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International Conference

Visuality 2015: Intercultural Creative Discourses


Conference Paper Abstracts

23-24 April 2015, Vilnius


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VILNIUS GEDIMINAS TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

KAZIMIERAS SIMONAVIIUS UNIVERSITY

International Conference
Visuality 2015: Intercultural Creative Discourses
Conference Paper Abstracts

23-24 April 2015, Vilnius


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Conference Scientific Committee


Head: Prof Dr Tomas Kaerauskas
Executive Secretary: Jovil Bareviit
Members: Acad Prof Dr Algis Micknas, Prof Dr Habil Valdas
Pruskus, Prof Dr Vytis Valatka, Prof Dr Arnas Augustinaitis, Assoc
Prof Dr Agnieka Juzefovi, Assoc Prof Dr Basia Nikiforova, Assoc
Prof Dr Jolanta Saldukaityt

Conference Organizing Committee


Head: Assoc Prof Dr Agnieka Juzefovi
Executive Secretary: Vaida Nedzinskait-Mitk
Members: Prof Dr Tomas Kaerauskas, Assoc Prof Dr Laimut
Monginait, Assoc Prof Dr Jolanta Saldukaityt, Assoc Prof Dr
Vaida Asakaviit, Dr Moacir P. de S Pereira, Dr Edvardas
Rimkus, Rasa Levickait, Elena Sakalauskait, Rta Vyniauskien,
Silvija iait-Rudokien

Publishing Information
Editors of conference paper abstracts: Jovil Bareviit,
Agnieka Juzefovi
Managing Editor: Jovil Bareviit
Language Editor: Moacir P. de S Pereira
Layout Editors: Moacir P. de S Pereira, Agnieka Juzefovi
Sponsor for conference paper abstracts publishing: Kazimieras
Simonaviius University
Printing Services: BMK Leidykla
Edition of copies: 100
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CONTENTS

PREFACE

Arnas AUGUSTINAITIS, Jolanta ZABARSKAIT. The Role of


Language Visualization in the Context of Economic Linguistic
8
Julianna BORBLY. Bound by Language: Adaptation and / or
Fidelity in Translating Animation Films
9
Russell J. COOK. Sound Lets You See

10

Silvija IAIT-RUDOKIEN. From Local to Global in Lithuanian


Theatre: Death of Cynicism and Triumph of Sincerity
11
Canan EULENBERGER-ZDAMAR. Viva Teutonia! Bratwurst,
Beer & Gemtlichkeit The Role of Images in Tourism: Promoting
Intercultural Communication or Reinforcing Stereotypes in the Name
of Business?
12
Nadja FURLAN TANTE. Intercultural Visuality of Womens
Spirituality
13
Wojciech GIZICKI. European Security and Intercultural Dialogues:
Is It Possible?
14
Gizela HORVTH, Rozlia Klra BAK. Online Artistic Activism
as Effective Intercultural Communication
15
Ilya INISHEV. Materiality and Visuality: Modes of Iconic Presence
in Visual Environments of Contemporary Culture
16
Egl JAKNIEN. Creative Industries Strategies in Soviet
Lithuania: Packages of Mass Consumption Goods
17

Janez JUHANT. Cultural Dialogue as a Possibility for Human


Development
18
Agnieka JUZEFOVI. Intercultural Influences in the Formation of
Tango Music and Dance
19
Tomas KAERAUSKAS. Two Incommensurable Discourses:
Creative Industries and Culture Industry
20
Branko KLUN. J.-L. Marions Creative Hermeneutics of the Visible:
Between the Idol and Icon
21
Omar LAROUK. Contribution of the Image Information in
Economic Innovation, via
a
Web
Multicultural
Media
Environment
22
Felipe LOZANO. The Perception Process within Non-Places: A
Transcultural Phenomenon across the Globe
23
Kstutis LUPEIKIS. Intercultural Aspects of the Minimalist Form 24
Frank Thomas MEYER. In Brand We Trust: Transcultural Global
Branding
25
Algis MICKNAS. The Field of Transparent Visuality

26

Tomas MITKUS. Lithuanian Film Industry in 21st Century:


Development Report in National and Regional Context
27
Laimut MONGINAIT. Peculiarities of the Sensations of the Light
and the Colours
28
John W. MURPHY. Can Communities Be Seen?

29

Arto MUTANEN. Relativity of Visual Communication

30

Basia NIKIFOROVA. The Reconceptualization of Materiality in the


Brothers Quays Lost Civilization World
31
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Robertas PUKENIS. Relation of Roman Law with Other Cultures in


Classical Period
32
Edita RIAUBIEN. The Uniqueness of Images as the Assumption of
Architects Creativity
33
Kastytis RUDOKAS. Visuality and Signification: Narrativistic
Approach towards Urban Heritage Preservation
34
Elena SAKALAUSKAIT. Augmented Reality Art in Various
Cultural Contexts
35
Jolanta SALDUKAITYT. Encountering the Stranger

36

Moacir P. de S PEREIRA. Poking out Gods Eye and Touching the


Spatial Turn
37
Efim SHAPIRO, Natalia BABETS. Yekaterinburg: Semantic Maps.
The City through the Eyes of Foreigners
38
Yaroslava SHEKERA. Image in Poetic Works of Huang Tingjian:
Hermeneutics of Hieroglyphic Text
39
Liudmila STAROSTOVA, Larisa PISKUNOVA. Formation of
Cross-Cultural Communication Skills by Means of Cinema
40
Vojko STRAHOVNIK. Moral
Disagreement and Dialogue

Perception,

Moral

Intuition,
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Rok SVETLI. The Violence as the Symptom of Weak Thinking 42


Rta ERMUKNYT. Cultivating Visual Literacy in Teaching of
History: The Example of Lithuanian History Didactics
43
Vytis VALATKA. Temperance as Remedy: Dialogue between
Ancient Greek Cynicism and Contemporary Civilization
44
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Pao-Hsiang WANG. Regime of Visuality in L. Kirkwoods


Chimerica
45
Ewa WYLEK. The Intercultural Value of the Underground Art 46
Evija ZAA. Common Dreams of Global Cities in the Images

47

Bojan ALEC. (Inter-Cultural) Communication in the Age of


Technical Images
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PUBLICATIONS
NOTES

