«Национальное по содержанию и социалистическое по форме»: Палимпсест мемориалов советской Армении (original) (raw)
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Память о прошлом: вещи в системе Армянской советской культуры
Summary Memories of the Past: things in a system of the Armenian Soviet Culture The paper is pursuing multiple goals. Firstly, it is an attempt to initiate studies of every day culture of Soviet Armenia, which seems to be completely and unfairly ignored by Armenian social researchers. In the meantime, most of phenomena of current socio-cultural situation cannot be understood if not embedded into the previous soviet context. Secondly, I am trying to reveal and highlight the gap in the Armenian Museums of History and Ethnography that have included the soviet period of the Armenian History and Culture in their expositions. Thirdly, the paper is representing a kind of research experiment. The core part of it has been written in a form of free-style essays representing my own memories and memories of people in my circle and initially published in one of the Internet social networks, the Life Journal. The publication intended to attract comments of potential readers (about 150, mostly Armenians from Soviet Armenia or other post-soviet space). The paper also includes my comments on readers' comments placed in my Life Journal pages. These comments have shaped a discoursive field representing an artificially generated and textualized collective memory on soviet times. Following Maurice Halbwachs’ idea, a man usually has to resort to memories of other people in order to recall his own past. In fact, my own memories shared with other people are legitimized by others through their comments thus being turned into collective memory. Essays’ content is focused on things, i.e. objects utilized in our everyday life like clothes, food, furniture, personal car, books, etc. However, this paper is not just about consumption mechanisms or ethnographic interpretation of material objects in the system of soviet culture. It’s about practices of everyday life engendered or shaped around things and objects that serve to be key points for memorialization of the world of so called «homo sovieticus» which in reality was so different from that created and promoted by the soviet propaganda. The Soviet society had been oriented towards the very peculiar style of consumption and the very word of it used to be a subject for ideological criticism. Empty shop shelves, complicated social and economic mechanisms of «getting» things, especially those imported from abroad, all this did create a very special attitude towards the Thing and placed it in an intricate system of social and personal hierarchies of the soviet epoch of «deficit», pictured in the essays below. Home libraries. Books had not only been signs of high social and intellectual status, or symbols of identity. Good books were difficult to get as they couldn't be found in bookstores. Distribution of newly editions was provided through soviet hierarchic channels and books, especially prestigious multivolume editions served as additional markers of social power. Collections. Most soviet people used to practice collecting various things like coins, postcards, stamps, badges, match boxes, etc. Soviet industry and cultural policies encouraged this hobby trying to keep leisure time of soviet people organized and controlled. Alongside of traditional collections, other types of them were popular such as those of things of everyday consumption «made in» somewhere abroad (soap, cigarette boxes, alcohol drinks, bear cans, pens, pencils, candies, bubble-gums, dolls, etc.). They were estimated too high because of being of better quality than their soviet analogues and rarely found. Such collections used to become a part of apartment's interior design and subjects of special pride of their owners. China, debts, presents. Good china was hard to «get». People used to buy it mainly in Moscow or Leningrad. If someone had come across the china or some other deficit goods he should have bought it whatever it cost, because next time he might not be that lucky. Borrowing big amounts of money at no interest from friends and relatives was a usual soviet practice. Soviet society provided various mechanisms of mutual financial help. Lending money inside Armenian clans did not mean necessarily to get it back after an agreed while. The debt could be paid off later, in bigger or lesser amount or another form of assistance. China and cut glass ware used to be displayed at surfaces of shelves, tables, cupboards and bookcases being a symbol of well-being and social prestige. They were also considered a good present. Presents were always bought beforehand, because one might not be able to get anything in the shops at the very moment he/she really needed it. Food and holidays. In memories of soviet people, special taste of everyday food is often highlighted. Another myth is related to the imagined cheapness of soviet goods. On the other hand, deficit of goods forced soviet people to be always «armed» with money and bags in case they come across any of food products that should be immediately bought in big amounts for future use. On holidays, party and organizational structures distributed some deficit food such as sausage, candies, etc. at their real cost. Being a part of distribution process was prestigious and signified the high social status of a receiver. Shops of our dreams. Any Thing was endowed with special status and significance depended on the way of obtaining it. The higher status was given to foreign goods brought from abroad, bought in so called «certificate shops» («certificates» replaced foreign currency in soviet times) or in «commisionka» shops, where they were sold as second-hand ones, or, finally, goods bought in Moscow shops that were supplied comparatively better that any other shops in provinces. «Make it yourself». In 80-ies every woman in Yerevan used to knit and sew. Thus, they tried to fill the enormous gap left by the soviet cloth industry. Even though some of them were capable to produce chef-d'oeuvres, the status of hand-made goods was always much lower than that of goods of mass production especially foreign ones. Another realm of hand-made production was baking. Every woman in Armenia should have been able to bake cakes bearing strange and «foreign» names such as «mikado», «napoleon», «senator's», etc. to be qualified as a good bride and wife. Sacred word of «Repair». Every man in Soviet Armenia was imposed with a responsibility to provide acceptable living conditions for his family that is to repair the apartment and make it closer to informal esthetics of soviet everyday life. One of its main principles was imitation of luxury. It could be reached through making everything «shine»: polished floor and furniture, cut glass ware, silk and atlas coverings and curtains, infinite mirrors and lamps, golden and bronze surfaces as well as almost ritual cleanness of rooms. Walls were painted as if they were embellished with columns, chapiters, bas-reliefs, etc., recalling those of a palace, or at least, museum. Central rooms were given foreign names such as “hall”, “zal” (hall in Russian). The other, peripheral parts of the apartment were not given much attention in terms of special design. Car stories. Having a car in Soviet Union was linked with a number of practices of acquiring and taking care of it. A car was considered a personal property, which also should be controlled by the state. One could not buy a car in a car shop. Cars were distributed through organizations and enterprises people worked in. This process had been a part of soviet hierarchic system of distribution of goods. The other specific practice was taking care of the car that is washing and repairing it. Washing and repairing a car was a part of social activities of the Armenian urban yards and were marked by mutual assistance of inhabitants of a yard. Comments and post-scriptum. The essays were commented by readers of author's life journal page. Comments not only added to the text, but also appeared as its continuation and development of a discourse around the topics aroused. Most of comments expressed agreement, «recognition» or in some cases disagreement with essays or interpretations of a particular piece of information. Many readers supplied their impressions with anecdotal cases completing the text or their own memories. Thus, internet communication seems to be an interesting and original of generation of discourses for social and cultural research of memorialization of the past and many other topics.
