Underconstruction_ visual dialogue: Talking about identities in the Armenian Transnation

Talking about identity in the Armenian Transnation

visual dialogue : under_construction

Venice 09/06 - 14/10 2007

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Curators: Silvina Der-Meguerditchian | Barbara Höffer

Mekhitarist Monastery - San Lazzaro Island - Venice


Introduction

by Barbara Höffer | 5

Project under_construction

by Silvina Der-Meguerditchian | 7

Texts

The Armenian transnation as a never ending web

by Estela Schindel | 15

Armenia Now//:here

by Mark Wrasse | 17

Transindividuation and desintification

by Ali Akay | 19

Artists

Achot Achot | 23

Emily Artinian | 29

Andrew Demijian | 35

Silvina Der-Meguerditchian | 41

Dahlia Elsayed | 47

Archi Galentz | 53

Sophia Gasparian | 59

Contents


Barbara Höffer | Curator

Introduction


The exhibition under_construction is meant as an experimental play. It presents a forum for frank dialogueon questions relating to identity, the potential for an Armenian identitybeyond defined borders and notionspassed on for generations, such asnationality, tradition and language.On display are works by seven artistsof Armenian descent whose biographiesresemble a cultural patchwork. All of them are multi-lingual and grew up in diverse cultural contexts. The nomadic, hybrid nature of theirexistence not only enables them tomove effortlessly in differentlanguages and cultures as internationalartists, but also shapes a kind ofculture in which identity is aparadoxical, fleeting and constantlychanging process. Remembering theirArmenian roots – the search for thelost garden – has become the drivingforce behind the visual dialogues andcreative work of Achot Achot, EmilyArtenian, Andrew Demirdjian, SilvinaDer-Meguerditchian, Dahlia Elsayed,Archi Galentz and Sophia Gasparian. Inthis process Armenia itself has becomeassociated with the idea of a trans-nation which is constantly emergingand evolving -under_construction. Thequerying and stirring up of nationalstructures by transnational communitieswith their creative potential is ofparticular appeal and is stronglyaccentuated when seen in context withthe Venice Biennale, the big nation-oriented art exhibition. The choice ofexhibition place by the artists is inline with the long tradition of artproduction in the diaspora. Theexhibition under_construction is basedon the Internet project of the sametitle that Silvina Der-Meguerditchianstarted in 2005 offering artists avirtual space for active, visualexchange. This platform enables theartists to experiment, experience andshare their hybrid identities in anopen process. A video recording of thisspecific working process and the visualartistic dialogues is available tovisitors for viewing at the exhibition.The crucial common denominator forselecting the artistic works exhibitedis the non-existence of firm

certainties, the absence of clearlydefined identities. The yearningfor something forever lost and thusthe search for a way to remember arethe driving force behind the motivationto query the Armenian identity. Thisapplies not only to the artisticcontents but also to the question ofform and/or the specific medium usedfor artistic expression. The artistictreatment of the genocide suffered bythe Armenians is of particularsignificance in this context. Theannihilation and ethnic dislocation ofthe Armenion people represent a void,an absence per se, their tangiblerepercussions still being evident intoday’s Armenia as well as in thediaspora. The works presented playwith different artistic media andforms; they experiment with thefragments of rememberance and identityingrained in the individual andcollective subconscience. Theyconstruct and in turn deconstruct newimages. Identity thus becomes a“performative act”, gravitatingbetween existence and non-existence,between creating meaning and dissolvingit. The texts by Ali Akay, EstelaSchindel and Marc Wrasse areindividual interpretations and havequite diverging perspectives on theArmenian identity as well as thepotentials and/or difficulties of anArmenian transnation. Whilst thephilosopher Marc Wrasse places Armeniain the Now//:here, in the “here andnow”, describing a potentially Armenianidentity as the interaction betweenthe past and the presence, thephilosopher and curator Ali Akayargues that national civil rights areimportant to the formation of identity.In this context he refers to theproblems that immigrants and multi-cultural societies are faced with andthe difficulties encountered whentrying to form a collective identity.In her text “Weaving the endlessArmenian transnation” the sociologistEstela Schindel in turn highlights thedynamic and creative aspects of theArmenian diaspora as an entity of itsown. To her the process of constantrenewal ensures a certainty that goesbeyond death and loss.