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PREFACE
The 21st century is an age of globalization as well as intercultural
exchanges and discourses. Hence, scholarly work that considers
visuality, the media, communication, and creativity within recent
culture are particularly relevant and popular. The question then
arises: when do these various aspects stimulate each other, and when
do they suppress one another? Catering to the masses, the dominant
form in a mediated society, blocks the individual, unique, and
creative outbursts. Similarly, images, visual communication, and
creativity are inseparable from any history of culture, stretching back
for millennia. Visuality, creativity, and their mutual relations
disclose the shapes into which civilizations may evolve. Various
topics regarding visuality in intercultural communication show the
particularly intense links between globalization and visualization in
contemporary culture. Thus, the purpose of this conference is to
gather together scholars of humanistic, social and other sciences. We
believe that the interaction between visuality and intercultural
communication could be a fruitful ground for discussion among
philosophers,
scholars
of
communications
and
media,
anthropologists, historians, literary theorists, art critics,
psychologists, sociologists, and even creative professionals at
advertising firms. For this conference, we have clustered our scholars
into five different approaches to the intercultural and creative
discourses surrounding visuality. The approaches yield five different
sessions. The first considers the visuality within cinema, theatre,
music, and audiovisual arts. The second session carries the
conferences theme into media and creative industries. The third
session, conducted in Russian, focuses on visuality and intercultural
communication. The fourth session approaches visuality more
philosophically, viewing it through the phenomenology of dialogue
and moral philosophy. The final session considers visuality from the
vantage point of urban studies and architecture. Uniting these
disparate strands, as well as providing a foundation for them, are the
two plenary sessions.
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Prof Dr Arnas AUGUSTINAITIS (1),


Prof Dr Jolanta ZABARSKAIT (2)
Kazimieras Simonaviius University, Lithuania (1);
Institute of the Lithuanian Language, Lithuania (2a), Lithuanian University
of Educational Sciences, Lithuania (2b)
E-mails: arunas.augustinaitis@ksu.lt (1a), rector@ksu.lt (1b);
jolanta.zabarskaite@lki.lt (2a), jolanta.zabarskaite@leu.lt (2b)
The Role of Language Visualization in the Context of Economic
Linguistic
This report aims to reveal the topic of language visualisation in the
methodological context of economic linguistics. The scientific concept of
economic linguistics is new and original. In the essence of economic
linguistics, lay structures and methods of generating added value in the field
of intangible economics (that of knowledge, creative work, innovation,
information, and so on), which by nature integrates conventional and virtual
linguistic resources and semantic ties in multilingual and multicultural
settings. This means that linguistic tools and instruments can be used to
draw multifaceted and multileveled roadmaps in 3D cultures space-time
continuum. That, in fact, offers a possibility of integrated transformation of
language mediation and functional expansion of its visualisation.
From the point of view of economic linguistic, language visualisation
means holistic semantic ties in the 3D culture and the engineering of their
combination, transformation, and creative interpretation which can be
compared to the principles of genetic engineering by cutting and
constructing new linguistic derivatives and semantic compounds. The
formation of holistic culture also creates new forms of expression of
linguistic visualisation, including those based on technology. Viewed from
the broader angle of communication, language visualisation becomes an
expression and tool of the principles of the designer logic of todays
world, one that allows integrating the different tiers of reality in the
universe of information and knowledge that could be constructed as a neophenomenological interpretation of existence. As an element of this process,
language visualisation allows integrating scientific, aesthetical, and
technological knowledge into creative and cognitive contexts.

Dr Julianna BORBLY
Partium Christian University, Romania
E-mail: juliannaborbely@gmail.com
Bound by Language: Adaptation and / or Fidelity in Translating
Animation Films
Both subtitling and dubbing of audio-visual products represent most
obvious instances of intercultural communication (ICC). In most cases
transposition of the source text into target language pairs with cultural
adaptation as well. In the light of J. David Gonzlez-Iglesias and Fernando
Todas argument that compared to subtitling, dubbing is considered more
effective in the manifestation of cultural differences or conflict in TV series
(2011), in the present paper we propose to explore to what extent the type of
the target language influences cultural adaptation in animation films. Based
on both subtitled and dubbed versions of the same English-language
animations into Hungarian (agglutinative language) and Romanian
(inflectional language) we argue that the degree of both language and
cultural adaptation is greater in agglutinative languages than in inflectional
ones.

Prof Dr Russell J. COOK


Loyola University Maryland, USA
E-mail: rjcook@loyola.edu
Sound Lets You See
The audiovisual screen beckons us like no other artifact of human history.
In little more than a century, screen media (film, video, electronic games,
computer displays, smart phones, portable media players, etc.) have woven
themselves into the fabric of our lives. We live in an information society
in terms of technology and commerce and a screen society from a
perceptual point of view. Immersed in our cultures barrage of screen
images, we face visuality itself our reliance on seeing over hearing. Jean
Gebsers investigation of visual culture reveals this ocurlarcentrism as a
primary aspect of the mental mutation of human consciousness, which
privileges the individuals point of view over the orality of ones tribe
within the mythic and magic mutations. Mental consciousness blossomed in
the era of the mass media. Seeing became synonymous with knowing. The
ancient oral traditions and aural attunements seemed to vanish into silence.
However, as Gebser teaches us, those ancient modes of consciousness were
not lost but merely covered over. The music of the spheres erupts to the
surface in the modern screen media. In fact, the soundtracks of screen media
dictate what pictures we see.

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MA Silvija IAIT-RUDOKIEN
Kazimieras Simonaviius University, Lithuania
E-mail: silvija.cizaite-rudokiene@ksu.lt
From Local to Global in Lithuanian Theatre: Death of Cynicism and
Triumph of Sincerity
Professional theatre in Lithuania has had an influence of several different
cultures which has an impact in changing theatre idea and esthetics. First
one is influencing of Russian classical school, which affects entrenchment
of psychological realism with local transformation metaphorical theatre
(metaphors through visuality). Second stage is associated with
postmodernism and globalization influence of Western life tendencies.
Because of that the border of visual theatre was crossed. The theatre moved
forward from representation to presentation, and concept of performativity.
Third stage reveals seeking of self-identification in a global world. The
most important factor in this stage is a rethinking of history (from the
beginning of professional Lithuanian theatre) and denial of cynicism,
bringing rebirth of the sincerity (new sincerity). Paradoxically, but seeking
for (Lithuanian) originality is just a symbol of being a part of a global
world. And performativity in theatre takes hold close relation with kitsch.
That is not a postmodern view of popular culture, but the expression of
(new) sincerity trough ideas and visuality.
The aim of the presentation is to reveal the changed concept of
performativity, influence of stage art to society (and vice versa) and
contemporary tendencies rising hypothesis of new esthetics formation.