Языки описания "советского" в русском концептуализме: методология этнографов и археологов
В статье анализируются различные методы конструирования советской культуры, представленные в советском концептуализме. Особое внимание автор обращает на техники, легитимированные непосредственными участниками художественного процесса 1970-1980-х годов, а именно на практики «этнографического» и «археологического» исследований. В качестве примеров, олицетворяющих эти зачастую конкурирующие стратегии, выбраны инсталляции, акции, живописные и скульптурные работы, составляющие мировой архив искусства московского концептуализма и соц-арта.
ON THE SOVIET IN THE CONTEXT OF POLTICS OF HISTORICAL MEMORY IN ARMENIA (in Russian)
2019
The study of the Soviet past in relation to the post-Soviet memory and history politics has its own specificities. It is quite a difficult issue with regard to its actors (power, society, various segments of society etc.) as well as with regard to the diversity of forms of memory – from “communicative” to “cultural” one etc. Within the scope of the article, the manifestations of memory politics in Armenia are discussed in the frame of interaction between power and society, in particular, how they influenced and still influence each other in terms of discourses and practices. Conventionally, in the article, the three following phases are distinguished: “revolutionary,” “soviet restoration” and “postcolonial,” scrutinizing particular discourses and practices, emerged in them. Basing on it, the thesis is justified that memory politics toward the Soviet past is not unilinear, but multivector and diverse by nature.
Ностальгия по советскому является важным феноменом коллективной памяти в странах Восточной Европы и бывшего СССР. Также концепция ностальгии находится в центре теоретических дискуссий, связанных с производством коллективной памяти. Теоретическое рассмотрение ностальгии невозможно без характеристики более общего понятия коллективной памяти, занявшего столь важное место в современных социальных науках. Поэтому статья состоит из двух частей. В первой части авторы анализируют связь концепции коллективной памяти и ностальгии и дают ряд определений ностальгии в контексте гуманитарных наук. Вторая часть представляет собой культурологический анализ популярного цикла изданий известного российского журналиста и общественного деятеля Л. Парфенова, посвященных истории недавнего советского прошлого. Уникальность этих изданий заключается в смешении фактов и информации о крупных исторических событиях и явлениях повседневной жизни. Издания рассчитаны на широкий круг читателей и формируют ностальгический образ недавнего советского прошлого. Авторы статьи рассматривают причины того, почему издания сборников «Намедни.Наша эра» стали генератором ностальгических эмоций читательской аудитории.
Музеефикация советского: историческая травма или ностальгия?
2013
статья посвящена анализу феномена народной музеефикации недавнего советского прошлого – инициативному появлению тематических интернет ресурсов и «народных музеев», посвященных ностальгической репрезентации советской повседневности периода поздней оттепели и застоя. В статье используются теоретические концепции и объяснительные модели, касающиеся форм социальной памяти, нарративной правды о прошлом и ностальгии.
