Early Twenty-first Century Research Articles

Practices of Visual Arts in the Music of the Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Centuries

"The study of transformational processes in contemporary music art under the influence of the fine arts practices is one of the important problems of musical culturology and aesthetics. The study is topical because of the new efforts aimed at understanding and arrangement of the evolution of established aesthetic systems and experiments in music and fine arts in the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century, as well as their influence on modern practices of introduction of meaningful elements of painting, graphics, architecture, and multimedia technologies into music creation processes. The aim of the research was to identify current trends in music visualization through the arrangement and generalization of the experience of artists of the 20th — early 21st centuries, who used expressive arts, synthesizing one art into another in their musical compositions, as well as to identify the background of those synthetic ideas and ways to implement them. The scientific research established that the development of synthetic art has its roots in the disposition towards merging arts and versatility. The fine arts practices applied in music has contributed to the expansion and enrichment of artistic means and techniques and has entailed further complication of sound and visual components in the overall concept of the work. It is concluded that the individual creative and personal traits of the artist, who seeks to fully convey the multidimensional figurativeness of the work determine a significant impact on implementing fine arts practices in music. Prospects for further research of the evolution of fine arts practices and audio-visual media in music involve the development of description techniques in the context of the dominance of the visualization factor over music one in artistic perception, as well as the study of the impact of cultural technologization on contemporary music art. Keywords: music, visualization, fine art, artist, interconnection of the arts, synthesis, intermediality "

Designing for COVID-2x: Reflecting on Future-Proofing Human Habitation for the Inevitable Next Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–2022 has revealed the vulnerability of modern society to a highly contagious airborne virus. Many spaces in the urban and built environment designed during the late twentieth and early twenty-first century are ill-suited to maintain the level of social distancing required to reduce the probability of virus transmission. Enclosed spaces—in particular, communal circulation spaces such as corridors, elevators and lobbies—have proven loci of transmission, together with circulating reticulated air and lack of proper ventilation. While urban planning needs to incorporate the lessons learnt during COVID-19 in order to future-proof our communities through the provision of well-designed greenspaces, the main burden will fall on architects, who will play an instrumental role in designing buildings that are fit-for purpose. This conceptual paper reviews the status quo and discusses a number of strategies to future-proof human habitation for the inevitable next pandemic.

Introduction

Digital technology rapidly permeated all aspects of human existence in the majority of the world during the early twenty-first century, concurrently reshaping social understanding of the present and interpretations of the past. Indeed, the process has reconditioned age-old social communication and expression practices, while opening up inventive spaces for information organisation, data preservation, as well as for the creation and distribution of knowledge, beliefs and cultural values. The commercialisation of the Internet in the 1990s, coupled with the simultaneous emergence of the World Wide Web, have played a particularly significant role in the development and popularisation of public digital cultures (Gere 2008: 207-224). However, relying as such on digital technology for their exposure, sustainability and expansion, digital cultures were not as conspicuous back then as they turned out to be, especially in the 2010s when social media platforms, augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI) and smart communication devices rose to prominence and became integrated across the otherwise discontinuous geographies dominated by technologically-advanced nations. Since then, it has hardly been possible not to be conscious of how digital cultures have re-energised well-established cultural memories and legacies, on the one hand, and perpetuated innovative cultural dispositions, on the other. In doing so, digital technology, and perhaps digital cultures more specifically, have adapted a set of recognised traditional identities to the social pressures and political demands of life in the twenty-first century. At the same time, they have given expression to otherwise marginalised, non-conformist, and even contentious identities.

