The 5th International Annual Conference “Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art” (Saint-Petersburg, October 28 - November 1, 2014).

1. Official partners of the conference: St. Petersburg State University, Lomonosov Moscow State University, the State Hermitage Museum.
2. Status: international
3. Timing of the conference: October 28 - November 1, 2014 (5 days)
4. Site of the conference: www.actual-art.spbu.ru
5. Organizing Committee: associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, director of the State Hermitage Museum, prof. Mikhail B. Piotrovsky; member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dean of the Faculty of History of St. Petersburg State University, prof. Abdulla H. Daudov; Dean of the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University, prof. Sergey P. Karpov; member of the Russian Academy of Arts, prof. Sergey V. Golynec (Ural Federal University), honorary prof. Tatiana V. Iljina (St. Petersburg State University); prof. Viktor G. Vlasov (St. Petersburg State University); prof. Ivan I. Tuchkov (Lomonosov Moscow State University); prof. Ivan Stevovich (University of Belgrade, Serbia), prof. Zaruhy Hakobian  (Yerevan State University); prof. Silvia Pedone (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy); prof. Ivana Jevtic (Koç University, Turkey); associate prof. Valentin A. Bulkin (St. Petersburg State University);  head of the Antiquities Department Anna A. Trofimova (State Hermitage Museum); Nadja C. Jijina, Ph.D. in Art history (State Hermitage Museum); associate prof. Elena A. Efimova (Lomonosov Moscow State University); senior research assistant Anna V. Zaharova, Ph.D. in Art history (Lomonosov Moscow State University); head lecturer Ekaterina Yu. Stanyukovich-Denisova (St. Petersburg State University); assistant Svetlana V. Maltseva (St. Petersburg State University).
6. Number of participants: 130 (Russian Federation), 38 (international).
7. Countries: 23 (Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Macedonia (Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia), Montenegro, Norway, Republic of Estonia, Russian Federation, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Ukraine.
8. Annotation: The International scientific conference «Actual problems of theory and history of art» is an annual forum which is held jointly by St. Petersburg State University and Lomonosov Moscow State University. The conference is carried out alternately in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. The conference is devoted to the discussion of the topical questions of the history and theory of fine arts and architecture, as well as the issues of the interaction of Russian and other national artistic cultures. The conference will bring together the leading experts in the field of art history, the scholars and professors of the Russian universities (St. Petersburg State University, Lomonosov Moscow State University etc.) and foreign universities (University of Berkeley, College of Dortmund (USA), Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Italian universities La Sapienza and Tor Vergata, Athens Aristotle University, Athens Academy of Sciences, the University of Thessaloniki, Koç University (Turkey), Yerevan State University, Berlin Humboldt University, Free University of Berlin, Westphalian Wilhelm University (Münster), the University of Vienna etc., including the art historians of the State Hermitage Museum. Also the work of the thematic sections provides for an active participation of the young scholars up to 35 years and postgraduates of the specialized universities.
9. Working languages of the conference: Russian and English
10. The leading topic of the conference in 2014: “Images of Classical Antiquity. The Art of the Ancient World and Its Heritage in the World Culture”.
    The basic theme provides for consideration of the issues associated with both the phenomenon of the ancient art and artistic culture, and transformation of the classical legacy in the course of development of the system of the European artistic values - in the process of constitution of the European culture as a whole, as well as in formation of various national cultures. The problem of forming, figurative way of thinking, creation, reproduction and replication of the consistent compositional schemes, statuary types and other representational solutions elaborated in the antiquity, their implementation by the artists of various epochs and regions, problems with reconstruction of the lost works of art and their recent interpretations, copying and artistic compilations, antique reminiscences in the art of the Modern period constitute the wide range of the topics under thorough consideration of the art historians. Almost all issues, which had been formulated using the material of the antique art and architecture, are discussed in other fields of the history and theory of the art and had been raised along with their basic concepts and aspects long before the present times. It should be considered as a significant factor of the research of an art historian, that the scholars on their way to solving the issues of the antique art use the scientific toolset and rely on the principles within the framework of the art history, as well as outside its boundaries, implementing the data of the adjoining disciplines. It is fundamentally important that during the recent years the antiquity and its influence on the culture and art of the following centuries (repetitions, imitations and transformations) has begun one of the main themes of the historiography, in other words, one of the most current issues of the art history. The conference will deal with both particular problems, showing the examples of using the antique models, and also the theoretical issues. The concepts of fundamental importance to the art history will be considered. The questions of typification, “model” and “imitation” categories, the concepts of “innovation” and “stereotype” has been in the centre of the research by the leading art historians and theorists since the 1960-ies. Expansion of the “classic” both in time and in geographically, its transformation on the periphery of the ancient world, in particular in the colonies, such as the northern Black Sea littoral, and also its adaptation by the cultures of the Mediterranean, East, Central Asia became the significant themes of the studies of the foreign and Russian antiquity researches during the second half of the 20th and the early 21st  cc. The history of restoration, collecting, establishment of museums across Europe and Russia is also a specific aspect of the antiquity studies, theory and history of culture broadly defined. In addition to the mentioned above, the topics concerned with various approaches, applied by the humanities – by the art history, archeology, history and classic philology, will be presented in the papers considering the materials and problems of the subdisciplines listed above.
11. Project of the programme of the conference. Within the conference it is intended to organize a plenary session (two sections) with the participation of the leading experts in the field of the antique art and arrange several working sessions. Upon the results of the sessions the Round-table discussion is planned to discuss the topics, current for the present practices of the art historians and museums.