Быстрые рисунки Расильбека Естемесова (к проблематике «Память нации»)
Быстрые рисунки Расильбека Естемесова (к проблематике «Память нации»), 2023
Аннотация. Графика Расильбека Естемесова – это своеобразное явление развития спонтанного быстрого линейного рисунка в истории современной графики Казахстана. Обращение в исследовании к работам художника как к визуализированной практике эйдетической памяти автора, воспроизводящего образы национального этоса, проводится впервые, что позволяет назвать работу актуальной. Целями исследования стали «чтение контекстов» рисунков, позволяющее понять ценностные ориентиры творчества художника, и анализ приёмов авторского метода графика. В общей методологии написания статьи использованы разные способы изучения работ художника: визуальный искусствоведческий анализ, метод формально-типологической систематизации, приёмы интерпретативного подхода, феноменологический метод, семиотический анализ, сравнительно-сопоставительный метод. В статье многие смысловые решения композиций рисунков художника сопоставлялись с выводами исследователей – философов, этнологов, мифологов, изучающих психологию творчества и особенные черты, присущие характеру статуса идентичности казахского народа. Благодаря такому сравнению выявлено соответствие между спонтанными эйдетическими образами, дополненными визуальными символическими мифологическими и фольклорными репрезентациями художника, и теоретическими положениями исследований ученых. Показаны отличительные особенности художественного языка «интеллектуально-чувственных» рисунков автора: выразительная техника передачи упрощенных форм в скором рисунке шариковой гелевой ручкой; точность в нанесении эмоциональных мимитических линий лица, характерных жестов, движения фигур; неожиданность импровизации в компьютерной инверсии. Рисунки художника можно обозначить как определенный современный содержательный опыт в создании графических образов, релевантных одной из возможных практик обозначения казахской идентичности в культуре страны и кросс-культурном общении. Ключевые слова: быстрые рисунки, чтение контекста, феноменологический метод, художественный язык, казахская идентичность. Для цитирования: Шкляева, Светлана. «Быстрые рисунки Расильбека Естемесова (к проблематике “Память нации”)». Central Asian Journal of Art Studies, т. 8, № 1, 2023, с. 82–100. DOI: 10.47940/cajas.v8i1.659. Svetlana Shklyayeva Independent Scholar (Almaty, Kazakhstan) QUICK DRAWINGS BY RASSILBEK YESTEMESSOV (TO THE PROBLEM OF “MEMORY OF THE NATION”) Abstract. The graphics of Rassilbek Yestemessov is a peculiar phenomenon of the development of a spontaneous fast linear drawing in the modern graphic history of Kazakhstan. The reference in the study to the artist’s works as a visualized practice of the author’s eidetic memory, reproducing the national ethos images, is carried out for the first time, which makes it possible to call the work relevant. The study aims to became “reading the contexts” of the drawings, which allows understanding the value orientations of the artist’s work, and analyzing the techniques of the author’s graphics method. The writing article methodology includes variety of the methods such as visual art history analysis, method of formal typological systematization, interpretative approach techniques, phenomenological method, semiotic analysis, comparison and collation method. In the article many semantic solutions of the artist’s drawings compositions were compared with the conclusions of several researchers – philosophers, ethnologists, mythologists, who study psychology of creativity and special features inherent in the nature of the identity status of the Kazakh people. Due to this comparison, a correspondence was revealed between the spontaneous eidetic images, supplemented by visual symbolic the artist’s mythological and folklore representations and theoretical provisions of scholar researches. The distinctive features of the artistic language of the “intellectual-sensual” drawings are shown: variety expressive techniques of transferring simplified forms into a quick drawing with a ballpoint gel pen; accuracy in mimetic facial lines, characteristic gestures, movement of figures; and unexpectedness of improvisation in a computer inversion. The artist’s drawings can be designated as a certain contemporary rich experience in creating graphic images that are relevant to both possible practices for designating the Kazakh identity in the country’s culture and cross-cultural communication. Keywords: quick drawings, context reading, phenomenological method, artistic language, Kazakh identity. Cite: Shklyayeva, Svetlana. “Quick Drawings by Rassilbek Yestemessov (to the Problem of ‘Memory of the Nation’).” Central Asian Journal of Art Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, 2023, pp. 82–100. DOI: 10.47940/cajas.v8i1.659. The author has read and approved the final version of the manuscript and declares that there is no conflict of interests.
На основе малоизвестных документов федеральных архивов (Архив внешней политики Российской Федерации, Государственный архив Российской Федерации, Российский государственный архив новейшей истории) охарактеризованы предпосылки и процесс создания в 1956 г. Советского комитета ветеранов войны (СКВВ), а также его деятельность в первые годы существования. Это являлось первой с 1945 г. попыткой создания общественной организации, объединяющей все основные категории ветеранов Великой Отечественной войны в общесоюзном масштабе. Показано, что основным импульсом для создания СКВВ в середине 1950-х гг. стало желание советской стороны войти в международные федерации бывших участников Второй мировой войны и использовать память о войне и связанный с ней миротворческий дискурс как один из актуальных и эффективных инструментов публичной дипломатии. Ради этого советские власти пошли на нежелательные ранее компромиссы, например, на активизацию обмена делегациями ветеранов с зарубежными странами и признание ветеранского статуса бывших советских военнопленных, участвовавших в движении Сопротивления на территории Европы. Однако, параллельно с международной деятельностью, во внутриполитических условиях оттепели структуры СКВВ стали средой возникновения многочисленных низовых инициатив ветеранов в социальной и мемориальной сферах. Легализовав деятельность СКВВ, государственно-партийное руководство страны получило не только нового коллективного актора публичной дипломатии, но и формализованное сообщество бывших участников войны, предлагавших различные инициативы и готовых участвовать в их реализации при условии поддержки на официальном уровне.