kunsttexte.de - Journal für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte

Appropriation and blind spots. Ukraine cultural heritage in conflict

Katja Bernhardt — 2024-11-12

The special issue of kunsttexte.de/ostblick Appropriation and blind spots. Ukraine cultural heritage in conflict is part of the ongoing discussions provoked by the Russia's attack on Ukraine. The focus of the contribuions in this issue is not on current challenges, debates and claims, but on how cultural heritage has been discursively, medially and conceptually constituted, appropriated or negated in Ukraine’s past. The theoretical starting point is the assumption that cultural heritage is always the result of appropriation processes and is therefore subject to constant negotiation processes – be it discursive, institutional, political etc. This means that on the other side of appropriation are revaluations, marginalisation, repression and deliberate denial.

Imaging Kyivan Rus’ then and now, or how to look at Antin Losenko’s Vladmir and Rogneda

Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius — 2024-11-12

Antin Losenko’s Vladmir and Rogneda (1770), presenting a scene from the history of Kyivan Rus’, has been discussed widely in the context of the origins of Russian history painting and of the invention of the Pan-Russian national iconography in which the imagery of pre-Muscovite Russia served as the myth of origin. The painting was immediately successful because it complied with the requirements of the Imperial Academy of Art to glorify Vladimir while putting blame on “haughty” and treacherous Rogneda. The vexed issue of Rogneda’s rape by Vladimir, as well as that of the Ukrainian ethnicity of its maker, has hardly been considered so far. Borrowing from Walter Benjamin’s thesis on history as a constellation of past and present, I aim to identify counter-discourses that emerge in the process of a close visual analysis of this image by the contemporary viewer at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the name of “the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians”, but also at the time of the “me-too” movement against sexual violence.

The Museum Space of the Kyiv Pechersk Monastery in the 1930s

Anna Yanenko — 2024-11-12

The article deals with the exposition and exhibition activities of the All-Ukrainian Museum Town – one of the largest museum institutions in Kyiv (Ukraine) in 1920-1930, its structural units (departments/sections/funds/museums), as well as covers the museum projects of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and other institutions carried out on the territory of the Lavra Preserve during the 1930s. The article examines the design, functioning, and transformation of museum displays, and analyzes the exposition and exhibition work in the context of the changes that took place in the museum life of the Ukrainian SSR in the 1930s – extreme politicization (Sovietization) from the beginning of the decade, aggressive anti-religious campaigns, and the transformation of museums into a ‘weapon of the ideological front’, etc.

Ukraїnica abroad

Dmytro Myeshkov — 2024-11-12

Shortly after Ukraine's declaration of independence in 1991, a comprehensive programme for the description and management of retrospective information was developed at the Academy of Sciences in Kyiv – Archival and Manuscript Ukraїnica. Its main purpose was to identify all documentary sources related to the history of Ukraine (e.g. archival documents and manuscripts) and to record and describe them in a national information database. According to that, the Ukraїnica not only refers to the entirety of archival holdings and Ukrainian museum collections and library resources in the country, but also to traditions located outside the country. With the resumption of work on the Ukraїnica in the 1990s, the idea of a catalogue of the Ukraїnica, as it had been developed during the period of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917-1918), came back into focus of public interest. The article highlights the institutional and personal continuities and ruptures, and briefly outlines the political and social contexts, enabling a classification of ‘Ukrainica’ in the context of contemporary historical developments.

Місто: історія, культура, суспільство. City: History, culture, society

Tetiana Vodotyka — 2024-11-12

In 2016, three young Ukrainian historians, inspired by conversations over coffee and the growing need to understand the history of Ukrainian cities better, founded the journal City: History, Culture, Society. This journal emerged as a response to the academic challenges in Ukraine and the pressing geopolitical events following Russia's 2014 invasion, which brought attention to historically significant but under-researched urban areas. The authors invite you to embark on a journey through the field of Urban Studies in Ukraine, to witness the evolution of their story—the story of young scholars whose projects have not only grown but also gained strength over time.

Schmutzige Krieger

Sophie Thorak — 2024-11-12

Die untersuchten Werke von Fritz Cremer, Heinz Zander und Klaus Wittkugel geben einen Einblick in die bildkünstlerische Darstellung des Vietnamkrieges in der Kunst der DDR. Im Fokus steht dabei die wiederkehrende Bildformel einer Gegenüberstellung von US Soldaten mit vietnamesischen Frauen und Kindern. Die Werke inszenieren eine spezifsche Täter-Opfer-Konstellation, wobei der die Kriegsmacht USA verkörpernde Soldat als unmenschlich und monströs, die vietnamesischen Opfer hingegen als schutzlos ausgeliefert, aber auch widerständig charakterisiert werden. Es wird argumentiert, dass die Werke als Teil einer politischen Ikonografie den Vietnamkrieg nicht nur vergegenwärtigten, sondern ihn entlang bestimmter Feindbilder, Vorstellungen und Narrative gestalteten.

Makrokosmische Fäden

Kay Usenbinz — 2024-11-12

In der Kunstgeschichte bisher nahezu unbeachtet beziehungsweise lediglich als handwerkliches Ornament beschrieben ist das Werk der saarländischen Textilkünstlerin Sofie Dawo (1926–2010). Der vorliegende Beitrag greift jene beispielhaften Werke der Künstlerin heraus, in deren Gewebe sie über Formen, Prozesse, Abstraktionen und Wissen reflektiert. Dabei reichen die in ihnen gewebten Fäden bis in die Tiefen naturphilosophischer Überlegungen des frühen 17. Jahrhunderts hinein, die sich von dort ausgehend über die abstrakte Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts entspinnen.

Die Fotokampagne

Georg Schelbert — 2024-11-12

This text provides an overview of the art historical photo campaign, considering the technical and historical developments and emphasizing the fundamental operation of appropriation associated with it. The article is intended as an initial exploration of the subject and a catalyst for further research. Since its inception shortly before the mid-19th century, photography has been utilized to document works of art, becoming a crucial tool in the field of art history, which evolved into an academic discipline during this era. Photographing collections and buildings continues the tradition of older practices like hand drawing and printmaking. With the advent of photographic technology, however, image creation became almost instantaneous. Advancements such as the use of motor vehicles in the early 20th century significantly expanded the reach of photography. The term "photo campaign," previously used in French and English, also became prevalent in the German-speaking world by this time. The term's aggressive connotation, reminiscent of military operations, was particularly evident in the numerous photo campaigns conducted in territories occupied by the German Wehrmacht during World War II. Post-war, photo campaigns diminished in professional practice due to a distancing from past excesses and methodological shifts in art history. Concurrently, aided by technological progress, researchers and amateurs began taking photographs themselves. Modern dissemination infrastructures like color printing and a vibrant book market facilitated easier access to illustrations. The digital technology of recent decades further expanded the image material base, with features like unrestricted reproducibility and semi-automatic image capturing processes. Consequently, the acquisition of images in scientific practice appears to be transitioning from an expansive act of conquest towards a selection and copying process.

Titelei

Die Redaktion — 2024-11-18