THE CRISIS OF CULTURE IN THE POST-COMMUNIST SOCIETY. FROM CULTURE AS FREEDOM TO CULTURE AS UTOPIA

Paradoxically or not, communism was a favourable space for culture, fenced by ideological boundaries. With the existence as a prison, under the pressure of ideology, culture was a form of freedom. Culture as inner freedom and survival mode is a model outlined by totalitarianism. The fall of communism has created a "shock of freedom", that has caused confusion on social, personal, axiological and cultural levels. Instead of being a state of transition, this confusion became a permanent state. In this context, the space of culture has undergone a reassessment and revision process, in which the aesthetic criterion was undermined by other criteria. Culture fell victim to the axiological relativisation and minimisation. At the same time, the concern for culture decreased significantly on an individual level. The post-communist society faces a crisis of cultural and spiritual values. The crisis of culture, in this complex phenomenology, has serious implications for individuals and society. Starting from the totalitarian model, "culture as freedom", the "cultural" model in post-communism risks to become "culture as utopia".