Professor Marchenkov specializes in philosophy of art, continental philosophy, philosophy of culture, myth and ritual theory, and Russian philosophy. His current researach interests include such problems as the boundaries of art, the mythical substratum in contemporary aesthetic consciousness, connections between aesthetics and ethics, and the historical trajectory of western art in general and music in particular.

Professor Marchenkov teaches graduate seminars in the history of aesthetics and leads team-taught interdisciplinary arts seminars on "Art in Contexts: The Arts in the Twentieth Century," "Wagner's Ring and German Philosophy," and "Antiquity: The Orpheus Myth." He also teaches interdisciplinary upper-level undergraduate courses on "Art and Morality" and "Cultural Traditions -- The Arts: Renaissance and Baroque."