Authors

Vlasov Viktor G.
ARRHYTHMIA OF COLONNADES IN ROMAN BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (71) September, 2020

The article considers the special rhythmic structure inherent in the facades of Roman baroque churches of the late 16th – 17th centuries. Select examples illustrate the relations typical of such architecture between the bottom diameter of columns (embates), intercolumniation, and column height. These relations include the classical ones, which are consistent with the theory of proportions of Pythagoras and the rules of Vitruvius, but the unusual arrhythmic techniques of the composition create a special dissonant resonance with human biorhythms and mental states within the space of Baroque architecture.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE PANTHEON AND PANTHEONS. MULTIPLICATION OF NAMES: CULTURAL, HISTORICAL AND MNEMONIC ASPECTS OF STUDYING MONUMENTS OF CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (70) June, 2020

The article describes an experience in combining the cultural-historical and mnemonic approaches to the study of monuments of classical architecture using as an example the ancient Roman Pantheon. The author intentionally chose this well-studied monument, which is still largely mysterious when considered in a wide spatio-temporal context. The article tells about the structures located near the Pantheon and the historical events that influenced their life, about the symbolism of certain moments in their biography, and about other cultural phenomena that have an indirect connection with the concept of “pantheon”.

Vlasov Viktor G.
ECPHRASES IN ARCHITECTURE

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (69) March, 2020

The article is an attempt to transfer the theory of literary ecphrasis to architectural studies. According to this concept, verbal descriptions of works of art can have analogies in the genre-form of architectural ecphrasis, but, unlike literature, architectural ecphrasis is created by other means and techniques: using a part to refer to the whole (the principle of synecdoche), materializing a historical building’s legend, depicting a building by means of another building, employing the pictorial character of architecture itself and the sculptural elements of the architectural composition, and telling the purpose and artistic meaning of the building by means of pictorial story. Thus, the traditional definition of ecphrasis is given a wider content, which gives an unexpected aspect to the classical theme of synthesis of the arts.

Vlasov Viktor G.
OBJECT, ARTICLE, THING: THE SIMULACRA OF REPRESENTATIONAL CREATIVITY AND NON-REPRESENTATIONAL ART. STUDY OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE NOTIONS. Part II. The World of Things and Its Projection in Design

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (68) December, 2019

In the second part of the article, the author re-traces the historical evolution of the “world of things”: traditional decorative and applied art, works of experimental “decorative-pictorial art” of the 1960s and 1970s, and the main trends in the development of post-industrial design: art design, systemic and programmatic design, and non-design. The importance of total design and actor-network theory of communication is considered. The interaction of latest design architecture with painting and sculpture in the new information field is analyzed. It is concluded that as things become non-things, representational creativity becomes objectless; its subject is now the relations “man-thing-space-situation” rather than a thing or a product. The place of the traditional synthesis of arts becomes occupied by the interpolation of methods of form-generation. In conclusion, a new theoretical and methodological model of the “world of things” in 21st century art is proposed.

Vlasov Viktor G.
OBJECT, ARTICLE, THING: THE SIMULACRA OF REPRESENTATIONAL CREATIVITY AND NON-REPRESENTATIONAL ART. A STUDY OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NOTIONS. Part I: Original and Replica

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (67)

The article considers the relationships between the notions: object, article, thing in creativity within esthetic, culture and art study paradigms. The author criticizes the widespread notion of representational creativity including traditional applied decorative art, folk arts and crafts and all varieties of design. The notion of non-representational art is also vulnerable in the light of the philosophical concepts of the «world of things». The author reviews the main concepts of contemporary art and latest trends in the development of design. The outcome is a new theoretical and methodological model of the «world of things» in 21st century art.