05


Silvina Der-Meguerditchian | Curator, Project initiator

www.underconstructionhome.net


The construction of identity is deeplytied to environment, which is a kindof mirror in which the self findsitself reflected. Which mirrors dothird generation Armenians have? Underconstruction is an online visualdialog by diasporan Armenian artists.Its central concern is the creation ofnational and transnational identity asa performative act of everyday life. Worldwide, there is no joint politicalbody that unites all Armenians. Of theapproximately 10 million Armenians inthe world, only about 3 million livein Armenia – the rest are spreadthroughout the world in over 70different countries. We have twoversions of our native tongue: Eastern and Western. Second generationemigrants are unable to communicatefluently in Armenian. Differentheritages divide our mentality aroundthe world into 3 orientations -“Ottoman”, Persian and Soviet -depending on the time of resettlementand places of origin. Life in theDiaspora offers only a few inspiringidentifying traits for youngergenerations. The widespreadinterpretation that prevails in mostArmenian enclaves outside Armenia isfostered by a conservative impulse forpreservation. Life in Armenia is not abetter alternative: the country is ina deep identity crisis making it anuncertain model to follow. However, one strong national experiencedoes fuel a sense of community: the trauma of genocide. This traumainvolves a legacy of fear, and achallenge from older to futuregenerations that takes a central role:don’t allow us to disappear. Do othertopics or ways to understand life linkus to each other? Yes, but under theshadow of genocide most of these takeon diminished importance. The aims of Underconstruction are: 1. to create a process for recognition,2. to identify a point of departurefor the construction of groupconsciousness, and 3. through itsvisual dialogue amongst diasporanArmenian artists, to build aconsciousness for the future. Languagebuilds consciousness. As mentioned,the Armenian language no longer provides

a common grammatical structure ofidentity. In this visual dialogue theartists create a new code. Looking tothe other I recognize him and myself.When I put this act of consciousnessin image and word, I’m helping tobuild a language, that in thebeginning might be subjective andindividual, but in a communicativecontext could function as a semantem,a “collective sentence”: spread outbut linked. The site presents the participatingartists – who are diverse in theirartistic strategies, visual languageand issues - in a dialogue aboutissues of identity. For a period ofone year, each artist has sent inmonthly visual material or texts tothe others with freely selected topicsand the other artists have answeredwith visual material or text. There is also a section on the site with a discussion forum where anyone,including the artists themselves, can add information, reflections,inspirations and observations. Is it possible to build a permeableidentity that allows one to be openwithout losing ones’ self? Is itpossible to recreate and re-experiencea feeling of national communitythrough virtual communication in aTransnation? In the Underconstructionprocess, after a short period theartists began to incorporate the rulesof the conversation and their “visualtalking” became fluid. In the firstfour months two new participantsjoined the group and two participantsabandoned the project. The presentexhibition has a constitutivecharacter and intensifies the virtualexperience with a real experience. The path is long, first steps aremade. under_construction becomes a source of a flowing structure, a strategy to face the multiplicity of the contemporary being.

07


AnswersDialogue 9

Visual StatementS. Der-Meguerditchian

Archi Galentz

Emily Artinian

Sophia Gasparian

Achot Achot

D. Elsayed | A.Demirjian


Dialogue 9Visual StatementSophia Gasparian

Archi Galentz

Silvina Der-Meguerditchian

Emily Artinian

Achot Achot


Answers


Archi Galentz

Sophia Gasparian

Silvina Der-Meguerditchian Emily Artinian

Dialogue 7Visual Statement

Achot AchotAnswers



"Anti-war pro-testor BrianHaw being re-moved fromParliamentSquare this past June after a 1km “no-protest zone” wasenacted (with the specificintention of moving Haw, who had been demonstrating sincethe beginning of the war inIraq). Artist Mark Wallingerhas recently re-created thisentire protest - including 100sof placards - and installed itat Tate Britain just outsidethe 1km protest exclusion zone."

Archi Galentz Emily Artinian

Achot Achot

Silvina Der-Meguerditchian Sophia Gasparian


Elsayed | Demirjian

It is symbolic that all of our dialoguesand our ability to speak

freely as armenians culminates

with this violent actagainst speaking

Answers


Archi Galentz Dahlia Elsayed/A.Demirjian

Sophia GasparianSilvina Der-Meguerditchian

Achot Achot


Emily Artinian

Anti-Corruption ProgramLaunched in Armenia

Armenia Thursday, March 01, 2007

Eurasia Foundation Armenialaunched a two-year anti-

corruption program designed toempower the Armenian

Government, civil society, andmedia to assure governmentfiscal responsibility andregain public trust. The

program will offer trainings,international study tours,

grants and network developmentto advance grassroots

understanding of corruptionissues and strengthen Armenian

government response.

