Modern features of terminological demarcation of urban art and classification of design-art practices in the architectural environment

The article addresses the problem of terminological demarcation and genre classification of project-artistic practices in the contemporary architectural environment. The author analyzes the conceptual chaos that has arisen in domestic art studies due to the blind copying of the Western terminological framework, such as “street art,” “public art,” and “urban art.” The Russian-language term “urban art” is proposed as a legitimate unifying concept, referring to project-artistic practices within the architectural field that express an author's attitude toward urban culture. Within the framework of the research, a three-tiered system of analysis for objects is proposed, including morphological, communicative, and semantic levels of organization, and is based on the cultural logic of metamodernism. Through the analysis of installations by T. Radi, V. Abikh, and Kirill Kto, the phenomenon of semantic oscillation is highlighted. An objective differentiating characteristic within urban art is introduced—the criterion of sanctioning. Additionally, the author proposes the term “meta street art” to denote mixed and institutional forms of street art that oscillate between strategies of unauthorized intrusion and professional environmental design. The methodological foundation of the research is an interdisciplinary approach that combines spatial-stylistic and comparative art analysis. The article is structured in a three-part format: from theoretical demarcation of categories and structural-semantic analysis of objects to their systematization, where the criterion for genre demarcation is the characteristic of sanctioning. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the theoretical substantiation of the integral concept of “urban art” and the formulation of its original definition as project-artistic practices in the architectural environment that express attitudes toward urban culture. For the first time, the properties of three structural-semantic levels of organization of the studied phenomenon are described in detail: morphological syntheticity of form (the parameter of the object's structure), communicative relationality (specifics of interaction with the audience), and semantic oscillation (principle of perception). It is proven that it is at the semantic level, influenced by the permanent fluctuation of meanings and at the gap between official legitimacy and the principle of the artist's self-authorization, that the division of practices occurs into three independent types: public art, street art, and institutional street art. The findings have significant practical implications for theoretical art studies, as well as for practical design in the field of architectural environments.