Vlasov Viktor G.
INVERTIBLE SPACE IN FINE ARTS ANDPROJECTIVE THINKING

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (65) March, 2019

The article outlines various concepts of pictorial space based on the theories of empathy or ‘feeling into’ (Einfühlung in German) by T.Lipps and W.Worringer , pictorial relief by A. vonHildebrand andV.А. Favorsky, inverted perspective by P. А. Florensky, summation of multiple viewpoints by L.F. Zhegin, and two viewing pointsby D.N. Kardovsky and N.E. Radlov. Based on a comparative analysis of the spatial concepts, an attempt is made to model the synoptic picture of a space being inverted in different fine arts and in architecture and design. The examples presented in the article demonstrate the general laws of a multi-dimensional «motional» conceptual space, which is optimal for arranging various objects of design and depicting in it.

Vlasov Viktor G.
INSTANCE AND CONTINUANCE: ARTISTIC TIME AND SPACE IN ARCHITECTONIC-PICTORIAL ARTS. TO THE PROBLEM OF "SYNTHESIS OF ARTS"

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (66) June, 2019

The article discusses various concepts of time in the architectonic-pictorial arts (architecture, painting, sculpture, graphics, and design).The author criticizes the claims of the exclusively spatial nature of architecture and visual arts and continued relevance of true works of art. Existing in the mental space-time continuum created by the artist and the viewer, such artworks are inexorably changing, their contents are transformed depending on the cultural and historical context, spatial environment, and objective conditions and subjective factors of perception. Phenomenologically, works of spatial art live and move in an imaginary flow of time. Analyzing the unity of pictorial space and time, as well as the tactile motor qualities of form in architecture, sculpture and painting, the author of the article offers a new approach to understanding the synthesis of the arts.

Vlasov Viktor G.
NOMINATIONS AND ARCHETYPS IN ARCHITECTURE: THE THEME OF WALL AND APERTURE

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (64) December, 2018

The article deals with the relationships between architectural forms and their names in the history, theory and practice of architectural composition. Based on the synoptic approach combining the methods of linguistic, structural, iconographic, semantic and tectonic analysis, the author examines the historical evolution of the traditional themes of column, arch, aperture in the species of colonnades, arcades, and arched windows. The dynamic concept of artistic space in architecture allows us to establish differences between the concepts of structure and form, construction and composition, eidos (idea of form), logos (establishment), nomos (nomination of theme, motif) and tectos (structure). These relationships are determined by chronotopography (the unity of time and place) and nomotopography (the unity of naming and place). Naming and renaming connect the sphere of notions and visual images and ensure an understanding, interpretation and translation of semantic meanings in the history of culture. The article shows the mechanisms underlying the interpretation of themes and motifs and the construction of iconographic series according to the scheme: naming of the idea — a formal archetype — combinatorial variations of forms in their historical development.

Vlasov Viktor G.
POLYSTYLISM, ELECTIVE METHOD AND CLASSIFICATION OF ARCHITECTURE COMPOSITIONS OF RUSSIAN CLASSICISM

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (63) September, 2018

The article examines the main features of Russian classical church and secular architecture in the context of pan-European development. The author highlights the relationships of iconographic sources and internal and external factors which determined the architecture of Russian classicism as a unique phenomenon in world practice and formulates the main modes of formation and evolution of the national Classicist architecture: a unique fusion of various stages, creative methods and artistic styles, emergence of unique style metastructures, electivity, and eclecticism. As the result, the author proposes a classification of planning and compositional structures. The uniqueness and variety of Russian classical architecture acquires the value of a kind of compendium of regional historical architecture.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE TRIAD «HISTORICISM, STYLIZATION, ECLECTICS» AND POSTMILLENISM IN ART HISTORY AND THEORY

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (63) September, 2018

The article examines the notions of historicism, stylization and eclecticism using several examples from the history of architectonic and visual arts. The frequency of these phenomena of artistic thinking in different ages is noted. According to the author of the article, it is the triad harmony relations of notions, rather than binary ones, reflect more fully the collisions in the historical development of culture. The author proposes to call the modern era postmillenism. The approach outlined in the article will ultimately allow the above-named terms to be presented as as kind of classification system. This system is preliminary, but it can be used as one of the methodological tools of art studies.

