Ksenia Butuzova’s Talk at the Seminar «Magic, Astrology, and Science in Russian Modernism»

On December 19, the last session of the research seminar «Magic, Astrology, and Science in Russian Modernism» took place. Ksenia Butuzova (European University at Saint Petersburg) gave an invited talk titled «Spiritualist Rebuses as an Instrument of Enlightenment».

The first part of the presentation was focused on the history of creation of the first Russian mass spiritualist journal named «Rebus» (1881-1918). The conceptual framework of the journal was based on two previous projects of its founders: the journal «Psychische Studien» of «Rebus»’ investor Alexander Aksakov and the journal «Svet» of «Rebus»’ ideologist Nikolai Wagner. From «Svet» «Rebus» inherited humanistic values, focus on enlightenment, connection with the Slavophile discourse, and a particular attention to art as a powerful educational tool, which was to be reflected in the programmatic element of the magazine — the rebuses. The second part of the presentation described the history of cultural transfer and gradual appropriation of rebuses in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. A key episode in this process was the emergence of a new type of rebuses published in the «Rebus» journal. These rebuses, created by the artist M. P. Klodt, represented a full-fledged works of art, also serving as tools of enlightenment and propaganda of a specific ideology of Russian spiritualism. The genealogical connection between this ideology and the political projects of the second wave of Slavophilism is most evident with regard to visual culture.