DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2020.4.33547

Abstract: This article is dedicated to specificity of using mannequins in the museum exhibitions. Emphasis is made on the nuances of selection and preparation of a museum mannequin from the perspective of anthropology, and primarily such aspects as anthropological correspondence and symbolic component that allow turning the mannequin from a technical element into a constituent part of exhibition, which would translate the elements of intangible cultural heritage. The goal this research consists in the analysis of potential risks associated with neglecting the specificity of mannequin as a constituent part of museum exhibition. Field materials acquired from modern exhibitions in Russian and foreign museums served as the source material for this work. The main research methods became he case study and comparative analysis. It is concluded that the choice of mannequins for exhibitions should be conducted with consideration of actual anthropometry of the historical and cultural groups; if the mannequin is not impersonalized, its phenotype should be close to its ethnic group. If the listed above is impossible, the best option lies in deanthropologization of the mannequin; otherwise, they devalue the artistic level of exhibition and worth of the originals. Static mannequins with evident anthropomorphic features are perceived rather negatively, especially in a direct visual contact. Mannequins are capable of retranslating multiple body techniques as the elements of intangible cultural heritage, and this aspect should not be neglected. Mannequins can also be used in exhibition scenography.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2019.2.28444

Abstract: The interest of researchers towards the museum visitor has heightened over the recent years. However, the understanding of the current situation requires a retrospective culturological analysis of the role of museum in everyday life of a Soviet citizen. To answer this question, the authors referred to the nontraditional for museologists source – the Soviet caricature.  The subject of this research is the image of museum in satire and mass consciousness. Special attention is given to such concepts as the image of museum community, museum as a metaphor, and culturetreger function of museum. Based on the content analysis of the visual and descriptive materials of Soviet era, as well as the visual-comparative study of iconographic plots, the article is first to trace the image of Soviet museum and museum visitor in mass consciousness. In majority of cases, an emotional degree of the image of national museum and museum visitor in Soviet caricature is not a harsh satire, but a relatively soft and ideologically moderate humor, aimed at propaganda of the success of Soviet cultural building, although museums are not a frequent visitor on the pages of the Soviet satirical magazine “Krokodil”. A slight burst of museum and near-museum caricature can be traced only in the 1970’s. Quite likely it is related to the development of domestic tourism and new requirements to museums as a part of tourism sphere.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2018.2.26626

Abstract: During the recent years the topic of racism became somewhat topical for the Russian Federation, which calls for analyzing this phenomenon in historical retrospective. This article attempts to trace the representation of racism as a phenomenon, basing in the visiotypes of Soviet caricature of 1950s-1980s. The analysis of a visual narrative chiefly involves the three major groups of questions: a) the topic of racism and colonialism being examined from the then-popular "their morals" ideological prism; b) source-established racial and ethnic clichés for the representatives of foreign countries; c) racial and ethnic clichés established for Soviet citizens. The illustrations of the "Krokodil" magazine serve as the main source, along with other works by the leaders of Soviet caricature of this period. The methodology of this research is the decomposition of the visual narrative and the comparative analysis of visual sources. The main conclusion of this article is that, despite the formal opposition to racism on the government level, Soviet caricature went on cultivating racist prejudice regarding the nations of the world, including the USSR, sometimes following the instrumental tasks of authorities, and sometimes continuing the traditions of visualizing non-European peoples.  

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2017.3.23956

Abstract: Museums are widely considered to be a conflict-free space, but the modern social and cultural context and fundamental changes in museum functionality lead to the necessity of managing conflicts in exhibition space by museum institutions. The purpose of this study is to analyze the means and methods of representing various conflicts in the museum space basing on field materials from European museums. The majority of methods described in the article are aimed at achieving three main goals: to impact the visitor's consciousness, imprinting the destructive potential of the conflict, to model their role in the conflict and to simulate the feelings that derive from it, in order to get objective information on all participants and context of conflict. During the work on the study, the author employed the following methods of humanitarian research: the comparative and analytical method, the method of involved observation and the idiographic method. In domestic museology and conflictology, this subject was seldom raised. As practice shows, the conflict today is not a threat to museum, but, on the contrary, it has the potential of becoming the basis of the museum narrative. Everything can be used for an objective reflection of the conflict and leaving emotional impact on visitors - from architecture of the museum building and exposition structure, to the design of showcases and audio effects.