Vlasov Viktor G.
ARCHITECTONIC CINEMATOGRAPHY: SPACE AND TIME IN THE PERCEPTION OF ARCHITECTURE

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (62) June, 2018

The article considers the specifics of architectural perception taking into account the 20th -21st century phenomenological concepts in art studies. The distinctive feature of the spatial-temporal continuum of architectural structures is shown. Not only does the author compare architectural composition with «frozen music» or «silent melody» but also correlates it with the theatre, cinema and even ballet. Such comparisons prove to be possible based on studies of architectonic rhythm and plasticity and the movement of the spectator in the scenic space created by architecture. Therefore not only space but also time are major form-building factors in architectural composition. These positions are illustrated by examples from the history of classical Italian architecture.

Vlasov Viktor G.
ITALIANISMS THE IN ARCHITECTURE OF ST.-PETERSBURG: HISTORICAL TRANSLATION OF IMAGES OF THE ANTIQUITY AND RENAISSANCE

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (62) June, 2018

The art of Classicism implies following certain esthetic standards and using as iconographic sources artworks of Classical Antiquity. In the architecture of Russian Classicism, of special style-related importance were Italianisms, i.e. elements and motifs of the art of classical Italy, including the antique heritage, Renaissance innovations, classicist elements in the art of Baroque and Mannerism. The translation or transposition of the images of Antiquity and Italian Renaissance into the architecture and monumental and decorative art of St.-Petersburg defines to a great extent its iconography, iconology and symbols. This phenomenon is not reduced to the replication of prototypes but presents a deep psychological process of absorbing the classical heritage through reminiscences and mnemonic associations. This is evidenced by the examples presented in the article.

Vlasov Viktor G.
ARCHITECTURE AS A FINE ART. THEORY OF OPEN FORM, PRINCIPLE OF PARTICIPATION AND SYNOPTIC METHOD IN ART STUDIES

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (61) March, 2018

History of architecture demonstrates artistic transformation of structure and transition of many a traditional theme and motif into the area of metaphorical meanings. Architecture represents an organizing force of all arts. It defines the place, structure and functions of related products of art, graphics and sculpture and, therefore, architecture is not only a fine art but it is also an art that depicts and transforms. The subject-matter of depiction in architecture are not objects of the surrounding reality but the most general concepts and subjective experiences of form and space, physical and spiritual forces, energy, aspirations, and flights of thought in space and time. Architect’s thinking is also connected with the realization of the so-called open form and principle of participation – partnership between the creator and the customer, spectator, user. These features explain the phenomenon which in the 20th–12st century, unlike the traditional synthesis of arts, displays interpenetration of technical-aesthetic, artistic and exposition-play activity methods. Hence follows the particular importance of architectonic thinking for all plastic arts and current relevance of architecture-centric knowledge and synoptic approach combining many methods and techniques of Art Studies.

Vlasov Viktor G.
PONDERATION, «CUP-CUPOLA WORLD» AND CONTEMPORARY DESIGN GRAPHICS

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (60) December, 2017

Ponderation, balancing of unequal parts, is one of the main methods for achieving an integral composition in genres of architectonic fine art: painting, graphics, sculpture, architecture, decorative applied art, and design. A way to balance things can be found in the art of various eras. Ponderation is the reflection of the principle of the Universe based on the dissymmetry of energy processes and structure of material bodies. Dynamic balance is therefore an essential criterion of art form quality. It may be argued that the method of balancing was first provided with evidence by Gestalt psychologists in the early 20th century as an ideal form-generation tendency is universal. The author follows this tendency through using various examples.

Vlasov Viktor G.
ART STUDY VS. ART. IMAGE AND INTERMEDIAL REALISTICS

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (60) December, 2017

The article considers the relationship between word and image, logic and feeling, and the rational and irrational sides of art creativity, theory and practice, science and literature on art. The methodological basis is the concept of intermediation. The author identifies three interrelated subject areas of co-creativity between the artist and the spectator: art creativity, its scholarly study, and the intermediation area including criticism, essay writing, and implicit esthetics. The author separates the concepts of art criticism and art studies. The former applies to practical activities: dating and attribution, systematization, cataloguing, storage, exposition, restoration and reconstruction. Art study is the remit of a narrow circle of experts until it is realized in the third direction –mental reality which is parallel to art and created by artistic means which are adequate to art. Belles letters about art give completeness and practical value to the work of the theorist. The author calls it ‘intermedial realistics’. Without it, art study is doomed to isolation, misunderstanding on the part of the spectator and, hence, opposition to the main objective of art creativity.

