2015 Artistic Culture and Cult

A distinctive feature of the present stage of development of human society is a close link between cultural and political processes; the policy directs sociocultural activities, and culture influences the political process through the formation of human values in society.
Civilized countries have made an effort to promote “soft” power (cultural diplomacy) to strengthen geopolitical position, foreign policy and to solve economic problems. The following organizations are involved in cultural diplomacy: Alliance Française (France), the British Council (UK), Goethe Institute (Germany), Instituto Cervantes (Spain), Rossotrudnichestvo (Russian).
Problems in international relations affect business relations and the economy; at the same time the development of inter-religious cooperation and interaction in cultural and humanitarian spheres continues. In this regard, humanitarian activities contribute to overcoming cultural and religious barriers, negative stereotypes and other obstacles to the development of international cooperation.
The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation allocated more than 9 milliard rubles for cultural events in 2015: international events held on the territory of Russia — 122 103.2 thousand rub. (1.3 %), and events abroad — 209 096.8 thousand rub. (2.3 %). In addition to projects funded by the state there are numerous projects which exist on the money of sponsors, patrons and stakeholders.
In different periods of history the church was engaged in solving many issues, and the task — to meet the spiritual needs of the faithful — is one of the most significant. Most of the temples and churches in Europe are not only places for conducting worship and religious rites, but venues for live performances and highlights attracting tourists from around the world.

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The paper examines interaction of religion and art. Any culture is in fact a cult of certain spiritual powers: either light — creative, or dark — destroying. Russia spiritually belongs to a Christian civilization whose cornerstone is a statement from the Bible: God is a Spirit of freedom and love. The author considers the Orthodox Christian culture in a historical context as incarnate activity of life-giving gifts of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of Christian art is to behold the Heavenly in the terrestrial and to bring the humanity revelation of the Light of Christ’s Truth. “Palestine” created by patriarch Nikon near Moscow reveals an image of Sacred Russia as reflection of Heavenly Jerusalem.

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The thirteenth-century Chartres cathedral is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. It is known primarily for its towers, stained-glass windows and sculptural decor. Notre-Dame de Chartres has nine portals. Let us pay attention to the northern facade of the cathedral. There are fourteen figures representing public and private virtues on the sixth arch of the left portal. Securitas is among them. Personalized Safety is represented as a young woman. The paper offers an attempt to define the semantics of its attributes and the place of this allegory in the ethical concepts of the Western European Middle Ages.
It is widely believed that a source for the creation of fourteen “Chartres virtues” was “Liber de sancti Anselmi similitudinibus”. Edmer of Canterbury, the alleged author of this book, gives the following list: “Partes enim beatitudinis sunt pulchritudo, agilitas, fortitudo, libertas, sanitas, voluptas, longaevitas, sapientia, amicitia, concordia, honor, potestas, securitas, gaudium” (cap. XLVIII). Edmer’s list is identical to the inscriptions made by an unknown sculptor, with one exception — there is “agilitas” instead of “velocitas” in the work of St. Anselm’s disciple.
Moving on to Securitas, let us note that the statue has almost no pronounced distinguishing features. Faint smile, wavy hair flowing over her shoulders, a crown, a dress with drapery, a banner and a shield make her look similar to some other abstractions of the Cathedral. The difference is in one detail only — a shield emblem. Securitas’ shield is ornated with a depiction of a castle. Since the statue is a part of a Christian church, it can be assumed that a chateau symbolizes New Jerusalem. In the Bible the Holy City is described as an impregnable fortress where the rescued mankind will live safely and happily (Rev. 21).
Security as a divine gift has a demonic antipode in Timor (Fear), tormenting sinners. The motive of confrontation of Securitas and Timor exists not only in Edmer’s writings (De similitudinibus, LXIX). It is carefully described in the work of William of Conches (Moralium dogma philosophorum, I. C. 3), a representative of the Chartres school of philosophy.
Securitas from Chartres Cathedral is ascetic. However, it is unique in comparison with other images of Safety. Securitas together with the other deified concepts is a guardian of the holy place and reminds the congregation that the Church protects their souls from the fears of the Earthly City.

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Painting of Alexey Parshkov (born in 1947) is well known both in Kuban region and outside. But his original theory of composition has not yet been discussed. In the aspect of elementary artistic shapes the theory is revealed in certain graphic schemes used by the author. Such schemes could be the basis of abstract geometric art, or ornaments, or models of the spatial relations, or could be used as an instrument of organisation of visual experience and visualisation of concepts. Such schematism is based on a toroidal structure which is, according to Parshkov, an expression of the geometry of the space and is intepreted by analogy with field and energy processes.
The fundamental structure is considered by the artist to be an expression of the universal law and is associated with archaic mythical and poetical mentality. Manifestations of this structure could be discovered in different cultures, religions, in art of different periods and in different scientific theories. In order to integrate his world view Parshkov relies on the motifs of philosophy of the Far East but interpreted in accordance with the neoplatonic search for the One. Accordingly, his natural philosophy has a poetical character, it becomes a code of the universal metaphor and a theory of composition comes to be the poetics of the universal.
The origins of such poetics and parallels to it could be found both in early Russian modernism and in some art trends of the late Soviet period. Among them there are also ideas of structuralism and semiotics and Gestalt theory. A starting point for such poetics are theories of Vladimir Favorsky, Pavel Florensky, as well as Russian icon painting seen through the prism of their view. In the context of the epoch the theory of Alexey Parshkov could be compared with other attempts to universalise artistic experience, such as “cup-cupola-space” of Vladimir Sterligov or “hieratures” of Michail Schwarzman.

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