Answers



Archi Galentz

Kara Matsakian David Kareyan

Silvina Der-MeguerditchianAchot Achot

D. Elsayed | A. Demirjian Emily Artinian

The joy of the nationalism

silence

The dialogue is becoming intresting,

but I can't still turn on.

"Memorial day weekend" USA 2005

Answers


The Armenian Transnation as a never ending web

Dr. Estela Schindel


Since the first great dispersionstarted after the year 1045, theArmenian people have gone throughmultiple and varied forms ofmigration and exile. The diversityof words used in the Armenianlanguage to name the diaspora,according to Khachich Tölölyan, is a testimony to and a result ofthis plurality of experiences.Spurk, arderkir, tz'ronk, gharib,gaghut -suggestively related to theHebrew term galut- are each relatedto different moments and modes oflife in foreign lands. The lexicalproliferation is a mark of thiscomplex and multilayered history. A plurality to be associated not somuch with lack and longing, but withthe vitality and dynamism of thediasporic condition. A dispersion,as any other dissemination, acquiresthrough language a fecund meaning.As if spreading seeds, migrationallows the expansion of culturalartefacts and values and turns thediaspora into a fertile space. The word, this portative treasureable to extend, adapt, and befruitful in remote places, enabledthose moments of great culturaldevelopment that Armeniancommunities enjoyed around theworld. Thus, the first newspaperwritten in Armenian language,published in Madras, India in 1794,is a sign of this vitality and showshow common shared culture offeredspaces to recreate itself and,hence, symbolic realms to inhabit.

This permanent recreation ofArmenian existence in the diaspora,together with the increasingdiscrediting of the concepts of“nation” and “identity”, nowadaysdisplaced by notions such as globaldeterritorialization and culturalhybridity, led to the current turnto the idea of Armenia as atransnation. The diaspora can be nolonger viewed as exile andorphanhood, a peripheric missing ofthe distant homeland, but rather asa net which includes, but exceeds,the physical Armenian territory; not

a geographically located place, butthe collective weaving of an endlessweb. Not a promise projected to thefuture but a permanent constructiontoday.

To acknowledge the creativepotential implicit in the diasporadoes not mean to ignore thedestructive force displayed in it by persecution and extermination.The memory of the genocide is, as well as the word, a fundamentaltrace in the permanent weaving of the transnation. Along with thediasporic experience and the keyrole of the lettered tradition, this shows the affinity between the Armenian and the Jewish peoples. As in the legacy of the Shoah, the duty to remember parallels the challenge of recreating thecollective identity beyond the evocation of the death, of finding positive ways to bind the sense of cultural belonging.

The curatorial work of under_construction takes care of this richand complex heritage in a responsibleand loving manner. The artists'commitment, initiated already as anexchange platform on the web - a powerful resource and altogether a metaphor for this rhizomaticconstruction of the transnation -proposes images which do not claimthe univocity and solidity ofnational symbols, but aim to be likestrings composing a plot. Their workcould not have found a better shelterthan the walls of a monastery whichwas the site of flourishing Armeniancultural life. And not a betterplace than Venice, a port which washospitable to a prosperous communityin accordance with its mercantilelineage and its character of exchangeknot between distant worlds. For asthe water city, collective identitydoes not rely on firm ground, but on a copious archipelago, crossed bynumerous canals like bonds weaving a never ending web.

15


Armenia Now//:here

Marc Wrasse


Here are six Armenian artists, allquite secular, in a famous Armenianmonastery located beyond the shoresof their home country, namely inVenice, Italy: while the world hasgot accustomed to peoples living intheir home countries there arepeoples who have to derive theirself-awareness mainly from the lossof it.