Vlasov Viktor G.
REMINISCENCE AS THE MNEMONICS OF ARCHITECTURE

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (59) September, 2017

The article considers form generation in architecture based on reminiscence as a special form of creative thinking defined by the author as a mnemonic tool. This form is characterized by metaphorical techniques reflecting historical relationships between the model stylized and the stylizing composition. By studying the specific features of mnemonic thinking, one can construct iconographic arrays by extent of artist’s creative activity: replication of historical prototype, combinatory variation of traditional elements, and associative interpretation of the theme. Thus, in architecture, as well as in other genres of art such as painting, graphics, literature, drama, etc., historical pictures of associations and classical references occur which organically combine with innovations in composition. Interpretation of these pictures is a job for an informed viewer who supplements the semantics of architectural constructions with the help of his/her imagination.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE END OF BIFUNCTIONALITY. VANISHING THINGS AND A NEW MORPHOLOGY OF ART

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (58) June, 2017

The author considers the evolution of ideas of place and functions of architectonic arts (architecture, applied decorative art and design) in the context of a progressive system of classes, families, types and varieties of design and art creativity. A tendency is identified towards historical transformation of bifunctionality – overcoming of the duality in the contents applied artworks. In the history of culture, household things are acquiring an increasingly broader significance. Transition to the symbolic function imparts to utilitarian things new iconic contents. The idea is that things get dematerialized, and they are understood and handled not as material bodies but as objects of historical, cultural and social relations. A morphology of the 20th–21st century art is constructed accordingly.

Vlasov Viktor G.
ORDER AND ORDINATION IN ARCHITECTURE: FROM MARCUS VITRUVIUS POLLIO TO MICHEL FOUCAULT

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (57) March, 2017

The article considers the notions of order and details of the order system in architecture from the viewpoint of their artistic figurativeness. The order is not a structural system but a way of translating the utilitarian post-and-lintel design into its image. Each component of the order down to the minutest ones is therefore and art trope – a result of translating semantic meanings from the signified onto the signifier, from the structural prototype onto its semantic twin. Hence follows the major importance of iconology, phenomenology, semiology and methodology of structural analysis for the theory of order in modern architectural studies. The author juxtaposes the traditional ontological categories of architecture from the treatise of Vitruvius with the poststructuralist concepts of the French philosopher of M.Foucault formulated in his book «Les mots et les choses» (1966). As a result, it becomes possible to construct a more complex typology of order themes and motifs in architecture. Besides the architectonic method of form-building, such typology demonstrates a figurative plastic one that determines a wide range of elective, combinatory and composite techniques of artistic thinking in images in architecture.

Vlasov Viktor G.
ARCHITECTURE: FROZEN MUSIC OR MOVING MELODY? (SAVING WILL COME FROM GRAVITY RATHER THAN CRESCENDO)

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (53) March, 2016

In this article, the author revisits the well-known definition of architecture as «frozen music». Any architectural object exists in three-dimensional space and is perceived in time and motion forming a specific moving, or motor, conceptual space. It would therefore be more logical to call an architectural object a «moving melody» rather than «frozen music». However, architectural plasticity is not expressive in the usual sense of the word, being counterbalanced by gravity, i.e. the requirements of stability, strength, and reliability. The author regards any departure from this rule, abandonment of tectonicity, a display of naturalistic thinking.