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MA Canan EULENBERGER-ZDAMAR
University of Hamburg, Germany
E-mail: c.eulenberger@hotmail.com
Viva Teutonia! Bratwurst, Beer & Gemtlichkeit The Role of Images
in Tourism: Promoting Intercultural Communication or Reinforcing
Stereotypes in the name of Business?
One of the terms defining the frames of this conference is globalization
a term that leads inevitably to another one which is as worn as unavoidable:
intercultural communication. Apart from those everyday intercultural
encounters which we all experience against the background of our own
familiar culture and environment, there is one area of our lives, outside this
familiar setting, in which we are confronted with foreign and unfamiliar
cultures to a far more intense degree: tourism. Travelling in the sense of
an undertaking which was reserved to exclusive circles of society for long
years has transformed into the mass tourism of nowadays, which is
particularly one thing: economic product, economic power and factor of
globalization. In this due course countries and cultures themselves become
economic products and as such touristic destinations have to be marketed,
advertised and sold in the very best way. Selling is the key word and what is
sold does not always match reality but rather the pictures in our head of
places and people which we carry with us and which we want to see
fulfilled. What could be better in satisfying these pictures in our heads than
other pictures that apparently match all our dreams and longings
especially when it comes to holiday. The role of images in this context is
enormous; no travel guide, holiday brochure or destination advert manages
on without a visual production of the target destination. The question rises
whether these images draw realistic pictures of destinations and as such
open the viewers mind and gaze to new cultural settings or whether they
rather enforce certain stereotypes which the viewer is believed wanting to
see. Having a look at some exemplary visual presentations of Germany in
selected touristic print media we will see whether these images reflect
German reality or whether the viewer ends up in a touristic make-believeworld based on alluring clichs and stereotypes.

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Assoc Prof Dr Nadja FURLAN TANTE


University of Primorska, Slovenia
E-mail: nadja.furlan@zrs.upr.si
Intercultural Visuality of Womens Spirituality
The paper examines phenomenon of womens spirituality through the visual
ethics of reception, that is, with seeing as an ethical act. It criticizes classical
Western (Christian) traditions which reinforced relations of domination and
created victim-blaming spiritualities and ethics.
The paper then moves on to consider the question, to what extent do our
ethical responses to images of womens inferiority in religion (Christianity),
take place pre-reflectively, by visual-perceptual processes in the body-mind,
before images even come to consciousness. The impact of collective
memory regarding negative gender stereotypes and its representations and
images in Western Visual culture is also discussed. How do different
images of negative representations of women in religion (Christianity)
influence our ethical responses and moral behavior?
Return of religion of the Goddess (in Western cultures), as one of most
unexpected developments of late 20th century and its impact on the
perception and image of God in Western monotheistic religions (focuss on
Christianity) in also considered.

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Prof Dr Habil Wojciech GIZICKI


The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
E-mail: wgizicki@kul.pl
European Security and Intercultural Dialogues: Is It Possible?
One of important parts of European security is intercultural communication
and social dialogue. Contemporary international reality requires undertaking
effective cooperation on global and regional levels. It is difficult to separate
the goals and assignments associated with security implemented at the
national and international levels.
Security is one of the basic values. However, modern security is composed
of efficient utilization of the potential within diplomacy and strength, a
balanced relationship between soft and hard power, different culture,
society and nation.

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Assoc Prof Dr Gizela HORVTH (1),


Assoc Prof Dr Rozlia Klra BAK (2)
Partium Christian University, Romania (1);
Sapientia University, Romania (2)
E-mails: horvathgizela@gmail.com (1);
bakorozalia@sapientia.siculorum.ro (2)
Online Artistic Activism as Effective Intercultural Communication
Technical reproduction in general and photography in particular, have
changed the status and practices of art. Similarly, the expansion of Web 2.0
interactive spaces presents opportunities and challenges to artistic
communities. The Internet has impacted the reception of works of art.
Today, we encounter more visual materials than we would have in a
lifetime in the era of traditional photography. This phenomenon is even
more valid for art-related online content, given the multimedial and
intercultural context of visual communication.
The present study focuses on artistic activism: socially sensitive artists
publish their creation on the Internet, on its most interactive space social
media. These artworks carry both artistic and social messages. These
practices force us to reinterpret some elements of the classical art paradigm:
its autonomy, authorship, uniqueness (as opposed to copy and series), and
the social role of art.

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Dr Ilya INISHEV
Higher School of Economics, Russia
E-mails: iinishev@hse.ru (a), inishev@gmail.com (b)
Materiality and Visuality: Modes of Iconic Presence in Visual
Environments of Contemporary Culture
One of the few points on which most theoreticians in the field of pictorial
representation agree is that there is some correlation between semantic
(meaningful) and non-semantic (material or perceptive) elements of
pictorial representation of any kind.
Nevertheless the obvious problem with this statement is that there is a wide
range of such correlations between the pictorial content (meaning of a
picture) and material qualities of pictorial surface (picture design) that
extend from minimal semantic role of materiality in schemes and diagrams
to the maximal one in photography, film and painting, i.e. from different
kinds of pictorial representation to some kind of specific pictorial
presence (the case, when pictorial objects are precisely what they mean).
Moreover, each type of the pictorial objects finds its correspondence in a
definite type of perception, which means that there are different ways and
grades of emotional and cognitive involvement in the pictorial experience,
that is to say, different modes of the perceiving subjects presence
correlative to the particular meaning-design-correspondence of a pictorial
object. These modes of the perceiving subjects emotional-cognitive
involvement stretch from discrete cognitive-perceptive act to holistic
sensual-bodily presence.
The paper is aimed at elaboration of a dynamic and continual model of
pictorial objects, the elements of which can be found in different versions of
picture theory originating from both analytical and phenomenological
tradition. To consider the notion of picture dynamically and continually
means to think of the pictorial not as a set of unambiguously identifiable
substantial qualities, but as the matter of structural characteristics and
degree. Perception of pictures draws more on our ability to perform the
temporally and spatially specific experience, i.e. to come into a cognitive,
bodily, cognitive and emotional contact with a complex material surface of
a picture than on the (just cognitive) ability to correctly identify an object.
Thus, different cases of the pictorial experience can be differentiated
gradually and structurally rather than categorically.

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Assoc Prof Dr Egl JAKNIEN


Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
E-mails: egle.jaskuniene@vgtu.lt (a), eglejas@gmail.com (b)
Creative Industries Strategies in Soviet Lithuania: Packages of Mass
Consumption Goods
The paper explores the Soviet mechanism of including the creative
potentials into formation of economical and ideological policy strategies.
Research aims to examine, how mass media and culture theories by Walter
Benjamins, Frankfurt school and British Culture studies reflects the
situation of mass culture in soviet system. Case study developed in this
paper is based on Lithuanian package design of 19601970s.

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Prof Dr Janez JUHANT


University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
E-mail: janez.juhant@guest.arnes.si
Cultural Dialogue as a Possibility for Human Development
A person is a symbolic being. He / she cannot operate without the ability to
express him / herself. Human language, a symbolic structure, is the means
to accomplish it. Language enables a person to be open to the other and
consequently to realize oneself through others. This mutual exchange allows
for the implementation of cultural skills, which are requirements to
communicate and to develop oneself. The human approach is a very
complicated exchange of a symbolic structure. The most important part of
this is not simply the exchange of words but the expression of emotional
communication. Obstacles in this emotional exchange such as parental or
other relational violence seriously damage peoples symbolic ability. On the
other hand good communication is the foundation of a happy life for
individuals and supportive for the art of life of individuals and society.
Dialogical cultural exchange as a human creative process preserves
humanity in its core and opens the paths of human creativity. These are the
problems of todays reclamation and advertisement industries. Violent,
authoritative or even totalitarian patterns hinder, if not totally prevent,
normal human development. The essential remains unseen; images are
necessary to see it: I am never that which others think I am and I am never
there where eyes see me.