When contemplating this paradoxthoughts tend to go either way:backward, thereby grieving andmourning loss, or forward, claimingthe lost identity back by dreamingup a kind of unity, a unity thatdemands one's own identity beseamlessly interwoven with thecollective one by merging both in aplace to be named "Armenian" -flags, music, dignitaries and all.However, both strains of thought area delusion: no one can grieveforever, and the beauty of the flagand music acts as camouflage for theviolence that has always beenassociated with nationality. Thereis no nation without military, nonewithout the humiliating imbalancebetween rich and poor, none thatdoes not flex its muscles to punishthose who challenge the might of itsinstitutions and do not play by therules - a vain endeavour. Thus,those Armenians who have nothingleft but a dream or vanished hopesare looked upon by the world as thelucky ones.

All that remains of the past and forthe future is the narrow gauge ofthe here and now and the need todetermine what exactly Armenianmeans - beyond all retroactive andfuture illusions. Art renders itselfbeautifully for this experiment: its mostly unviolent, playful natureunfolds not only as a dialoguebetween the artists but also as adialogue with an unsuspectingaudience.

The nowhere, the void, the blankscould be filled with all that was orcould have been, had it not been forthe all-destructive violence.

Art can be such a void, and allthose who allow themselves to betouched by art discover the nowherethat is at the root of their ownexistence. And in this context wecan speak of an Armenia Now//:here.Like a vector this conceptrepresents the interaction betweenthe past and the future, the span in which our lives briefly unfold,if at all. Armenia Now//:here actsas a motor for reciprocalcreativity.

If we - like those three quarters of Armenians who do not have a landto call their own - ask ourselveswhat the essence of their existenceis, if we look beyond grievance andillusion, or else if we virtuouslyconsider identity to be somethingthat can only be seen critically andin context with its formation, thenthe only likely answer is fruitfulcommemoration and historicallyevolving imagination. Armenia is theplace where people pick up thethreads to weave them into a carpet,the fuzzy pattern of which manifeststheir yearning for an existencewithout self-denial. Armenia is the place where the materiality and texture of such threads reflectall that could only be heard by theyearning voices of the grandparents:a love of unmistakable colour and taste.

17


Trans-individuation and desidentification

Ali Akay


The identity of the individual is acentral problem of our time. We haveinherited this situation from thecreation of the nation-state, andalso, before it, the creation ofkingdoms in Europe. The EuropeanEnlightenment is one of the factorsthrough which the individual hascome to be seen as a person whobelongs to a collectivity. This wasa moment in history when we ceasedto speak of “geography, latitudesand longitudes”, and began to speakof politics in new terms, in whichthe subject, the people, became acentral element. We have been usingthe idea of “citizenship” since thecreation of the nation-state, and ithas become a very positiveformulation, with strongconnotations of freedom. Hobbesplacement “people” before the notionof “citizenship”, eliminating theconcept of a multitude, somethingthat is very relevant to us today,with respect to contemporarysociological use of the terms. The legacy of the nation-state is for us a serious problem becauseof the many crimes this entity wasresponsible for during its history,a history that we are stillexperiencing and from which we mustabsolutely exit, if we are to moveforward into our new situation andthe creation of new kinds ofmultitudes. The historical developmentof the idea of the individualbelonging to a collective communitypossesses a number of bifurcations.The French sociologist Gabriel Tarde(1843-1904) interpreted the subjectof the individual in terms ofLeibniz' ideas of the monad. Tardeadded to the Leibnizien monad theconcept of open doors and windows.It means that Leibniz's cabinet hasno doors neither windows. It is aclosed monad whereas the individualof Tarde is a poreuse one and notclosed to itself. This is a trans-individuality, the poreuse one andfor that reason we can call thatcrossing individual situation of theperson as a desidentification initself because of the openrelationship to the whole possibility

of the global individuation. This isa moment in the history ofphilosophy when we see the notionof the individual as an integratedperson, as an indivisible subject of consciousness. This developmentof the indivisibility of the personmakes one person belong to himself.Sociology has further developed the difference between society andthe individual as a long process of the separation of the individualfrom the societal (social). Later,at the beginning of the 20thcentury, in Durkheim's work, theindividual was separated from thecollective and exists as a part of the society. In our current approach tosociology, in part because of the influence of the positions ofDurkheim, society and the individualare not able to understand, I think,the position of the individualtoday. During the last two decadesthe notion of multiculturalism hasbegun to have a central role in thedebate in the social sciences and in the arts. But unfortunately thishas been only, in the main, in thecontext of the contentious subjectof immigration. Immigrants have thepossibility of creating new kinds of culture in the societies in whichthey are involved, and they canchoose to accept assimilation or thedifferences of the cultures (a newdemand of young citizens, especiallyfrom post-colonial countries). We can call this the culture ofimmigrants. On this point the ideaof “a people” is very problematicbecause what we call peopleaccording to Hobbes are those whobelong to a nation-state. How we can talk about “a people” whenimmigrants are only immigrants andnot citizens? To have citizenshipdemands a naturalization of theindividual coming from anotherculture. In Europe it is possible to be a member of a nation only ifone has citizenship of the nation.

