UNPREDICTABLE IN CULTURE

On the semiotic description of autogenesis in culture

!"
And if
for the time #eing
the filth$ stigmas of %our &Common sense' and &goodtaste' are still present in our lines( these same
lines
for the first time
alread$ glimmer )ith the *ummer Lightening of the Ne) Coming Beaut$ of the *elf+sufficient
,self+centered- .ord/ ,La)ton "0!!1 2"324( italics original-
This 5ind of declaration of autogenetic rootlessness )as t$pical of the Russiana6ant+garde/ The
poets( painters( filmma5ers and performing artists )ere eagerto declare themsel6es the ne)est( the
most inno6ati6e( independent andimpressi6e artists of their time/ Their predecessors( the
*$m#olists( )erere7ected 7ust as aggressi6el$ as the .estern European influences( though
#oth )ere( ine6ita#l$( sources for Russian a6ant+garde )riters/ This is one of themost o#6ious
reasons )h$ these artists turned to the idea of autogenesis/Declaring themsel6es self+created
implied the re7ection of tradition/Parado8icall$( autogenesis in the Russian a6ant+garde is 6er$ often
related tothe image of Christ( as )e can see in the )a$ icons )ere reproduced( e6enthough it clearl$
#elongs to the re7ected )orld of the old and is an essential partof the past culture9s language/
:o)e6er( the Christian motif of autogenesis isrelated not onl$ to the
image
of Christ and thus to the parado8ical re7ection of pre6ious tradition( #ut also to the emergence of
human language according tothe Bi#le/Returning to the diagram ,;ig/ "-( translation ,circle <-

is the last metate8t #efore reaching the emergence of language/ Of course( e6en a
partialtranslata#ilit$ of an &un5no)n' and incomprehensi#le phenomenon alread$ pro6es that it has
created a language of its o)n in culture/ :o)e6er( it ispossi#le to spea5 of intersemiotic translation
in all of the a#o6e cases of meta+te8tual mechanisms/Thus( according to the diagram( )e ha6e
reached the moment )hereunpredicta#le #ecomes predicta#le 3 te8t achie6es a language ,circle =-
that isgoing to #e understood #$ the recipients( #$ the culture )here the originall$ autogenetic te8t
had appeared/ Onl$ in time( through the emergence of alanguage and )ith the help of
heterogeneous te8ts and metate8ts that interact )ith the spontaneousl$ formed te8t( does the
reconstruction of logical chains #ecome possi#le/ This could #e descri#ed as a historical process
of reconstructing steps that lead to the unpredicta#le e6ent or phenomenon/ According to Lotman
,4>>01 "2-( these steps turn out to #e gradual andpredicta#le( so that e6entuall$ the occasional and
spontaneous phenomenon #ecomes the onl$ possi#le conclusion in this particular situation/

!4
Tomi :uttunen

All the a#o6e+mentioned metate8tual processes represent the act of graduall$ relating the
spontaneous phenomenon to its contemporar$ culture/The$ are more sta#le( structured and
predicta#le in the cultural conte8t of thee6ent/ T$pical of the semiosphere9s acti6it$( these
metate8tual processes appearin the form of a dialogue #et)een cultural languages/ At the same
time( thesemetate8tual processes e6entuall$ lead to the formation of the
language
of thephenomenon )hich )as originall$ un5no)n( since it did not ha6e a language inthe culture/
*o( the result is its structuration/ Onl$ this 5ind of emergence of language ma5es it possi#le for
contemporaries to reconstruct certain historicalcausalities( leading to understanding the
incomprehensi#le( predicting the non+predicta#le( 5no)ing the un5no)n/ After an autogenetic
phenomenon( in all its ultimate unpredicta#ilit$( hasturned into a gradual( predicta#le process in
culture ,achie6ing its o)nlanguage )ith the help of metate8ts and other languages-( it is possi#le for
therecipients to #egin( on the one hand( to understand the phenomenon( and thusits historical
framing #ecomes possi#le/ In other )ords( after the e8plosion haschanged into a more gradual
process( people are a#le to decipher reasons #ehind it and processes leading to it/ This is the case
)ith )ider cultural(historical and e6en political e8plosions as )ell as re6olutionar$ phenomena/;or
contemporaries the$ are eschatological( #ut for future generations the$ areunderstanda#le
phenomena )ith their o)n la)s/ *uddenl$ something that hadseemingl$ happened #$ chance(
une8pectedl$( appears as the onl$ possi#lechoice/ The unpredicta#ilit$ comes to #e replaced #$
predicta#le regularit$/
References
?ull( ?ale6i 4>>2/ *emiosphere and a dual ecolog$1 Parado8es of communication/
*ign*$stems *tudies
@@,"-1 "=23"!0/La)ton( Anna ,ed/- "0!!/
Russian ;uturism Through Its Aanifestoes( "0"43"04!
/ Ithaca1Cornell Uni6ersit$ Press/Lotman( AihhailB ?ull( ?ale6iB Torop( Peeter 4>>/ Dialogue and
identit$/ In1 Puronas( C$tautasB *5irgailiene( Cioleta ,eds/-(
Dlo#aliEation( Europe and Regional Identit$
/ Cilnius1 Lithuanian Academ$ of *ciences( "@3"22/Lotman( %uri A/ "00>/
Uni6erse of the Aind1 A *emiotic Theor$ of Culture
/ London1 I/ B/Tauris/
3
"004/
IE#rann$e stat97i 6 treh tomah
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3
"00=/
Pis9ma
/
"0>3"00@/
,Egoro6( Boris( ed/- Aos56a1 %aE$5i russ5o7 5ul9tur$/


On the semiotic description of autogenesis in culture
!@
3
4>>2F"0!G/ On the semiosphere/ ,Clar5( .ilma( trans/-
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3
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/ Berlin1 Aouton deDru$ter( 886ii3888i8/Jl$dne6a( N/ 4>>=/ &Op$at9 rass5aEali strashnoe'1 o#
odno7 5artine ?limenta Red95o 6 s6ete em#lematiches5ogo narrati6a 4>+h godo69/ In1 Jaionts( L/
O/ ,ed/-(
KNa meEhemeEh Dolosom i E5hom9/ *#orni5 stat9e7 6 chest9 Tat9$an$ Cladimiro6n$ Tsi69$an/
Aos56a1No6oe iEdatel9st6o( 4==34!!/
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5msitleta5se 5ultuurisemiooti5a 7a semiosfmmri teooria 5onte5stis/ Nmitemater7alpmrine# peamiselt
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