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Assoc Prof Dr Agnieka JUZEFOVI


Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
E-mails: agnieska.juzefovic@vgtu.lt (a), agnieska_j@yahoo.com (b)
Intercultural Influences in the Formation of Tango Music and Dance
Spread of ideas, styles, religions, technologies, languages, between different
cultures is essential condition of their development and transformations.
Intercultural relation may be seen in formation and development of various
styles of music and dances. This presentation is focused toward topic of
intercultural background of tango dance and music which has raised as a
product of transcultural hybridization. How various cultures contributed to
the process of formation of tango? Various scholars disagree on the topic of
importance of particular influences. There are two cardinally different
position about African influences according to R. H. Thomson many other
authors it was essential for appearance and development of tango music and
dance, which itself was an product of descendants of former black slaves.
Meantime Mario Broeders and some other researchers doubt importance of
black influence and argue the idea that during the process of formation of
tango local black peoples already had lost their ethnical identity and
considered themselves rather as any other porteos. There is no doubt that
development and formation of tango music certainly was influenced by
immigrants from various European countries, particularly from Italy, which
were most numerous in Argentine of late 19th and early 20th sciecle. They
had huge contribution on the process of formation of tango music and lyric
which was enriched with sorrow, anguish and nostalgia, they also created
lunfardo slang used in tango lyric. Cultural interaction became even more
intensive when tango went beyond Argentina and became popular in
Europe, particularly in Paris. In contemporary western word, according to
Ramn Pelinski, traditional Argentinian el tango porteo is replaced by el
tango nomade. Thus if during turn of 19th and 20th centuries tango raised
as an product of various cultural influences, a century later tango become a
particular way of life which suppose constant tango trips into various tango
festivals and marathons around whole Europe. Background of tango is a
dialogue without words. This suggest that famous philosopher of dialogue
Martin Buber unlocked spiritual meaning of tango. Contemporary
renaissance of tango is caused by its intercultural background, strong
traditionalism and at the same flexible ability to develop and adapt to
contemporary moods and needs.

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Prof Dr Tomas KAERAUSKAS


Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
E-mail: tomas.kacerauskas@vgtu.lt
Two Incommensurable Discourses: Creative Industries and Culture
Industry
The paper deals with an aspect of incommensurability between two akin
discourses, i.e. creative industries (J. Howkins, R. Florida) and culture
industry (M. Horkheimer and Th. W. Adorno, H. Marcuse). The author
notices that the authors of the first one do not appeal to the authors of the
latter one although the very term of creative industries has been stemmed
from the term culture industry. Additionally, the discourse of creative
industries is not as much sociological as euphoric while the discourse of
culture industries is critical and philosophical. According to the author,
the reason is not only the diet and closeness of the theorists guilds but
also the competition of theoretical discourses.

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Assoc Prof Dr Branko KLUN


University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
E-mail: branko.klun@teof.uni-lj.si
J.-L. Marions Creative Hermeneutics of the Visible: Between the Idol
and Icon
Jean-Luc Marion developed a phenomenology of the visible which
alternates between the self-giving of visual phenomena and the receivers
way of approaching and seeing them. He introduces a paradigmatic
distinction between the idol, which is interpreted in a positive way within
the saturated phenomenon of painting, and the icon, which is closely
associated with the phenomenon of the (human) face. Whereas a painting,
with its excessive visibility, triggers a creative hermeneutical process on the
part of the recipient, a face sets a limit to any hermeneutical approach and,
despite its visual appearance, opens up an ethical meaning beyond its
visibility. This exceptional meaning can serve as an ethical criterion in the
pluralism of visual interpretations which exists within intercultural
dialogue. To exemplify its line of argumentation, the paper will refer to the
recent tragic events at the Charlie Hebdo.

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Prof Dr Omar LAROUK


University of Lyon, France
E-mails: larouk@enssib.fr (a), larouko@yahoo.fr (b)
Contribution of the Image Information of in Economic Innovation, via
a Web Multicultural Media Environment
The available data are becoming ever more numerous, even superabundant,
the search for useful information is necessary because we need to
distinguish reliable information from the distorted information (biased) or
false information (unreliable or propaganda), it must therefore hold that
relationship to digital information for strategic decision making and
corporate image.
The web has billions of photos, with the breakthrough digital device
(camera, cell phones, camcorders, etc.). In addition, alternative publications
on the web, via multicultural media (personal websites, blogs, etc.) and
social networks like (Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)
offer combinatorial possibilities to display images to enrich a cultural
portal. As the Web becomes visual, the traditional hypertext analysis is
used to load image files as image-queries. A presentation of a set of
corresponding images according to their connection generates a mapping
having similarity components (related images).

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MA Felipe LOZANO
MA Felipe Lozano
National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan
E-mail: feloz69@gmail.com
The Perception Process within Non-Places: A Transcultural
Phenomenon across the Globe
A great part of contemporary life occurs inside non-places and being
considered as sites of ephemeral access with a permanent timeless
presence and a global ubiquity, it would be possible to notice how all these
phenomena modify or even define the social construction of traveling.
Lodging, recreation, transit, consumption, and so on, this tangle of routes
and places provide comfort and services to the user, and regardless the
geographical point of destination the collective experience within these nonplaces is juxtaposed with the particular and individual, the perception
process is then staked by other contexts which are not usually found in a
more familiar place; the non-place creates a decontextualized
environment for those who experience it.
This research seeks to show paradoxical concepts and the spaces that
characterize them; the semiotics and aesthetics of the image, the perceptual
and cognitive sense of vision and the referent to urban planning and
architecture. It is proposed to review these concepts as a direct reflection of
social psychology and how globalized images affect the human mind
through these great architectural achievements, our cities.