19


Artists


Emily Artinian

Achot Achot

Andrew Demirjian

Archi Galentz

Silvina Der Meguerditchian

Dalia Elsayed

Sophia Gasparian


Born in Yerevan, 1961, lives and works in Paris

Achot Achot


afactum, 2007, Installation with sugar cubes, Musée Departamental de Gap

23



afactum, 2006, Installation with sugar cubes, details, ACCEA

Achot Achot was born in Yerevan in 1961 and grew up in Armenia. He now lives in Paris.

In his spiritual afactum works photography is not only juxtaposed against and mixed with

abstract painting: Achot Achot also reconciles two seemingly diverging views of life with

each other and synthesises them. His photographs of young women with their palpable eroticism

address as well as dissolve the separation of body and soul that is so inherent in Christian-

Occidental history. Yet, in his meditative paintings evoking Far Eastern philosophies such

dualism no longer appears to exist. The borderline between 'The Self and the Known' becomes

irrelevant, the yearning for 'The Infinite' being the underlying goal.Merging abstraction and

figuration, materiality and texture results in a different, spiritual and yet sensuous

perception of the 'Self versus Reality'. The special appeal of Achot Achot's works is just

that, a reflection of this paradox. The game played by alternating materiality with spirit,

by constructing, deconstructing and dissolving can also be observed in his sugar

installations. The sugar cubes form the basis of fragile, dissolvable constructions which can

become undone at any given moment and/or leave a trace of their absence - a void.


afactum, 2007, digital image, acrylic gel on wood, 58 x 39 cm

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS <2007, “Passé présent, demain”, Musée départemental de Gap,

France> <2006, "Méditations chromatiques", Museum of contemporary art, Yerevan> <"Afactum

+ 15", ACCEA, Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art," Point, ligne, méditation

" Yerevan, "Binerf", Gallery Artcore, Paris> <2005, Gallery Artcore, Paris> <1999, Gallery

TPG, Geneva, Suisse> SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS <2006, International Biennale of

contemporary art, Gyumri, Armenia> <2005, "INDEPENDENCIA" Museo de Arte Moderno de

Medellin, Colombia", “EGO" Festival de performances, Medellin, Manizales, Colombia> <2004,

"EGO" Festival international d'art contemporain, Ezanville, France> <2003, "Getting

closer", IFA - Gallery, Bonn, Berlin, Germany> <2001,"Au-delà des icônes", National

Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan> <"Art Bunker in Moskau", ZDH, Moscow, Russia> <2000,

"Tentation céleste", Paris> <1995 "Stream of Fire", The Pharos Trust, Nicosia, Cyprus>

<1993 "IDENTIFICATION", Museum of Modern Art, Yerevan> <1992, "9 - neuf", Museum of Modern

Art, Yerevan > <1989 "666", Yerevan> <"Armenian avant-garde in Paris", Chapelle de la

Salpêtrière, Paris> <1988,1st. festival of happenings, Anikstchaï, Lituanie> <1987, "3rd

floor", Yerevan, Armenia> PUBLIC COLLECTIONS <Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellin, Colombia,

Museum of Modern Art, Yerevan, Armenia, Museum of the city of Panévégis, Lithuania, Center

of Contemporrary Art of Gyumri,Armenia>

www.afactum.com


afactum, 2006, digital image, acrylique gel on wood, 58,5 x 44,5 cm


Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1970, lives and works in London

Emily Artinian


Dream, 1999, Card, paper, fishing line 10cm x 10cm, bound on all sides; open edition

29


Exposure, 2000, Lucite box containing fragmented text, inkjet printed on transparencies;


Emily Artinian was born to an Armenian father in Pennsylvania in 1970. She now lives in

London. Her involvement with artist's books and text-based art is a recurrent theme of her

work and can also be regarded as a reminiscence of the Armenian book culture and

tradition. Emily Artinian's conceptual text works add visual expression to abstract

language which in turn is often reduced to abstract language again.