LGBTQ Community Archives in Small Urban Centers: Reflections on Community and University Partnerships to Build Awareness of the Lehigh Valley’s Rich LGBTQ History from AIDS Activism to Anti-Discrimination Legislation

Too frequently regional LGBTQ history outside of major metropolises is not a major focus either in university curriculum or for financially strapped local non-profit organizations as they provide essential direct services to our communities. Even as the late twentieth and early twenty-first century have ushered in a new focus on local archival projects, regional organizations often struggle to find funding for local historical projects while universities provide LGBTQ studies courses that center activism in NYC, Los Angeles, or San Francsico, marches in Washington, D.C., and the value of subcultural spaces on the coasts. As scholars have argued in the past decade, literary critics and historians need to focus more attention on LGBTQ activism, cultural production, and community formations outside of major urban centers. For university faculty, staff, and archivists, we have the opportunity to address this need by partnering with regional LGBTQ organizations, using our resources to help build strong local archives, and working with community members to shape narratives about LGBTQ history that engage with national movements while also addressing the nuances of activist work in various cultural contexts. This article addresses how community center leaders, archivists, faculty, and students in Allentown, PA have collaborated to meet these challenges by discussing three impactful archival projects: F.A.C.T. (Fighting AIDS Continuously Together) public history courses, an exhibit titled “Pride Guides and the Early Years of Lehigh Valley Pride Festivals,” and the Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Oral History Project. As we provide details about these projects, we trace the value of centering regional AIDS activism, pride celebrations, and struggles for anti-discrimination legislation for our regional LGBTQ community and our students. We argue that courses, exhibits, and oral history collection not only produce regional connectivity to national political projects and strategies, but also build stronger understanding of the import of local activism for promoting equity at the civic and state level. Beyond understanding the historical trajectory of regional activism, archival work and exhibitions bring diverse young people, elders, and those in the middle of life together who may not have met otherwise to reflect on our history and to imagine our future. The process of incorporating students, organizational leaders, and archivists in shared historical projects and narratives formation builds new networks for meeting urgent present-day needs.

The Textualization of Guo Dingxiang

The story of Zhang Wanliang and Guo Dingxiang, who upon their deaths became king and queen of the stove, was a popular item in "stove singing," a genre of amateur entertainment from Gushi district in southern Henan. The story was best known by the name of the female protagonist. It was orally transmitted and performed not only as a ballad but also as a play. Guo Dingxiang has been published in three different editions of 1981, 2007, and 2009, respectively, which not only are quite different in length but also in nature, even though the basic plot is the same in all three versions. This article assembles the available evidence on the textualization process, and highlights the differences between the resulting versions. The textualization started as a private initiative, but in the early twenty-first century was supervised by a governmental committee. While the protagonists in the 1981 edition were given a background as poor peasants, they are the offspring of elite families in the later versions. Compared to the 2007 edition, the 2009 edition devotes more space to the inner life and motivation of the protagonists as more emphasis is placed on internal cohesion.

Singing a Great Dream: The Revolutionary Songs and Life of Khusiram Pakhrin

Singing a Great Dream: The Revolutionary Songs and Life of Khusiram Pakhrin

Endgames: Military Response to Protest in Arab Autocracies

Endgames: Military Response to Protest in Arab Autocracies

A Quest for Remembrance: The Underworld in Classical and Modern Literature

A Quest for Remembrance: The Underworld in Classical and Modern Literature

Performing Tsarist Russia in New York: Music, Émigrés, and the American Imagination

Performing Tsarist Russia in New York: Music, Émigrés, and the American Imagination

Editorial Introduction

Editorial Introduction

Fitting Comfortably: Mormonism and the Narrative of National Violence

Fitting Comfortably: Mormonism and the Narrative of National Violence

CHAPTER 13: 4IR Technological Knowledge and Skills Required by Technical Engineering Lectures for the Effective Curriculum Reconstruction of TVET Engineering Programmes

