Visual-Semiotic Patterns in the Study of Urban Architectural Identity: Artistic and Аesthetic Perception of Old Building Facades in Kaliningrad

Abstract

This scientific paper is dedicated to the issue of studying the urban architectural environment as a comprehensive continuum for socio-cultural communication and artistic expression. The research’s relevance lies in the creation of practically oriented conditions for dialogue between the artist and the city, as for artistic reflection on the exact visual-semiotic architectural layer. The research purpose is to scientifically substantiate and present a concept dedicated to the artistic and aesthetic city image, which is formed by the artist during individual decoding of the visual semiotics of local architectural patterns. The methodology is based on the perceptive research model, which describes the urban architectural identity through artistic and aesthetic perceptive ways. The scientific paper confirms the important role of urban architectural identity in the construction of the holistic city image and in building interpersonal “city–artist” interactions. The research’s investigations are proved through an international art project in the format of realized author’s urbanistic practice dedicated to the search for the wall’s image identity in one of Kaliningrad’s districts.

Keywords

• visual semiotics
• artistic city image
• wall identity
• architectural patterns
• urban anthropology
• communicative method
• artistic fieldwork