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Prof Dr Kstutis LUPEIKIS


Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
E-mails: kestutis.lupeikis@vgtu.lt (a), klapklap@gmail.com (b)
Intercultural Aspects of The Minimalist Form
The architectural heritage of old cultures displays more or less open efforts
to achieve perfection and harmony that conceptually may be related with
various meanings of minimalism. Minimalist objectives are clearly reflected
in the architectural and urban heritage of the majority of old civilizations
and later epochs. The ideas of the minimum have been persistent since the
dawn of civilization, irrespective of place and time. They can be related to
striving for eternal values and ideals that are also reflected in the search
through the epochs for clear, simple, and perfect forms, as well as ideal
structures of urban geometry. The abundance of architectural objects
displaying minimalist expression, their importance within a particular
historical context, and the regular activation of minimalist expression in
different locations testify that the distribution of minimalist values does not
depend on space or time. Minimalist expression acquires various forms and
is an ever changing phenomenon in the continuous process of reassessing
values accompanying the development of human civilization. This is the
central contention of this report. The report is also expected to discuss about
variations in the concept of minimalism, place in space and time, primary
manifestations and chronology, diversity of expression, geographical
distribution and position in the architecture of Lithuania.

24

Assoc Prof Dr Frank Thomas MEYER


Mediadesign Hochschule, Germany
E-mail: drpunktmeyer@aol.com
In Brand We Trust: Transcultural Global Branding
By the year 2000 we were supposed to look alike and act alike: wearing
Levi Strauss & Co. jeans, Lacoste (alligator) shirts, Adidas running shoes,
and swatch watches while watching CNN on Samsung televisions, drinking
Heineken, eating at McDonalds and singing in karaoke bars (Schneider /
Barsoux 2003: 3). It has shown that it is a myth that living in a convergence
culture implies that global brands dominate the world. But first it is not a
one way process as brands and products themselves influence trends and
cultural shifts. Second it seems to depend on the tradition of the product.
Nowadays consumers easily get in touch with newer products such as
Mobile devices like Samsung, Sony, and Apple Inc. or with global food
brands like Frito-Lay and Red Bull. Marc de Swaan Arons and Frank van
den Driest argue that the newer the product category, the greater the
capacity to harmonize the mix upon launch (Swaan, Driest 2010: 5).
Particularly when products have no antecedents their global success seems
predestinated. In my presentation I explore the impact of brands of culture
and vice versa.
In order to gain insight into the nature of brand identity and its development
in the era of globalization I look through the prism of existing concepts like
globalization, identity, marketing that brands are derived from existing
cultural capital. The most complex impact has culture. The perception of
culture means acknowledging stereotypes. One starting point could be the
change in Eastern countries which not necessarily led to a embrace
Western-style management and brands. Instead, the Western-style can
trigger a forceful reassertion of local values and beliefs. The potential for a
backlash against brands is strong, particularly when these are experienced
as imposed. Brand is the sum of all experience one has with the product:
product, service, tradition and culture that is behind it, insofar I am focusing
on the relation between brands and culture.

25

Acad Prof Dr Algis MICKNAS


Ohio University, USA
E-mail: amuali@gmail.com
The Field of Transparent Visuality
The presentation is designed to explicate the visual and light metaphors,
prevalent in analyses of visuality, including the cultural, political and
advertising codes and to decipher their limitations. The latter will disclose
what is transparent through them and lead to the unnoticed condition of
all visuality as, in principle, formed by transparency. Examples will be
taken from film, art works, political and commercial advertisements and the
rhetoric of communication theories.

26

MA Tomas MITKUS
Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
E-mail: tomas.mitkus@vgtu.lt
Lithuanian Film Industry in 21st Century: Development Report in
National and Regional Context
In this article author continues to analyses cultural and economic aspects of
Lithuanian film industry in the 21st century. The article discusses the film
industrys cultural, symbolic and economic capital in national context and
analyzes Lithuanian film industry competitive status in the region. To
achieve the study objectives and determine the viewers attitude towards the
national film industry, a quantitative questionnaire survey was carried out.
Questionnaire results are compared with similar questionnaire done by
author in 2011. To determine industrys strengths and weakness in
international film service market author compares with regional results.

27

Assoc Prof Dr Laimut MONGINAIT


Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
E-mails: laimute.monginaite@vgtu.lt (a), mailablue@gmail.com (b)
Peculiarities of the Sensations of the Light and the Colours
The conception and structure of the sensation. Juozas Mureika about the
sensation. The nature of the phenomena of colour. The light and the colours
everywhere as the environment of life of the human being. The mechanism
of the seeingness of colours and its multidimentional functionality in the
physiology, subconsciousness, consciousness of the human being and in
cultural symbols. The light and the colours under the conditions of the
sensation of the intentional beings of the beauty. The continuum of the
traditional range of colours. To watch to see to empathize to
understand to recognize to acknowledge the value to experience a new
insight.

28

Prof Dr John W. MURPHY


University of Miami, USA
E-mail: j.murphy@miami.edu
Can Communities Be Seen?
Communities are understood typically in empirical terms. So-called
empirical indicators are used to identify the dimensions and significance of
these groups. As a consequence, they can be seen. But this outlook is called
into question by recently developed community-based strategies. In short,
the dualism that supports the representational thesis is undermined by
community participation, and thus communities cannot be seen. New
imagery must then be adopted to investigate and characterize communities.
In a manner of speaking, communities can only be touched. This
presentation will address how community mapping, a common practice in
social planning, must be rethought in view of this tactile orientation.

29

Adjunct Prof Arto MUTANEN


National Defence University, Finland
E-mail: arto.mutanen@gmail.com
Relativity of Visual Communication
Communication is sharing and conveying information. In visual
communication especially visual messages have to be formulated and
interpreted. The notion of visual information presupposes well defined
notions of syntax and semantics for visual language. The (linguistic)
notions of syntax, semantics, and information are well defined in the
philosophy of language. Visual is closely connected to vision and, more
generally, to perception. We will use the logic of perception in analyzing
what kinds of information we can acquire via visual communication. We
will use Charles Sanders Peirces theory of signs to analyze different kinds
of expressing methods needed in visual communication. Logic of perception
together with the methods for expressing different kinds of information
formulates the philosophical foundation of visual communication. However,
at the same, these methods are human constructions which allow us to
evaluate the cultural relativity of visual communication.

30

Assoc Prof Dr Basia NIKIFOROVA


Lithuanian Culture Research Institute, Lithuania
E-mails: basia.nikiforova@lkti.lt (a), bnikiforova@hotmail.com (b)
The Reconceptualization of Materiality in the Brother Quay Lost
Civilization World
The paper deals with the concept of the reconceptualization of materiality
and matter manipulation in the Brothers Quay animation works. The matter
manipulation is not limited to the actual matter. The Brothers Quay
perceive the acting matters as symbols and signs of human activities and
relationships. For them, there is no fundamental difference between
matters and living beings inhabiting their films. In the context of
globalization the Brothers Quay look on the matter manipulation as the
process of machine production, reproduction, destruction, repair and
deconstruction. The creation process acts as a magic spell, in which objects
are transformed into something else. The Street of Crocodiles is an example
of deep understanding of lifelessness as a mask, a kind of conspiracy,
behind which unknown life forms hide. The Brothers Quay creative works
tell us about autonomous existence of objects beyond their direct utilitarian
purpose. Despite the paradox of visual embodiment, it fits into a
philosophical metatheory of the new materialism, which transversely
crosses streams of matter and mind, body and soul, nature and culture. The
legacy of Brothers Quay open to us the world of ordinary, banal things,
signs of time on their body shell, in contradiction with the dominance of
endless consumption of new, intrusive advertising and cult of youth, in
which there is no room for sign of the times.
The phenomenon of the impact of Bruno Schulz on the work of the Brothers
Quay will analyzed from their engagement in the arts and culture of Central
Europe.