Vlasov Viktor G.
TECTONICS AND DISSYMMETRY OF ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (56) December, 2016

The article is devoted to historically diverse relationships in tectonics, the properties of which are symmetry and harmony of proportions, asymmetries and dissymetries of architectural composition. Unlike asymmetry (disturbance or total absence of symmetry), dissymmetry implies similarity and simultaneous distinction between the elements of a whole. Based on the works of classics of architectural theory, the author finds the solution to the problem in the specificity of the spatial-temporal continuum of architectonic composition – the motor and plastic fine-art character of architectural space. These features define design techniques and compositional variety of buildings. Disturbance of historically evolving relationships in tectonics, symmetry and dissymetry leads to degeneration of architecture into installation art.

Vlasov Viktor G.
IMPLICIT AESTHETICS, THE LIMITS OF DILETTANTISM AND DEGRADATION OF CRITICISM

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (55) September, 2016

The article considers the advantages and disadvantages of implicit (hidden) aesthetics or the so-called artist's theory of art. In comparison with academic Art Studies, theoretical reflections on one’s own creativity was important in the activities of Russian artists at the turn of the 20th century. At the end of the 20th century, implicit aesthetics experienced a new wave, showing its both strengths and weaknesses. During the same period, art criticism lost a lot of its significance, professionalism and topicality. For this reason, the traditional communications were broken between the artist, the critic and the spectator. A situation has arisen that requires special studying.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE NATURALISM OF POP ART AND THE IMAGERY OF POP DESIGN

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (54) June, 2016

The article considers relationships and differences between pop art and postindustrial design in the era of «After Postmodernism». Pop design as a variation of commercial design and mass culture is characterized not only by similarities with but also essential differences from all types of neo-Avant-Garde art: Actionism, Dadaism, Pop Art, Op-Art, Ready-Made, and computer video installations. Included into the system of social relations, real production and consumption, pop design products, unlike pop art, do "work", creating a world of expressive images.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE AESTHETICS OF THE VOID IN CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN (PHILOSPHICAL ASPECT)

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (52) December, 2015

The article considers the category of the void in traditional and contemporary aesthetics. Based on the latest philosophical concepts, the author expounds the basic aspects involved in the reconsideration of the category of the void in architectural structures– the semantics, the compositional functions and the aesthetic perceptions. The use of the motifs of the void is illustrated by examples from latest Japanese, Near-Eastern and Western European architecture. The concept of "zero form» or "antiform" in modern design is considered. An analysis of form building in recent projects shows their extra-style nature beyond the habitual relationship between the product and its environment. Hence comes a new understanding of ecological design as the forecasting of consumer properties by creating a polyvariant and outwardly even disordered environment. It is such a space, free from imposed orderliness, that is most likely to become the subject-matter of future design activity.

Vlasov Viktor G.
CHAOS THEORY, A-RHYTHMOLOGY AND METHOD OF CLUSTER ANALYSIS IN MODERN-DAY ART STUDIES

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (51) September, 2015

The article outlines the application of poststructuralist methodology ideas in Art Studies. Based on the chaos theory proposed by I.Prigozhin and I.Stengers, Pavel Florensky’s concept of a-Rhythmology, and the theory of cluster analysis formulated by R.C.Tryon, the author proposes a new way of studying the specific features of artworks from different spheres of art by means locating them on «a cluster map» («bundles of clusters»). Studying the formal qualities of artworks by the proposed makes it possible to trace back their historical evolution using, first of all, digital technologies. Thus, cluster analysis opens up opportunities for computer modelling in Art Studies.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE CONCEPTS OF HARMONY, BEAUTY AND ARCHITECTONIC FORM IN IMPLICIT AESTHETICS

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (50) June, 2015

The concepts of harmony, beauty, and architectonics are key to aesthetics and to history and theory of art. They are important for the theory of composition and form generation in visual arts (architecture, fine arts, applied decorative art, and design). Representatives of implicit (hidden) aesthetics, i.e. artists, inclined towards theoretical reflections on their personal experience, interpret these concepts in a specific way. The article considers distinctions between the concepts of harmony and beauty, their relationship with the theory of proportioning in architecture, the role of the S-shaped line as a «beauty integral». The author demonstrates the importance of the concept «thinking in forms» and of architectonic form integrating laws of form generation in different arts.