Programme of the conference
Plenary session – 28.10.2014 (Tuesday)
Theme: “Antiquity through the Сenturies. The Age of the Relevance”
(The State Hermitage Museum, the Hermitage Theater)
Time limit for the papers - 20 minutes
Timing of the plenary session – 10:30 – 19:30

Welcoming speeches (10:00 – 11:30)
Nikolay M. Kropachev - rector of St. Petersburg State University
Mikhail B. Piotrovsky - director of the State Hermitage Museum, associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Doctor of Historical Sciences, recipient of prize of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art, Dean of the Faculty of the Asian and African studies of St. Petersburg State University, head of the Department of museology and preservation of monuments, professor of St. Petersburg State University.
Anna A. Trofimova - head of the Antiquities Department of the State Hermitage Museum, Ph.D. in Art history.
Abdulla H. Daudov - Dean of the Faculty of History of the St. Petersburg State University, professor of St. Petersburg State University.
Ivan I. Tuchkov –  vice-dean, head of the Department of the history of art of the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University, professor.

Coffee-break 11:30 – 12:00
Morning session 12:00 – 14:30
Lunch-break 14:30 – 15:30 (special-order lunch for participants in the cafe of the State Hermitage Museum)
Evening session 15:30 – 19:00
Coach tour of the city 19:00-22:00
Firework on the occasion of the opening of the conference

Presumed participants of the plenary session:
prof. Andrew Stuart (USA), dr. Ada Cohen (USA), dr. Ken Sheedy (Australia), prof. Robin Lane Fox (UK), Robert R. R. Smith (UK), Panayotis Vocotopoulos (Greece), honorary professor Euthymios Tsigaridas (Greece), prof. Sophia Kalopissi-Verti (Greece), prof. Maria Panayotidi (Greece), prof. Antonio Iacobini (Italy), prof. Valentino Pace (Italy), prof. Alessandra Guiglia (Italy), prof. Claudia Barsanti (Italy), prof. Robert Nelson (USA), prof. Robert Ousterhout (USA), prof. Ivan Stevović (Serbia), prof. Ivana Jevtić (Turkey), prof. Ivan I. Tuchkov (Lomonosov Moscow State University), prof. Engelina S. Smirnova (Lomonosov Moscow State University), Anna A. Trofimova, Ph.D. in Art history (the head of the Department of the antique world of the State Hermitage Museum), Mikhail M. Miljchik, Ph.D. in Art history (member of the Council on the preservation of the cultural heritage under the President of the Russian Federation), Nadja C. Jijina, Ph.D. in Art history (the Antiquities Department of the State Hermitage Museum), Yulia B. Balahanova (The Scholarly library of the State Hermitage Museum), Dmitry P. Aleksinsky (the Antiquities Department of the State Hermitage Museum), S. Kokoreva (Department of the Western European Fine Art of the State Hermitage Museum), Lidiya V.  Lyahova (Department of the Western European Fine Art of the State Hermitage Museum), associate prof. Valentin A. Bulkin (St. Petersburg State University), Oleg M. Ioannisyan, Ph.D. in Art history (head of the Department of architectural archaeology of the State Hermitage Museum), Nadezhda A. Nalimova, Ph.D. in Art history (Lomonosov Moscow State University), associate prof. Elena A. Efimova (Lomonosov Moscow State University), senior research assistant Anna V. Zaharova, Ph.D. in Art history (Lomonosov Moscow State University), head lecturer Ekaterina Yu. Stanyukovich-Denisova (St. Petersburg State University), assistant Svetlana V. Maltseva (St. Petersburg State University) and others.

Sessions of the conference.
Time-limit for the papers - 15 minutes
Posters are to be admitted to the corresponding sessions.

• 29.10.14 - Classical antiquity and the world around Hellas (two parts 10:00 – 16:30, the State Hermitage Museum, Council Hall). Upon completion the excursion is planned to the Staraya Derevnya Restoration and Storage Centre of the State Hermitage Museum)
• 30.10.14 - The classic legacy in the Byzantine world, European Middle Ages and Ancient Russia (10:00 -14:00 St. Petersburg State University, Petrovsky Hall)
• 30.10.14 - The art of the ancient world in the mirror of the Renaissance (10:00 -14:00 St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of History, auditorium 70)
• 30.10.14 - Western European art of the XVII-XIX centuries – Fortune of the classic tradition from the model to the interpretation (15:00 – 19:00 St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of History, auditorium 70)
• 30.10.14 - Russian art of the XVII-XIX centuries - Art of antiquity: the Russian view (15:00 -19:00 St. Petersburg State University, Petrovsky Hall)
• 30.10.14 - The art of the XX-XXI centuries. Faces of classical antiquity in the labyrinth of modernity (15:00 – 19:00 St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of History, auditorium 66)

Upon completion of the sessions the opening of the artistic or photographic exhibition, which is traditionally associated with the conference, is planned in the foyer of the lecture hall of the Faculty of History.

Panel discussion (closing remarks)
31. 10. 2014 (Saturday)
State Hermitage Museum, Council Hall and the Antiquities Department

• Fine arts and architecture within and outside of the classical heritage.
• Modern art in the old museum. Discussion on the conceptual expositional projects: Louise Bourgeois and Giovanni Battista Piranesi and the art-objects within the programme of Manifesta 2014.

Excursions and lectures in the halls of the Hermitage.

• Exposition of the Antiquities Department.
• Gold Rooms. The world of the Hellenes and barbarians.
• The sightseeing tour. Antique world in the Western European art.
• Modern art in the old museum: Louise Bourgeois and Giovanni Battista Piranesi (room 131) and the art-objects within the programme of Manifesta 2014.

Closing remarks of the conference.

01.11.2014 - The sightseeing tours to Pavlovsk and Tsarskoye Selo.
It is possible to arrange the seminars in Novgorod and Pskov (1-2 days, at the wish of the participants of the conference).