The history of the journal “Problems of arts and culture”
The history of the journal began thirty years ago when the conference of young scientists and post-graduates was for the first time held at the Institute of Architecture and Art of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. Collection of materials was published according to its results in the preface of which academician Abdulvahab Salamzade noted that the edition had embraced all spheres of history ofAzerbaijanart: architecture, fine arts, decorative-applied art, music and theatre”. 22 articles were placed there, the circulation was 1160 copies. The collection was called “Urgent problems of the development of Azerbaijan architecture and art”, Arif Aliyev was its executive secretary.
Two years later, in 1981 there was published the following issue called “Problems of the development of architecture and art in Soviet Azerbaijan”. There were 27 articles of young scientists and post-graduates there, the circulation was 1000 copies. It should be noted that in the first issues of the journal materials were not differentiated according to sections, articles followed one another beginning with the architecture and coming to end with the theatre. The appearance of a certain structure and then thematic issues happened later, in the middle of the 1990-es when the edition as well as the science as a whole goes through the crisis conditioned by socio-political and economic collisions at the end of the XX century.
Perhaps everybody remembers that at the beginning of the 1990-es the coordinated scientific activity as if came to a standstill, scientific journals and books were published rarely. It was beyond strength for separate authors and research collectives to publish them for financial reasons. TheInstituteofArchitectureand Art couldn’t avoid it either: since 1987 up to 1994 conferences of young scientists were not carried out, publications became isolated.
In 1994 the 5th conference was held, its theses were published. It was the cheapest issue: contents and even the title page, the cover were typed and the collection was published on yellow newsprint. But as it not paradoxical, just since that moment there has taken place the main turn in the history of the edition. It also concerns its name, structure and principles of the choice of materials. A small book with a circulation of 60 copies and 54 pages contained the theses of papers of 49 authors. For the first time the material was divided into four sections: architecture and urban-planning; music and musical folklore; fine and decorative-applied arts, theatre; and at last, theory of art and culture. This structure as a whole has been preserved up to present, fifteen years later. Above all, the edition got its present name – “Problems of art and culture” and besides it became yearly. Research worker of the department “Aesthetics” Ertegin Salamzade became its executive secretary.
The history of the journal and the history of the department of “Aesthetics and information culture” are closely interconnected. There of four executive secretaries of the journal were research workers of the department. In the course of eight years Gulnara Guliyeva fulfilled these duties. A lot of scientific ideas occurred in the department were tried at the pages of the journal. Another theme – how the department was assisting on the formation and development of the journal and how the journal maintained the new research tendency – problems of information culture. Whenever the time will come to dedicate a special publication to it.
Let’s return to the subject of successive transformation of the edition, internal and external transformation. Since 1995 the edition practices preparation of jubilee and thematic issues. That year the issue was devoted to the 90th anniversary of Mikail Useinov – the patriarch of the architecture and architectural science of our country who had built almost a half of modern buildings of the city Baku, in the course of several decades had been the head of Architects` Union of Azerbaijan and forty years the director of the Institute of Architecture and Art. The 80th anniversary of the academician Abdulvahab Salamzade, one of founders of architectural science and art of our country was noted in 1996. In 2001 the issue of edition was dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Karim Karimov who had devoted all his life to the study of miniature art. At last, in 2005 the issue of the annual journal “Problems of art and culture” was dedicated to the centenary of academician M.A.Useinov. Analysing the problems and structure of jubilee issues it should be noted that here the edition was advancing in the line of ascent. On the examples of three jubilees there was tried the model within the limits of which the first section was dedicated to creative activity of the scientist, the following ones as usual included articles on various problems of art. The issue of 2005 was the exception. It fully consisted of works embracing various sides of academician M.A.Useinov`s creation and in this sense was a new step in the investigation of tremendous scientific heritage of the patriarch of our science.
