Lipskiy, V. N. On Mutual Relations Between the Artist and the Government in Russia

Abstract: The subject under review is mutual relations and interactions between the artist and the government. Special attention is paid to the transformation of the dominant, in the author’s opinion, model of the opposition between the artist and the government that was established during the pre-Soviet and Soviet periods of social development. Within the framework of the aforesaid model, relations between the artist and the government have become somewhat neutral without direct opposition between the aforesaid institutions at the present stage of development. Moreover, the author views another model of mutual relations between the artist and the government. Analyzing the latter, the author, on one hand, shows the singularity of American and Soviet popular cultures and, on the other hand, views the need for active influence on products of Russian popular culture by the government for the purpose of formation of national values. Methodological basis of the research is the neo-classical ontology of relations and interactions. Research methods used by the author include both general research procedures such as historical and logical methods and method of comparison and special research methods, in particular, the method of hermeneutic analysis. The author defines and analyzes peculiarities of the ‘neutral’ model of relations between the artist and the government and proves it to be the dominant model in today’s Russia. The author also shows that the process of artistic reflection is mostly the process of formation of new forms during which the artist views the objective reality in accordance with the beauty standards and Universal laws. The main conclusion made by the author is that in today’s Russia changes in social conditions lead to the complication of forms of interaction between the artist and the government.

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