31

Assoc Prof Dr Robertas PUKENIS


Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
E-mail: r.pukenis@pmdf.vdu.lt
Rellation of Romenian Law with Other Cultures in Classical Period
It is clear that Roman Empire, growing worldwide, had a contact with the
cultures of other nations. From the foundation of the city of Rome in 753
B.C. to the collapse of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D., this Empire
encompassed a period of 1300 years. So during this period the Roman
Empire had embraced other cultures, even if it is said that the conquered
Greeks had hellenized Rome. In this way the Roman Emperors used to
appropriate everything what was progressive and noble of the other nations
and what was suitable for the Roman law. The Feziali law was already used
by the Albanian, Laurenti, Falishi, Ardeati nations. This is the most
beautiful example of the notions of visuality and Empire (audi Iupiter,
audite fines, audiat fas: ego sum publicus nuntius populi romani, etc.). The
Feziali law existed for eight centuries, and then established the customs for
contemporary international law and diplomacy. Romanians with the nations
beyond the borders of the Empire were exposing by contracts: hospitium,
amicitia and foedera (this means the contract form). The Romans, when
occupying a new land, had not changed the customs and faith of the natives
(they built a Panheon in respect for the gods of all the nations) but were
supressing all the manifestations of separatism. The Romans created the
legal framework for the newcomers of the foreign nations from the Empire
outskirts in order to develop trade and to protect justice, i.e. ius gentium.
Roman law was based on natural law and gave to humanity the unsurpassed
phenomenon, i.e. Roman law, which today is dead but its concepts, logic
and terms are used in the legal culture of humanity in the 21st century (for
example, pacta sunt servanda, ius belum et ius pacis, etc.). Some conceps
have obvious visuality because the Roman Empire cannot be described
using the notions of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. In Roman sense the
homeland ends in the place, in which one can stop and embrace the horizon
in his (her) eyes and its center is Jupiter.

32

Assoc Prof Dr Edita RIAUBIEN


Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
E-mail: edita.riaubiene@vgtu.lt
The Uniqueness of Images as the Assumption of Architects Creativity
Visuality is essential and inevitable for the architects creative work.
Sketches and drawings fill the daily routine of architectural design. In some
periods architecture was even reduced to the picture, denying its spatial
nature and pragmatic purpose (Andr Charles Boulle, Claude Nicolas
Ledoux, Lebbeus Woods). Since New Ages the artistic creation increasingly
claimed a higher inspiration, sought to personalize it, and the principles of
modernity promoted visionary provisions and architectural manifestations
and constantly activated architects imagination. The global world that
produces and uses the infinite number of images raises the awkward task for
the architect to create constantly new and original object. The imperative of
innovation brings the dilemma for architect where and how to gain more
new images. The study provides some insights and links to the stimulation
of unique images, the visual fixation of the reflections of subconscious and
imagination as the great source of architects creativity.

33

MA Kastytis RUDOKAS
Kazimieras Simonaviius University, Lithuania
E-mail: kastytis.rudokas@ktu.lt
Visuality and Signification: Narrativistic Appraoch towards Urban
Heritage Preservation
The field of cultural heritage
regarding to its fundamental
gained a status of authority
exposition of authenticity
visuality.

has been lacking of comprehensive concern


meaning. Since the heritage protection has
in Western civilization, it focused on the
material artifacts that provide historic

Narrativist approach to urban heritage field seeks to perceive the city as a


spatiotemporal matrix where past-present-future constantly intersects at
many notional nods. Therefore visual understand of historic buildings
imposes a very narrow understand of heritage itself. Research of this
presentation aims to shed light on visuality aspect of urban heritage
simultaneously revealing non-linear, network based ideas of urban heritage
perception.
The provision of the issue claims that urban heritage must vary according
Bill Hilliers the global-local rule thus visuality has been constantly
changing in terms of formal transformortion as well as the same visuality
can vary due the general change of the need of society. The latter aspect of
the shift is to be perceived as an interconnection of different periods of
chronicle time dwelled in the local fabric of places cultural background,
while the former derives from interoperability of various of outer
influences.

34

MA Elena SAKALAUSKAIT
Kazimieras Simonaviius University, Lithuania
E-mail: elena.sakalauskaite@gmail.com
Augmented Reality Art in Various Cultural Contexts
Augmented reality is one of newest contemporary media, usage of it is
rapidly expanding in various spheres of life. Among them, art field is one of
the most welcoming and filled with opportunities. Therefore augmented
reality art differs, depending on the cultural context it has been created
within. This presentation is aiming to analyze few examples of similar
augmented reality artworks in various cultural contexts and to find out what
particular cultural context adds to the meaning of the created artwork.

35

Assoc Prof Dr Jolanta SALDUKAITYT


Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
E-mails: jolanta.saldukaityte@vgtu.lt (a), jolanta.saldukaityte@gmail.com
(b)
Encountering the Stranger
In my presentation I am going to discuss phenomenological significance of
the meaning-complex stranger / alien / alterity. As depiction of strangers
and aliens has a long tradition in the visual arts, literature, etc., I am going
to look at how the phenomenological problem of stranger / alien might be
represented.
Although even encountering the stranger might be discussed as a purely
aesthesis experience, no doubt the problem of the stranger and alien reflects
ethical and political issues in contemporary society. Relating this to the
ethical notion of alterity in the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, I am
going to discuss how encounter with something different and strange
foreign people, foreign cultures, foreign languages, etc. is a challenge for
our own identity.

36

Dr Moacir P. de S PEREIRA
Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
E-mails: moacir-pranas.de-sa@vgtu.lt (a), moacir@gmail.com (b)
Poking out Gods Eye and Touching the Spatial Turn
The postmodern freezing of history to make room for the spatial has
reenergized a focus on the visual in the analysis of aesthetic in this case
specifically literary objects. Texts like thoughts are mapped, and then the
critic views the map, like God in Heaven, and decides the next step. But our
sight has led us into an epistemological blind alley, and it is time to add
other modes of feeling to our analytical tool belt. Building on an affective
form of analysis that considers the contingent relationships between objects
instead of the overall structure that they allegedly reveal when considered at
a distance, I aim to reclaim the importance of the metonymic interaction
that provides the realist novel its energy. Looking for systems is
insufficient; we have to start to sense how objects join and pull away from
one another. Doing so shakes us out of our centripetal critical spiral, leaving
us the freedom to build new political forms.