Vlasov Viktor G.
CHIZHEVSKY PENDULUM, OR HOW HISTORY KILLS GENIUSES. ADDITIONS TO THE THEORY OF PROGRESSIVE CYCLIC DEVELOPMENTOF ART BY F.I. SHMIT

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (49) March, 2015

The article reviews the original concept of general history of art proposed by the Russian scholar Fedor Ivanovich Shmit (1877–1937). In spite of skepticism expressed by various researchers towards the idea of cyclicity, this theory keeps occupying a considerable place in national art studies. The author adds to it with dates of crises, failures and deaths in the life of prominent artists. These tragic events combine into a picture which is no less important than that of the birth of works of genius and is a substantial contribution to the concept of progressive cyclic development of art.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE ROMANTIC CONSTANT IN THE HISTORY OF CULTURE AND STYLE-LESS ROMANTIC ARCHITECTURE

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (48) December, 2014

The article outlines the concept of romantic constant in the history of art with reference to post-classical architecture. A new understanding of the contents and historical development of Art Nouveau, Modernist and Post-Modernist architecture within the ‘style-less’ form generation framework helps appreciate the special aesthetic value and specific structure and functions of architecture and design at the present time.

Vlasov Viktor G.
FORM AS AN INTENT. ONTOLOGICAL, PHENOMENOLOGICAL AND SEMIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (47) September, 2014

The article considers the specifics of architecture from the standpoint of contemporary phenomenology and semiology. It is shown how the basic properties of architectural composition reveal themselves for an active spectator, in movement: in space and in time, in duration and in the character of perception, recollection of former knowledge, recognition of prototypes and interpretation of architectural form symbolics.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE HISTORICISM OF ARCHITECTURE AND THE VITRUVIAN TRIAD AS A DESIGN METAPHOR

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (46) June, 2014

The article presents a concept of commonality between form generation laws in classical architecture and modern design. The author has carried out a comparative analysis of two fundamental laws : the Vitruvian triad (utilitas, firmitas, venustas) as the foundation of classical architecture, and the triad of classical, or industrial, design (function, form, quality). A new understanding of the contents and historical evolution of these rules leads to a conclusion of their convergence and transformation into a more complex interdependence. The specific feature of this process, typical for the 20th-21st century art, is characterized by the key word “metaphor”, i.e. transference of the properties of one object to another and merger of their meanings.

Vlasov Viktor G.
A MATRIX OF CLIPS FOR TEACHING HISTORY AND THEORY OF ART

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (45) March, 2014

The article describes the latest concept of a multi-variant approach to the study of history and theory of all kinds of architectonic visual arts: architecture, painting, sculpture, graphics, applied decorative arts design. The author proposes a new cognitive structure consolidating the historical descriptive, structural analytical, synchronic and diachronic methods, various combinatorial and heuristic techniques. As an outcome, the author formulates the so-called matrix of short questions stimulating multilateral discussion and interactive thinking in students.

Vlasov Viktor G.
ARCHITECTONIC FORM IN FINE ARTS, ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN: UNITY OF METHODOLOGY, TYPOLOGY AND TERMINOLOGY

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (43) September, 2013

The article considers issues in the theory of composition and form in various fine arts, as well as in «material creativity»: architecture, arts and crafts, and design. The author reviews the categories of tectonics, architectonics, engineering design, and composition. It is essentially important that laws of compositional architectonics in different "plastic arts» are born and are historically processed in the domain of architecture. The author emphasizes the special form-generation role of architectural space, and its functions and properties. An attempt is made to model a uniform system of terminology, typology and methods of research in the architectonic form in different arts. Such a system should play an important part in the "integration" of contemporary technological aesthetic activities into the traditional system of humanitarian values.