Completing the theme of jubilee and thematic issues it should be especially stopped on the 18th number of the journal published in 2006. It was timed to Russian year inAzerbaijan and forestalled the analogous event in Russian culture. There was prepared a special section where interconnections between schools of Azerbaijan and Russian art science were thrown light upon, culturological aspects of interrelations of the two countries considered, the role of Russian architects in the development of Azerbaijan urban planning analysed, thoughts about the carrying out of the first festival in Azerbaijan devoted to the centenary of the great composer Dmitry Shostakovich were published.
2007 became the time of the next serious transformation for the edition. Since then the journal is being published in today’s format, circulation – 200 copies, preserving its logotype and design. This landmark also notes quantitative change in periodicity of the journal, it becomes a quarterly edition. But the most serious transformation is connected whit the change of its status. According to the decision of the Highest Attestation Commission of Azerbaijan it was included in the list of recommended editions. Now it meets all formal requirements of the HAC including the obligatory review of articles.
At the same time the geography of authors becomes wider. Foreign scientists among whom it should especially be noted professor Vladmir Petrov (Russia), professor Ivan Santo (Hungary), professor Georgy Pochepsov (Ukraine), professor Vitaliy Otroshenko(Ukraine), professor Saida Agzamkhojayeva, Doctor of Art Rauf Farhadov (Russia), Doctor of Philosophy Meyser Kaya (Turkey) and others. Besides, in the course of the last three years the articles of masters of arts, post-graduates, researchers working for a Doctor`s degree – citizens of Turkey, Egipt and Iran have been published in our journal.
Natural process of qualitative change in the content of the journal has found its logical continuation in the creation of the international editorial board. Professor Vladimir Petrov (Russia), professor Gulnara Abdrassilova (Kazakstan, deputy editor-in-chief), professor Kamola Akilova (Uzbekistan), doctor Meyser Kaya (Turkey) are its members.
Azerbaijan is presented by editor-in-chief professor Ertegin Salamzade, corresponding members of the National Academy of Seiences Shamil Fatullayev, Zemfira Safarova, Rana Mammadova, professors Rana Abdullayeva and Sevil Farhadova. Doctor of Art Saltanat Taghiyeva is the executive secretary of the journal.
Turning back at the way passed by the journal it should be told that this edition was not simply a mouthpiece of the current scientific information. The journal started in life a whole series of new scientific tendencies of the art science and culturology of our country. Just at the pages of the journal were firstly published articles devoted to such scientific tendencies as design and heraldry, musical turkology, comparative art science, information culturology not studied before. In due course the names of these and some other tendencies were submitted to heading of sections of the journal. So there appeared sections as “Problems of information culture”, “Theory of art and culture”, “Methodology of art science”, “Cultural policy”, “Problems of the form in modern architecture and design”, “Interconnections of art and culture” etc.
Now it is a point to share observations on the future conception of the journal as newly-born international edition. It seems that prior tendency will be the orientation toward the problems of turkological art science and information aspects of the development of Turkic culture as well as cultures of peoples of Eurasia. It doesn’t mean that problems of history and theory of Azerbaijanart will be digressed. At the beginning of the 21th century in the conditions of the global world, according to E.Salamzade “we have to do not with kindred cultures of Turkic – speaking peoples but with a single turkic culture. That’s to say, investigating Azerbaijan culture we study turkic culture and on the contrary investigating turkic culture we study the culture of azerbaijanians, deeply penetrate into it, fully understand it and explain” (Salamzade E.A. Art and art science.Baku, 2009, p.7-8).
It should be told a few words about the latest news in the life of the journal. The other day there was created the WEB-site of the international journal “Problems of art and culture”. It is functioning in three languages: Azerbaijani, English and Russian. The WEB-site consists of four sections; the staff of the international editorial board, the history of the journal, current issues of the journal, news. The organization of the WEB-site already reflects the international status of the edition and will serve the increasing of a circle of authors and borders of information space where scientific ideas published at the pages of the journal will penetrate.
Rana Abdullayeva
Doctor of Art, professor, head of the department of “Сulturology” of the Institute,
member of editorial board of the journal.