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) confirms that emerging and quickly evolving technologies are progressively driving the transformation and advancement of all industries and society. It is critical for technical engineering lecturers to keep up with the latest trends and technological advancements within their fields of specialisation, in order to effectively contribute to the development of a technologically literate society, and to share in the advancements brought about by advancing technologies of the early twenty-first century. The TPACK model of Koehler and Mishra is used to examine technical engineering lecturers’ pedagogical practices as a complex interplay of their technological knowledge, technological content knowledge, and technological pedagogical knowledge. This chapter examines the empirical findings of a national survey that collected data from N=577 technical engineering lecturers on n=52 campuses of n=24 South African TVET Colleges that offer TVET Engineering study programmes. The purpose of the survey was to profile TVET Engineering Study lecturers’ knowledge and pedagogical practices within engineering programmes across the Republic. A sub-section of the survey specifically probed into participants’ awareness and understanding of discipline-specific technological advancements and digital educational enterprises, as well as the potential impact of these on technical teaching. Empirical findings show that 52.3% (n=302) of the participating technical engineering lecturers are unaware of any technological advancements within their area of specialisation, and that they do not know what the potential impact of technological advancements might be on future technical training, following the current reconstruction of the curriculum. This chapter examines the possible implications of these findings for technical engineering curriculum renewal, considering that these lecturers, who are also the key role-players in the current curriculum implementation and evaluation stages, demonstrate limited awareness of technological advancements needed to effectively partake in the 4IR era. The underlying tension between these systems is revealed when Engeström’s Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT model) is applied to the activity systems involved. Accordingly, recommendations are made for the professional development of well-trained technical engineering lecturers, harnessed with cutting-edge 4IR technological knowledge and skills required for the current reconstruction of the TVET Technical Engineering curriculum.

Gendhing Sekaten. (2010) 2020Gendhing Pahargyan. (2012) 2020Gendhing Kurmat Dalem. 2020Gendhing Gati. (2015) 2020Gendhing Gati Volume 2. 2020Gendhing Soran Volume 1. 2021

Gendhing Sekaten. (2010) 2020Gendhing Pahargyan. (2012) 2020Gendhing Kurmat Dalem. 2020Gendhing Gati. (2015) 2020Gendhing Gati Volume 2. 2020Gendhing Soran Volume 1. 2021

The Race of Sound: Listening, Timbre, and Vocality in African American Music

The Race of Sound: Listening, Timbre, and Vocality in African American Music

EWOLUCJA FORMY W AWANGARDOWEJ ARCHITEKTURZE WSPÓŁCZESNEJ W KONTEKŚCIE PROCESÓW PARTYCYPACJI SPOŁECZNEJ

The subject of this paper is an analysis of the impact of public participation on the form of contemporary architecture. A division into three basic stylistic-temporal trajectories was made, distinguished based on design methodology that includes participation: late Modernism, Postmodernism, and participative architecture of the early twenty-first century. Based on an analysis of theoretical texts and selected structures, distinctive features of a given period were identified. The study resulted in an identification of major tendencies that document changes in architectural forms stemming from a diverse range of design methodologies that feature participation.

Film as Philosophy

Although the relationship between film and philosophy begins in the early twentieth century with Hugo Munsterberg’s book ''The Photoplay: A Psychological Study'', only in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century the relationship take into account seriously among both philosophers and film theorists. As a result, an intense philosophical debate has arisen about what is film-philosophy? What is the relationship between film and philosophy? Are films genuinely capable of doing philosophy? Or does film capable of being a philosophical work (text)? Although almost all participants in this debate acknowledge that films can, at minimum, bring a philosophical issue to the awareness of their audiences, there is disagreement about how much more films can do philosophically. In this paper, I will analyse, on the one hand, the historical relationship between film and philosophy, on the other hand, analyse the film as philosophy thesis. This paper has been divided into two parts and each part is also subdivided into two sections. In the first part, I will explore the historical relationship between film and philosophy: doubting film as art (section one) and photography and technological reproduction (section two), then in the second part, I will analyse the film as philosophy thesis: explore the philosophy in film (section one) and examine the film as philosophy (section two). In this paper, I will apply the critical analysis method to examine the film as philosophy thesis.

