The dissertation is devoted to the consideration and systematization of the culturological views of the famous American artist and scientist Lev Manovich. The relevance of the study is due to the lack of sustained systematic interest on the part of Ukrainian scientists (and not only culturologists) in his theoretical and artistic heritage. Realizing the limitations of the traditional methodological tools of the humanities, which are insufficient for the analysis of digital content arrays intensively generated at the beginning of the 21st century, L. Manovich was one of the first to formulate the conceptual and methodological principles of the transition from the "analog" past to the digital future and substantiated the need for cooperation between different groups of humanists and data specialists. science, which is why he is considered one of the founders of digital humanities.
The main reasons for the low level of interest of academic scientists in his legacy are clarified: instrumental and methodological complexity (in order to fully work with his ideas, one must not only know the theory, but also master the skills of programming, machine learning, and computer visualization); the conservatism of the academic world compared to the technological one, while the scientist works with the most current trends and tendencies that change every month; a conceptual and paradigmatic shift in approaches to the analysis of millions of artifacts, which is why many humanists are skeptical of his attempts to understand culture through statistical patterns; attempts to go beyond the canon of digital art, emphasizing mass, everyday digital culture (social networks, memes, interface design); criticism of the optimistic narrative, because he is not an apologist for the "culture of participation" and "creativity for all"; the abstractness and scale of his concepts, the operationalization of which within the framework of a specific cultural and artistic project requires additional justification.
It is proven that L. Manovich's work "The Language of New Media" summarizes the first stage of his cultural studies, appears as an aesthetic prolongation of the modernist avant-garde and the register of computerization of modern culture. In this work, the author demonstrates how the avant-garde "materialized in the computer", integrates new media into the history of cinema and constantly emphasizes that the ontology of the computer "imposes itself on culture", and through software "broader cultural patterns" are reflected. This approach makes it possible to analytically read the logic of thinking of the American scientist in "The Language of New Media", where he appears as a theorist and historian of digital (media) culture. It is noted that the revolutionary nature of this work lies in the fact that it offers a systemic and conceptually holistic theory of new media, developed and grounded in the historical context of visual and media culture of the last few centuries.
It is emphasized that, despite the fundamental contribution of the American researcher to theorizing digital culture and developing powerful conceptual tools for understanding the role of software and data, his approach has certain limitations. These include: ideological-theoretical and ideological dependence on technodeterminism, insufficient attention to political economy and social conflicts, methodological "elitism" and excessive tendency to quantitative reductionism, abstractness and detachment from specific practices, and limitations in predictive potential.
Keywords: Lev Manovich, digital culture, visual culture, cultural analytics, new media, cultural data, soft culture, media visualization, artificial intelligence, digital materialism.
