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In the present article I offer a narratological approach to Byzantine historiography and an aim to elucidate the key elements of narrative theory that would be useful for investigating medieval Byzantine histories and their complex narrative structures. The focus is put on the key narratological aspects - genre, author, text and the audience - as those elements represent the core of literary criticism and contemporary studies of Byzantine literature. Through useful examples from the Alexiad, I intend to show how this theoretical vehicle functions and I hope to open a new field of scholarly communication on the matter of approach towards Byzantine historiography.

We have before us the sixth issue of INSAM Journal of Contemporary Music, Art and Technology. This is the second issue in a row dedicated to the global crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. After the overwhelming response from all over the world to the call for papers and provocative inspections that ensued, here we wanted to discuss the ways in which technology shapes and enables work in the areas of music, arts, humanities, and the education process, this time inviting our collaborators to discuss the shortcomings and struggles of the working processes in these fields. The main theme, “Music, Art and Humanities in the Time of Global Crisis”, expanded from the Main Theme section into the interviews as well.

The Editorial Board of the INSAM Journal of Contemporary Music, Art and Technology decided that both issues of 2022 will be dedicated to one main theme, namely, “Fighting for the attention: Music and art on social media”. We can say that this call for papers went very successfully, as we are now presenting to you INSAM Journal No. 9. In a year which has seen many grave turbulences on socio-economic and political levels on a global scale, we have once again confirmed the importance of social media for communication and the spreading of news, and we have also seen the limitations of these tools. Turning to music and art on social media, our Main Theme section consists of five intriguing papers, Beyond the Main Theme section has two articles, (Inter)Views bring three exciting pieces, and the Reviews one festival report.

Stratigraphic/palaeontological geosites of Stara Planina Mountain in east Serbia are well developed in the area of Serbian/Bulgarian state border, where with this occassion, three sections of exeptional geological and scientific interest are selected: Jelovica, Rosomac and Senokos. These geosites represent the important localities for study of Triassic and Jurassic terrigene-carbonate deposits, for which the scientific value from the domains of palaeontology, stratigraphy and sedimentology is widely known. The aim of this work is to represent the main scientific arguments for inventory and protection of detached transborder geological sites that are unique according to their composition and content.[Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 176008]

The paper is devoted to the Byzantine wooden sculpture, least known and conserved segment of artistic creativity in Byzantine empire. All such artefacts, well known to experts for a long time, are commented in the text. These art objects are observed in comparison to the so-called minor sculpture as well as to the other other types of sculpture. Also special emphasis is on the problems of style of the sculptural works in question.

In this study the relationships between judgments of paintings denotative and connotative meanings was investigated. Denotative domain was defined as motif (represented object, e.g. portrait, landscape etc.) and message (information carried by paintings, e.g. celebration of patriotism). Connotative domain was defined as subjective experience, i.e. affective or metaphoric impression produced by painting (e.g. feeling of pleasure, impression of dynamics, and so on). In preliminary study the list of 39 motifs was specified empirically. The four dimensions of pictorial message were taken from the previous study (Markovic, 2006): Subjectivism, Ideology, Decoration and Constructivism vs. Realism. The four dimensions of paintings subjective experience were taken from the previous study as well (Radonjic and Markovic, 2005): Regularity, Attraction, Arousal and Relaxation. In Experiment 1 subjects were asked to associate 39 motifs with 18 paintings. In Experiment 2 subjects were asked to judge 24 paintings on four dimensions of pictorial message. Results form Experiment 1 have shown that dimensions of paintings subjective experience were significantly correlated with only five motifs (e.g. everyday life was negatively correlated with Arousal, battle was negatively correlated with Relaxation, and so on). Results from Experiment 2 have shown that Subjectivism and Constructivism are negatively correlated with Regularity, and positively correlated with Arousal. Decoration is negatively correlated with Arousal and positively with Attraction and Relaxation.