37

Dr Efim SHAPIRO (1),


Dr Natalia BABETS (2)
Ural Federal University, Russia (1);
Ural Federal University, Russia (2)
E-mails: shapiroefim@gmail.com (1);
babets58@mail.ru (2)
Yekaterinburg: Semantic Maps. The City through the Eyes of
Foreigners
Yekaterinburg is gradually becoming more attractive for foreigners like the
center of economic activity and business tourism, international trade, the
host of different sport and art events. According to that line of development,
it is obviously that our city needs to be fully represented at international
media resources, which make the image of Yekaterinburg. It is made with
the help of Internet, charts, journals, newspapers, TV, guide and historical
books, maps and peoples opinions. We have conducted a survey among
people abroad and make a conclusion that the majority of interviewers
consider Yekaterinburg is the capital of constructivism art, industrial city
with many factories, but the main characteristic feature is the murder of the
last Russian emperor Nicholas II of Russia here. However, there are a lot of
others.
The target of our research is to reveal reasons of incongruity between the
image of Yekaterinburg in media and the current situation. What sources,
schemes and ways of forming semantic maps of Yekaterinburg in minds of
residents and city visitors.
The subject of research is features of symbolic perception of Yekaterinburg
of foreign people. The object is foreigners: teachers, lecturers, students,
tourists.
The issue being studied in our work is the semantics maps, overlaps in
foreigners minds before and after visiting Yekaterinburg (lexical and
cultural gaps, variety of matches). In the research we use the following
research methods: interview, questionnaire, analysis of different sources,
focus groups.

38

Assoc Prof Dr Yaroslava SHEKERA


Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine
E-mail: yarochka2009@gmail.com
Image in Poetic Works of Huang Tingjian: Hermeneutics of
Hieroglyphic Text
For Western researcher the poetic world of Chinese artist is submerged in
the complex of world-view and moral principles which it is possible to
investigate only through the hieroglyphic text as a manifestation of this
world-view. Text is the special linguistic, system-structural formation,
behind the ideograms of which there are definite elements of wen-culture
(). Revealing the codes of thought and world-perception of the Chinese,
fixed in hieroglyphics, as well as enlightening the principles of figurative
reproducing in the language of artistic picture of the world leads to
understanding of the hidden sense in Chinese poetry, which, however, it is
impossible to interpret in the only way because of different connotations of
images and various associations, caused by the basic etymological ideas of
characters. In the article it is shown in what way the idea of hieroglyph (but
not its meaning) influences the figurative picture of the whole poem; in fact,
there is no doubt that creation of visual image (Ezra Pound) played a
leading role in formation of the Chinese culture, being closely connected
with life of this nation.
Also the poem of Huang Tingjian (10451105) in ci genre on the melody of
Su Zhong Qing has been analyzed; by means of etymological (language
and culturological) analysis of key ideograms , and the attempt to
recreate the figurative subtext of poem has been made.

39

Assoc Prof Dr Liudmila STAROSTOVA (1),


Assoc Prof Dr Larisa PISKUNOVA (2)
Ural Federal University, Russia (1);
Ural Federal University, Russia (2)
E-mails: starostova5@mail.ru (1);
lppiskunova@gmail.com (2)
Formation of Cross-Cultural Communication Skills by Means of
Cinema
In the context of globalization the economy requires from workers not only
ability to make decisions and act in the proposed circumstances, to be
mobile in the perception of information, but also to match the different
points of view and avoid harsh value judgments (cross-cultural
competence), that means linking of the different pictures of the world.
If the mosaic information environment destroys the habitual forms of
mental operations, replacing them with new ones, the education is nothing
to do but to understand and use the fragmented cultural field as a new
communication form. Therefore, the use of screen culture products in this
field is the most appropriate pedagogic device.
The purpose of the article is study of the influence of visual culture on the
ways of working with information in the learning process, the identification
of key skills of working with visual (screen) information and the importance
of these skills in cross-cultural communication.
Our research is based on the Marshall McLuhans approach to the analysis
of communication, screen communication theory (Jean Baudrillard, Gilles
Deleuze), John Deweys pedagogical theory, theory of intercultural
communication Edward T. Holl, Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars.

40

Assoc Prof Dr Vojko STRAHOVNIK


University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
E-mail: vojko.strahovnik@teof.uni-lj.si
Moral Perception, Moral Intuition, Disagreement and Dialogue
The paper deals with the notion of moral perception. Moral perception can
be initially characterized as a distinctive moral response to concrete
situations (as it is in a famous Gilbert Harmans case of me coming around
the corner and witnessing hoodlums setting on fire a live cat, instantly
seeing this as morally wrong) and non-inferential basis or justification for
forming a moral judgment. Such a notion of moral perception is linked to
similar notions, especially those of moral intuition, imagination, and
emotion. In particular the paper focuses on moral perception and intuition as
ways of attaining moral knowledge. Several dimension involved in this
debate are discussed, including methodological, epistemic and structural
aspects. At the end a problem of moral disagreement is discussed as an
objection that is often made against our reliance on moral perception and
intuition. This debate can also provide us valuable insights for intercultural
conflicts and cross-cultural dialogues, which emerge from such apparent
disagreement.

41

Assoc Prof Dr Rok SVETLI


University of Primorska, Slovenia
E-mail: rok.svetlic@guest.arnes.si
The Violence as the Symptom of Weak Thinking
Central scope of this contribution is a philosophical analysis of
contemporary criticism on democratic culture and human rights, especially
its radical and revolutionary form. Just to mention some authors referred to:
Slavoj iek, Alain Badiou, Antonio Negri, Giorgio Agamben, Michel
Foucault, Naomi Klein. Common strategy to object to the ideas of this kind
is focused on its affinity to violence. The strategy of this paper is, however,
different, since it aims to enter the problem-field on an entirely different
level. The intention is to isolate the spiritual horizon which calls for these
concepts and enables their comprehension. But to carry out this goal the
philosophical analysis must leave the level of moral judgments and enter the
ontological level of research. It will be shown that the militant fascination
with revolution today is the symptom of the weakness of thinking, of the
incapability to endure the mediations between the one and the many,
between principles and reality, society and the individual, finite and infinite
etc., that are relevant in democratic cultural environments.

