations between them.

Nowy dokument historyczny

Methodology of New Film History The article’s author, based on various examples taken from the European documentary tradition, seeks to determine how the particular position of a new generation of found footage films is allocated and viewed in Polish cinemas and in relation to Polish contemporary audiovisual culture. Marek Hendrykowski redefines film editing (found footage film, compilation) as a historical narrative with its own, attractive poetics and successful way of negotiating its prestige and popularity in the public sphere.

Opening Pandora's Box: pleasure, consent and consequence in the production and circulation of celebrity sex videos

The celebrity sex video is now a well-established part of contemporary audiovisual culture, although it attracts little attention as a phenomenon in itself. Any attention is primarily generated by the profile of the individuals involved, in terms of their relative degrees of celebrity and previously established public persona. Despite the increasing ubiquity of the phenomenon, issues concerning the production and dissemination of these videos are more complex than may first appear. Indeed, celebrity sex video production and distribution constitutes a contemporary media practice with distinct ethical and legal implications. This article provides an analysis of celebrity sex video production as a subset of personal sexual representation and attempts to characterize some of the ethical issues involved. A range of examples is used to illustrate the intertextual and broader contextual issues arising from the material's production and circulation.