News

On February 19 the academic seminar of Research Centre for Contemporary Culture (IGITI HSE) was held. Alisa Maximova presented a a paper “Microethnography of museum: how visitors' interaction is organized”.

A new paper on popular culture by Natalia Samutina was published in "Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies". The paper is titled "Fan fiction as world-building: transformative reception in crossover writing" and discusses fan fiction communities. See the abstract of the paper.

Alexandra Kolesnik participated in the international interdisciplinary conference "Usable Pasts" at  Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg  (February 4–5). Alexandra presented a paper 'British Popular Music History and New Urban Images: the Case of Sheffield'. See the conference programme.

A new paper on popular culture by Natalia Samutina was published in "International Journal of Cultural Studies". The paper is titled "Emotional landscapes of reading: fan fiction in the context of contemporary reading practices" and discusses the passionate immersive reading of fan fiction communities. See the abstract of the paper.

Natalia Samutina invited as a guest lecturer to the University of Amsterdam. At the EAST Seminar on 11 November, she presented her research in the framework of the project " Participatory Cultures: Post-socialist new media practices". On 12 November and 13 November, Natalia Samutina participated in the conference "European Fan Cultures 2015" at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

On 12–14 November, Alexandra Kolesnik participated in the workshop "Historical and Cultural Narratives. Rivalries and Entanglements in Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine and Belarus)" at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. Scholars from Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus discussed issues concerning the construction and presentation of historical and cultural narratives.

A new issue of the Laboratorium journal (Russian review of social research) guest-edited by Natalia Samutina and Oksana Zaporozhets came out of print. This issue of Laboratorium features a special section dedicated to street art or, more broadly, to vernacular images in the contemporary urban environment. The article by Natalia Samutina and Oksana Zaporozhets “Berlin, the City of Saturated Walls” and reviews of the Center junior research fellows Alisa Maximova and Alexandra Kolesnik are published in this issue. Full issue is available online.

Natalia Samutina and Boris Stepanov participated in the international conference "Publishing differently. Small publishers, independent journalists and bloggers in Russia" at Paris-Sorbonne University (October 1–2, 2015). The purpose of the conference was to analyse these independent, critical channels of publication in present-day Russia. Who produces this different material? What civic and political alternatives do they represent? What conflicts and compromises exist between them and the dominant players? To answer these questions, presenters doscussed and analysed alternative publishing channels in Russia, in journalism, publishing or blogs. The aim was to analyse not only their break with the dominant patterns but also the compromises and hybrid situations that arise from their mutual relationship, as well as to examine the emergence of alternative publications since the final decades of the Soviet Union.

Alisa Maximova, research intern of the Research Centre for Contemporary Culture, is visiting King’s College London as a part of her PhD programme at HSE. Her work in KCL is supervised by Dr. Dirk vom Lehn, coauthor of several papers on museum visitor interaction and participation, as well as author of the book “Harold Garfinkel: The Creation and Development of Ethnomethodology”. Alisa is a visiting PhD student in the Work, Interaction and Technology Research Centre in the Department of Management. Members of the Centre specialize in studying social interaction, role of technology and material objects in collaboration and conduct in offices, control centers, medical environment, museums.

Oksana Zaporozhets participated in the international conference "Media and the City. Urban Media Studies: Concerns, Intersections and Challenges” at University of Zagreb (24–25 September 2015). She presented a paper "Invading urban underground: the mediatization of metro".