Reconstructing The Visual Messages of the Epoch: The Results of the Seminar “Research “Optics” of the Soviet Everyday Life Visual Heritage”

• Published in: Diskurs pi : filosofii͡a︡, politika, vlastʹ, svi͡a︡zi s obshchestvennostʹi͡u︡ : Di pi = Discourse P : philosophy, politics, power, public relations Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 150 - 164
• Main Authors: Kochukhova, E. S., Trofimov, A. V., Vorobyeva, M. V., Klinova, M. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Publishing House Discourse-P 01.04.2022
• Subjects: soviet architecture; soviet cinema; soviet press; soviet satire; visual studies
• ISSN: 1817-9568
• DOI: 10.17506/18179568_2022_19_1_150

The article deals with a wide range of issues related to the study of the Soviet visual heritage. The subject matter of the Soviet everyday life visual heritage is topical for scientific research carried out in line with various humanitarian disciplines - cultural studies, history, philosophy, cultural anthropology, etc. The lack of common interdisciplinary methodological tools makes it difficult to work with visual sources, which are represented by different materials(photographs, cartoons, movies, project documentation, etc.). The purpose of the online seminar organized by a team of scientists within the framework of the academic project "Lifestyle visual standards of the Soviet urban population after the World Wars: Comparative analysis" is to take steps on the way of tackling the problem of interdisciplinary dialogue about the Soviet visual heritage. The seminar was attended by historians, cultural scientists and philosophers from Ekaterinburg, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen, Abakan, and Irkutsk. Based on the reports made at the seminar, the article outlines promising areas of research on the Soviet everyday life visual heritage, which are currently being developed in the Russian humanities. The topics of the seminar relate to the Soviet models of work and leisure, prestigious consumption, the construction of images of non-Soviet, the problem of "cultural heritage" representation, thematic areas and images of state satire, various methods and approaches to the study of the Soviet cinema and architecture of different periods. The main visual sources addressed by the speakers were the Soviet illustrated magazines, newspapers, movies, as well as a source that is especially complex due to its non-obviousness - architecture (not only sketches and projects, but also the buildings themselves in urban environment). Most of the studies presented at the seminar are based on a qualitative analysis of sources.