A survey is given of the development of electrochemistry with an author’s non-hidden wish for more advanced development in future. The survey is based on past achievements of electrochemistry listed shortly here. As far as the recent state is concerned, dissatisfaction is expressed with the acceptance of electrochemistry both as profession of graduated students, and a priority field in financing research, as well. For the sake of truth an alternative view is mentioned that takes the recent state of electrochemistry as normal and in accordance with the usual course of development, (i.e. birth, rise, achieving of maximum and then decay, fading, etc.), that is common in the nature. This statement is based on a belief that today electrochemistry exists on a broader basis than before, and is mainly incorporated in other (new) branches of chemistry and science. Examples are given where recent electrochemistry failed to fulfill the promises (e.g., production of cheap hydrogen by means of electrocatalysts with high performance for H2 evolution, economical use of large scale fuel cells, etc.). In summarizing the recent fields of interest that covers electrochemistry, it is stressed out their diversification, specialization, complexness and interdisciplinary nature. A list of desirable highlights that could possibly help electrochemistry to improve its rating among other science branches is composed. Also, a list of author’s personal preferences is given.

The crisis of contemporary art is a paradigmatic example of the crisis of spiritual values in today's world. The main cause of this crisis, it is argued, lies in the spirit of modern sciences. These do not find their object as a ready given, but rather determine it themselves, from their own standpoint, and thus basically produce it. Due to enormous technological development, modern civilization has turned the whole world into the Eleatic One. In materializing the uniform spirit of technology in our world the role of the new audio-visual media: cinema, radio, television, video and the internet, has been crucial. Technology has become a powerful instrument of modern power: it has enabled a concentration of power in the hands of technical, cultural and political administration, as well as automatically expanding mass production and consumption, and finally subordination of people to methodic education, control and manipulation. These are main features of the spirit of the contemporary technical civilization where technology is not understood as something technical but rather as a mode of existence, connected with science and industry. By changing the way in which human life is lived, and the way in which human community is ordered, the purpose and perception of the work of art has also changed. Beauty is not taken to be a result of subjective experience and something belonging to the object as such. The sphere of the aesthetic has become the ground for manifesting relativism and subjectivism in various forms. With the development of knowledge and human power, the contemporary world has begun to sink into nihilism, losing a sense for anything bearing the stamp of individuality. In such a world, everything, including the sphere of spiritual values, is reduced merely to what is useful and efficient. .

Serbian Archives for the Whole Medicine (Archivum Serbicum pro universa scientia et arte medica recipienda) is one of the oldest Serbian journals still being published - the first issue came out in 1874 - next to Matica Srpska Chronicle which is the oldest one. It played an extremely significant role in the creation of Serbian medical terminology and phraseology, but only during the first decades of its existence. Later on, after the First World War and particularly after the Second World War, this very role was gradually losing its importance, to be finally lost. So, in recent times, partly under the pressure of higher instances, a proposal was made for the total abandonment of Serbian language and printing this journal only in English. Presenting historical facts - how and for whom Serbian Archives had been made and what followed afterwards - and using statistical calculations of the participation index, indicating the average annual number of authors ie. participants in writing works, unjustifiably increased in the recent decades (1950 = 1.3; 2012= 5.0), in this work we answered the question whether indeed Serbian Archives should not be printed in the Cyrillic script and in Serbian language anymore. The conclusion is: the further survival of Serbian Archives is tightly related to the revival of the work on Serbian medical terminology and phraseology, even if it means starting from the beginning to a great extent at this moment. Otherwise, Serbian Archives will be suspended, after 140 years of existence.

The paper deals with the problem of genres and methodological digressions in the sixth book of Michael Psellos’ Chronographia, in the context of contemporary genre theories. Conventional opinions about author’s motives for composing digressions about genre and about the complex argument he leaves for interpretation of his own text will be questioned. The main thesis is that the genre-play within history - primarily the use of drama and encomium - has a role in depicting the ironic portrait of the emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177015]