Phenomenologically, the architectonic form is justly considered not only as something whole in its complete condition but also as a process of development of stable relationships between various «structural aspects». The form of an artwork is an artistic visual representation of reality, «skimming» the temporal dimension and turning time into spatial relationships between compositional elements. The establishment of compositional relationships occurs on three basic levels: formations of generation of the idea of the composition, harmonisation of the form (in design it is utilitarian-aesthetic form generation, or designing) and artistic visual thinking.

The development of a theory of metaphoricity of architectonic form should give a positive direction to discussion concerning whether architecture and design are kinds of art creativity or are a separate area of "material creativity» that combines the architectonic, functional, utilitarian-functional and artistic visual-modes of thinking.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE BLOG AND THE POLYLOGUE IN MODERN-DAY ART STUDIES

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (44) December, 2013

The article reviews the essential questions of modern-day art studies which are important to answer for educating would-be historians, theorists and critics of art. These questions include: consistent definition of the scope and method of art creativity; relationship between the rational and the irrational in the subject studied and in the research method; mutual understanding between the artist, the historian, the theorist, the critic, and the art consumer. Solutions are ambiguous, as they assume plurality of answers. The possible solutions suggest questions which can be used in the form of polylogue (multilateral discussion) in the educational process.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE PETTINESS OF THE ARCHITECTURAL THEORY OF POSTMODERNISM

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (42) June, 2013

The theoretical concepts of architecture that emerged in the second half of the 20th century do not present something whole, being mainly self-reflexions of innovators in building practice or attempts to give some philosophical colouring to isolated quests. The article considers some ideas of the postmodernist architectural theorists and practitioners, comparing them with the well-know classical theories of composition and form generation. The author quotes R. Venturi, G. Deleuze, Ch. Jencks, K. Kurokawa, G. Lynn and proposes a critique of their principal ideas and concludes that such theories are basically secondary compilations. In fact, they present a return to the classical foundations of architecture but are eclectic and oversaturated by excessive definitions obtained from related scientific disciplines: linguistics, semiology, philosophical synergetics and structuralism.

Given the variety of design methods and manners and equalization of various sources and prototypes at the turn of the 20th century, the collapse of this style is obvious. Architecture does no longer follow the laws of continuity of forms. The compilation of sources typical of postmodernist aesthetics creates aesthetic neutrality of designs, which are as if taken out of the sphere of traditional evaluation categories of proportionality, scale, balance, integrity, tectonics, harmony, and beauty. This, in turn, generates social indifference.

Vlasov Viktor G.
DESIGN ARCHITECTURE AND THE 21st CENTURY

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (41) March, 2013

In different historical periods, architecture presented with various aspects of its ontology, phenomenology and semantics: as a skilled civil engineering activity, as a way of artistic thinking in images, or as a designer’s method. In this respect, architectural creativity forms the focus of the contemporary morphology of art. Integrating various creative methods, architectural design becomes the centre of interactions between various fields, types and genres of creativity. The article considers issues relating to research into the tendencies of convergence and integration between the traditional architectural methods and contemporary design that emerged in postmodern art in the second half of the 20th century and that are most likely to extend into the 21st century. Examining this problem has important theoretical and methodological implications in the context of interdisciplinary studies on art. Russian researchers tend to believe that the future design culture will consolidate tendencies, methods and techniques of form generation that have been developed separately by science, technology, and art. In order to produce a generalising typology of architect and designer activities it is necessary to consider essential relationships along two basic lines: historical stages in the spiritual experience of architectonic art, and three basic levels of the «thinking in forms» process, i.e. the development of the compositional idea, the «internal form-generation» process, and the projective stage of idea implementation. The article provides an example of such typology.

