Direction as a Culture-Creative Practice: Forming Event Experience in Modern Musical Culture of Ukraine

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal the culture-creating function of direction and analyse its key strategies in the formation of a holistic artistic experience in modern Ukrainian musical event projects. The research methodology is based on the application of: system analysis – to consider a musical project as a polycode, hybrid system, where direction is a key element that ensures the integration (synthesis) of music, space and technologies; case study method – for a deep, detailed study of individual, representative examples in order to identify typical and unique directing strategies used in wartime conditions; culturological and semiotic analysis – to interpret direction as a process of creating cultural meanings (semiosis). The scientific novelty lies in considering directing as a key cultural practice that shapes event experience in modern musical culture of Ukraine in the context of social transformations, demonstrating its transition to the organisation of emotional experience, which functions as a mechanism for creating collective memory. The classification of directorial strategies is specified using the example of three hybrid formats: festival (directing as the transformation of space into meaning), musical performance (directing as the creation of emotionally rich drama) and Livestream concert (directing as media communication and personalisation of experience). Conclusions. Directing in modern event projects functions as a key cultural practice and a means of organising emotional experience, capable of integrating music, visual series and technologies into a single artistic work stored in collective memory. Each of the typical projects has its own specific directorial task: for festivals, this is the transformation of space into meaning (through multi-scenery), which affects social interaction; for performances – creating emotionally rich drama for cultural reflection; for Livestream concerts – personalisation of experience and direction of media communication. Technological direction is a factor in transforming the role of the viewer into a participant or witness, ensuring the extension of the experience beyond its temporal boundaries. In conditions of war, this is a critically important socio-cultural function that ensures the stability of Ukrainian culture and its international communication.