The Strategy for Capsule Hotel Industry in China

Affected by the epidemic, the global hotel industry is on the decline, and the discussions on the current hotel market debate and relevant solutions have never stopped. Turning the time back to the early twenty-first century, the first pioneers in China set up capsule hotels after studying and researching the operational model of the Japanese capsule hotel market, and around 2010 they began to test the waters for the market as a whole, but ultimately failed. Now that the Chinese accommodation industry is in several stages, capsule hotels have a great opportunity to establish themselves in the market today, especially during the epidemic, compared to the narrow market and tiny profit margins of a decade ago. This paper intended to develop from a subtle point of view that combines Marketing Mix theory and SWOT analysis to analyze the new industry in the hotel industry-Capsule Hotel. The paper mainly focused on how to use past data to consolidate and promote their position in the hotel industry market according to the special group of Generation Z.

Религиозный экстремизм как социально-культурный феномен: проблема онтологической границы

The subject of the article is the problem of the ontological boundary of religious extremism as a socio-cultural phenomenon. The methodological basis of the research is the non-classical linguistic semantics of Frege – Russell. Within its framework, meaning, concept and sign are distinguished for the subject of thought. This methodology complements the predominance of the activity approach in the research of religious extremism. Such methodological unilateralism creates the illusion of the scholastic nature of the investigated problem, when the scientific result is expected to comment, clarify and systematize the known knowledge about religious extremism. As a result, religious extremism is considered metaphysically as an unchanging phenomenon that has no spatial and temporal boundaries. This research was conducted in two stages. The first one highlights the essential signs of religious extremism. The traditional triad of signs “subjects, sphere of activity, implementation methods” is supplemented by the fourth: “the purpose of activity”. Based on the analysis, religious extremism is defined as extreme actions of religious elements in the political life of society, aimed against the structural elements and ideology of secular society. The article rejects the provisions on uncritical identification with religious extremism of the following social phenomena: violation of national legislation on freedom of conscience and religious associations; religious fanaticism; religious sectarianism; nationalism. At the second stage of the research, the spatial and temporal boundaries of religious extremism are comprehended. Spatially religious extremism is typical for both post-industrial and traditional societies of the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The article puts forward historical-religious arguments and an argument against the thesis of the timeless nature of the existence of religious extremism. Based on the formation of a secular society on the economic basis of an industrial society since the second half of the XIX century, four factors of the emergence of religious extremism have been identified: secularization of public consciousness; desacralization of power; inversion of violence; limited support. As a result of the conducted research, the metaphysical consideration of religious extremism as an unchangeable phenomenon has been overcome and its conceptual understanding has been deepened.

Origins of the Twenty-First Century

This paper explores the impact of technology on the practice and theorization of the cinematic essay, with a particular emphasis on the ways in which digital tools have shaped the form in the early twenty-first century. I first argue that the cinematic essay has been associated with technological evolution throughout its history, and then discuss recent examples of the form which utilize aesthetic strategies, editing techniques, and modes of spectatorial address that are rooted in the capabilities of digital technologies. I conceptualize the cinematic essay as a self-reflexive mode of nonfiction cinema that foregrounds the filmmaking apparatus and the act of its own making. In doing so, the cinematic essay launches an inquiry into the ontological nature of the cinematic image, the tools which construct it, and the wider artistic landscape in which it is embedded. To illustrate how digitization has opened new opportunities for essayistic expression, this paper draws parallels between the current use of digital moviemaking tools and earlier periods in which new technologies were utilized to reimagine essayistic craft.

Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Plays by Women: The Early Twenty-First Century. Edited by Penny Farfan and Leslie Ferris. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021. Pp. 327. $90.00 Hb; $34.95 Pb.

Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Plays by Women: The Early Twenty-First Century. Edited by Penny Farfan and Leslie Ferris. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021. Pp. 327. 34.95 Pb. - Volume 47 Issue 2