Vlasov Viktor G.
ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION: AN EXPERIENCE OF TYPOLOGICAL MODELLING

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (39) September, 2012

The article sets out the principles of multidimensional analysis as applied to issues in the typology of architectural compositions. The concept of composition implies integrity and internal organisation, which manifest themselves at several hierarchically related levels. Accordingly, there are requirements to be defined concerning the methodology of its studying in various historical and cultural contexts. Any work of architecture should be considered by identifying and then combining the material, functional and historical approaches. The author considers the categories of form generation and interactions between them with reference to the historical development of architecture. Thus, in antiquity the compositional integrity was determined by local traditions of materials processing, planning and structural solutions, and specifics in the use of the order system rather than by general stylistic categories. Distinctions between forms in medieval architecture were due to cult and customer requirements. During the classical epoch, compositions were dictated by the standards of this or that area of art, style or school. A school of art is a form that fully embodies the historical and territorial cultural generalities, but it mainly reflects the local specificity of artistic processes. Schools are conservative, whilst styles are perspective. Generally, the concept of "school" expresses the topographical criterion more than the chronological one. Nevertheless, the integrity of the chronotope is maintained. The article sets basic criteria of historical self-determination of art schools. The author proposes a model of architectural composition typology which includes the categories of theme, motive, genre and genre form of artworks. Any interpretation of architectural composition should follow the following scheme: type of architectural space, planning structure, form generation method, structural system, harmonisation techniques, analysis of separate elements and decorative techniques, technology, and materials.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE «THIRD WAY» CONCEPT AND RUSSIAN ART STUDIES

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (37) March, 2012

The Eurasian concept of Russian art is based on the idea of a «Third Way» (Lat. Tertium Datur – «there is a third choice»).

Historically, there have been two views of Russian history: «Westernism» and "Slavophilia". Russian art features a meaning that embraces both of these worlds - western and eastern. The progress of Russian art represents a closed cycle of transformations of the national traits into universal ideas and forms of Eurasian art. Characteristic lags and fusions of art movements and styles explain not only discontinuities in its development but also the «multi-component» character or programmatic eclecticism of Russian art. The «Third Way» is essentially a search for reconciliation between the values of the western civilisation and the foundations of folk life. The principle of symphony of outwardly differing but intrinsically uniform humanitarian components is possible on the basis of Western European values. Russia may become a link on the way towards future humanistic culture. Possibly, this is exactly how the «world-embracing compassionateness» — Russian people’s main character trait according to Dostoyevsky — is likely to be embodied in future art forms. It is even likely that the history of European art that originated in Ancient Greece and Rome will, in fact, get accomplished in the vast expanses of Russia.

Vlasov Viktor G.
PARA-‘ART STUDY’ AND THE HISTORICAL PROCESS

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (37) March, 2012

Contemporary research into history of art is made complicated by the variety of challenges faced and by the changing level of knowledge. Application of multivariate analysis methods to key art study issues involves the use of a transmorphological approach in order to break the habitual inter-departmental barriers. We use the term para-‘art study’ to denote the expansion of research methodology at the turn of the 21st century to encompass the systems and poststructuralist methodologies and the sogistic, transmorphological and intermedial approaches. The new method implies intertextuality (interaction between text that is the object of art study and new cultural environment) and intermodality (simultaneous use of different techniques within one system). The contemporary methodology of the humanities is of an interdisciplinary character, implying the need for a variety of genres of art study writings. Representatives of related scholarly disciplines take an equal part in the development of the contemporary discipline of art study. This ensures «semantic expansion» of texts. Individual directions, movements and schools acquire complementary functions. Hence follows the need for expanding the body of terminology and its gnoseological and communicative properties.

Vlasov Viktor G.
THE RUSSIAN SCHOOL OF DECORATIVE AND APPLIED ARTS AS ONE OF SOURCES OF THE CONTEMPORARY SYSTEM OF DESIGN EDUCATION

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (26) June, 2009

The article describes handicraft and craft workshops at St. Petersburg Academy of Art in the 18th century, the training of free-hand drawing masters for industry at the Moscow Stroganov School and at the St. Petersburg Shtiglitz School and other educational institutions in pre-revolution Russia.

Vlasov Viktor G.
ON THE DEFINITION OF THE TERM «DECORATIVENESS» IN DIFFERENT VISUAL ARTS

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №2 (26) June, 2009

The author investigates various interpretations of the term “decorativeness” and shows how important this concept is in the morphological aspect for a better understanding of the relations and associations between various arts allowing for the peculiarities of form generation and artist’s techniques.