42

Assoc Prof Dr Rta ERMUKNYT


Vilnius University, Lithuania
E-mail: ruta.sermuksnyte@is.vu.lt
Cultivating Visual Literacy in Teaching of History: The Example of
Lithuanian History Didactics
Following independence and a new openness to foreign expertise, there has
been a noticeable increase in attention paid to visual principles and methods
for teaching history in Lithuania, although these were known, considered
and employed to the extent possible during the Soviet period, in the
interwar Lithuanian Republic and in earlier periods of Lithuanian history.
Making use of current didactic history texts, educational regulations and
questions of the national history proficiency examination, this research
attempted to answer the following questions about the use of images: where
is the educational potential of imagery perceived? What functions are
assigned to imagery in history education? What suggestions are made for
interpreting images? These problems dictated the structure of the
presentation: it begins with a fragmentary discussion and survey of the
understanding of visual aides in history didactics in interwar Lithuania and
the Soviet period, then later concentrates on the current situation. The main
focus is on the declared adoption of an educational model based on history
sources, rethinking the functions of illustrations in textbooks and an
analysis of the states history proficiency examination, which hopefully
provide greater insight into the real rather than the declarative nature of the
use of imagery in the history education process. Analysis of the latter leads
to the conclusion that the adoption of an education model for the teaching of
history based on visual sources is not an accomplished fact, but a continuing
process.

43

Prof Dr Vytis VALATKA


Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
E-mails: vytis.valatka@vgtu.lt (a), vytis.valatka@gmail.com (b)
Temperance as Remedy: Dialogue between Ancient Greek Cynicism
and Contemporary Civilization
Ancient Greek Cynics earned fame mostly because of the first in the history
of Western thought ethical uprising against civilization and its morality.
According to Cynics, that morality annihilates the natural temperance and
substitutes it with extremely pernicious principal surplus of pleasures. The
latter finally leads to the state of internal chaos, permanent fear and anxiety.
The only possible remedy for that fatal illness is nothing but return to the
natural radical temperance the ultimate restriction of human needs.
The cult of pleasures is also an evident global disease of contemporary
consumer civilization. Nevertheless, radical remedy proposed by Ancient
Cynics would not suit nowadays. Yet, the mild temperance, which could be
defined as the sense of proportion in everything, could contribute to
mitigate the eternal malady of civilization. Thus the image of temperance as
remedy may start the dialogue between two allegedly incompatible
opponents Ancient Greek Cynicism and contemporary consumer
civilization.

44

Assoc Prof Dr Pao-Hsiang WANG


National Taiwan University, Taiwan
E-mail: paowang@ntu.edu.tw
Regime of Visuality in L. Kirkwoods Chimerica
Western perception of Asia has been predominantly informed by a visual
regime constructed by Orientalist, often gendered fantasies. As theorists
from Edward Said to Rey Chow have pointed out, imagery of Asia as a
realm of passive pleasure is constructed and conceived as much as
perceived. In the overwhelmingly feminized images of the exotic Orient,
Asian men are often eclipsed or eliminated. The relatively recent attention
turned on Asian man in the era of photojournalism, however, beginning
with the onset of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, particularly when the
picture of a Vietnamese monk set on fire shocked the world, deserves closer
critical attention. I propose to use Lucy Kirkwoods critically acclaimed
play premiered in London in 2013, Chimerica, as an example to explore
how the striking image of a man standing alone facing an array of tanks
barging into the Tiananmen Square in 1989 could become an icon of heroic
revolt against totalitarianism, and how the iconic image plays into the visual
conventions of Western imagination not only of heroism in general but also
of Asian man as an anonymous doomed anti-hero in particular.

45

MA Ewa WYLEK
University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland
E-mail: yousaid@tlen.pl
The Intercultural Value of the Underground Art
Undoubtedly, the era we live in is dominated by images. Whether it is a
photo on a social network, a picture sent to a friend a second after it had
been taken, or a ubiquitous selfie one cannot deny the importance of
visual communication. However, what sometimes may escape ones
attention is the fact that imagery that surrounds us would have not satisfied
a traditional art critic. Therefore, in my paper I wish to analyze the
departure from once was described by an English cultural critic Matthew
Arnold as sweetness and light to an entire new realm of visual message.
My way of seeing visual communication is that it bridges cultures precisely
because it belongs to what is no longer harmonious, proportional, light
and sweet. An example of such a bridge between cultures and states of
mind is to be found in works in Kehinde Wiley whose Nigerian origins,
American upbringing, and wide knowledge of European history create a
powerful cross-cultural bond. Living in multicultural media environment he
produces works that question the notions of Arnoldian understanding of art.
Wileys art proves that the history of European imagery has been mostly a
history of a white male. This however has changed as this artist tries to
resolve the tension and neglect that has been taking place throughout art
history. Even though he uses recognizable symbols of Old Masters, I argue
that he moves in new discourse, that of post-colonial and intercultural field.
As far as my methodological tools are concerned, I will be referring to
Theodor W. Adorno and Walter Benjamin as their standings will support
my inquiry into the visuality and communication.

46

MA Evija ZAA
University of Latvia, Latvia
Email: evija.zaca@lu.lv
Common Dreams of Global Cities in the Images
Images have always been an important part of city planning current
images of place, images with planned improvements, maps and sketches.
Some time ago all that was a private property of stakeholders like planer
and client.
But nowadays this confidentiality rather much has vanished no copyrights
or competition is noteworthy. Plans do not have their privacy anymore.
They became available for anyone who is interested in. And it happens even
before the project has started.
In my presentation I will try to find out why city planners share the images
of their ideas, of their dreams in public (mostly in blogs and social
networks) why it is important for them and what kind of feedback they are
waiting for. Is it a wish to find out the opinion of others? Do they want to
demonstrate their skills and knowledge to others? Or do they want to share
with their dreams of better places so the others could also have the same
dream, same ideas about what good place should look like?

47

Assoc Prof Dr Bojan ALEC


University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
E-mail: bojan.zalec@guest.arnes.si
(Inter-Cultural) Communication in the Age of Technical Images
The work of Vilm Flusser forms the starting point and the main frame of
reference of this paper. He developed a fruitful narrative about human
development based on a general analysis of cultural and media techniques
with the following paradigm shifts: a two-dimensional, magic based
pictorial culture, a linear text based alphabetic culture, and the culture of
technical images of the post-historical period (photography, film, video,
computer graphics, holography and virtual reality). He outlined a utopian
society which allows to net-dialogue and in which individuals can establish
a non-coercive relationship of mutual respect. The author critically reflects
on Flussers theory, on the potentials and limitations of technical images,
and points to relevant implications of the theory. He investigates it in
relation to (understanding and improving of) the inter-cultural
understanding, communication and dialogue.

48

PUBLICATIONS
Presented and prepared papers will be published in Vilnius
Gediminas Technical University research journals Creativity Studies
and Coactivity: Philosophy, Communication.

Editorial correspondence should be addressed to


Jovil Bareviit
Managing Editor of Creativity Studies and Coactivity: Philosophy,
Communication
Vilnius Gediminas Technical University
Saultekio al. 11, LT-10223 Vilnius, Lithuania
E-mail: jovile.bareviciute@vgtu.lt

49

NOTES

50

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