Her projects resemble translation processes, cryptic, arcane messages which need to be

deciphered to grasp their true meaning. Her work "Exposure" of 2000, a small see-through

box containing text fragments on transparent ground, is like a personal diary. The

contents only becomes evident to the curious viewer once he arduously and painstakingly

puts the pieces of this jigsaw together.The mysterious book "Dream" of 1999 altogether

refuses access to the most intimate meaning of the words: All that is visibly there to

fire the reader's imagination are an edited summary and some carefully selected

associative words. "An intact and secret treasure" of 2001 is based on the "Library of

Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges with the meaning being generated from words that appeared in a

tabloid in the course of one week. This work points at the difficulties we are confronted

with nowadays when trying to decipher the significance and meaning of words contained in

the sheer flood of information descending on us. Identity is thus tantamount to

cryptography and difficult to decode.

Box: 8cm x 4cm x 4cm (left); text squares approx. 0.5cm2(detail); one-off object


An intact and secret treasure, 2001, collage on paper, 11 panels, 60 x 40 cm

EDUCATION <1992 BA Russian Literature, Columbia University> <1995 MA Slavic Languages and

Literatures, Yale University> <1997-1999 Apprenticeship at Peter Kruty Editions letterpress

studio in New York> <2000 MA Honours, Book Art at Camberwell College of Art and Design,

London> ARTISTIC PRACTICE <artist's books and text based art, with a focus on literature

and literary theory: the work is an exploration of the boundary between visual art and the

academic study of the humanities, in particular literary studies> RECENT ARTISTS BOOKS

<From Ararat to Angeltown, a large format book developed from a collaboration with

contemporary writers in Armenia, combining life-size photographs of writers at one of

their regular meetings with new stories and poems translated into English for the first

time. <The High Window, a film and accompanying artist's book about the experience of

visualizing fiction> SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS <2007 Regenerator, Bristol, UK; Panorama

of books of Western artists from Matisse to the 21st century, Taipei, Taiwan> <2006

Faction: Collected Works, University of the West of England, Bristol> <2005 Sense:Absence,

Clerkenwell Green Association, London; Launch of From Ararat to Angeltown at Gartal, New

York, NY> TEACHING AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS <Senior Lecturer, Chelsea College of Art and

Design and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London> <Founding member of

artists' group FACTION> <Founder of www.thestreamingbook.com, webcast interviews with

artists working in the book form>

www.emilyartinian.com


Detail

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Springfield MA, USA, 1966, lives and works in the New York area

Andrew Demirjian


Yerevan Conversations, 2002, videostill

35



Andrew Demirdjian made the video "Yerevan dialogues" while he was in the Armenian capital

on an artist-in-residence program. It is the story of a sensual discovery tour of today's

Yerevan. He asks passers-by and residents "What does Yerevan smell like? What does Yerevan

taste like? What does Yerevan feel like?"

From these individual impressions and personal responses he compiled absurdly humorous

statistics meant to scientifically prove and demonstrate subjective feelings about the city.

In his recent videos the relationship between visual and aural elements is increasingly

at the fore of his work. Just like a choreographer Andrew Demirdjian creates complex

arrangements of images and sounds. The rhythm of image and sound is of prime importance

in his four-part video "Rustle of Language" of 2006. It is with an ironic undertone that

he demonstrates in this work how knowledge is gained by reading a diversity of texts -

identity is derived from interchangeable pieces and texts in the fields of art history,

popular culture and children's books as well as scientific texts which are generally

considered to portray the truth. The exchangeability and ambiguity of the texts also

points to the growing predominance of all things visual in our daily life.

Rustle of Language, 2006, 4 channel video installation


EDUCATION <2005 Hunter College, MFA Integrated Media Arts /1988 Clark University, BA

Economics> <SOLO EXHIBITIONS> <2006,City Without Walls, New Media Project Room, Newark, NJ>

<2005 LMAK Projects, Brooklyn, NY> <2004 Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ> <2003 Laznia

Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland> <GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES> <2007,Experimental

Television Center, Owego, NY Artist in Residence> <2006 Individual Artist Fellowship, NJ

State Council on the Arts/Puffin Foundation Grant, Newark Museum Artist in Residence>

<2005 First Prize, Overall Video Portfolio CUNY Arts Gala> <2004 Technology Fellowship,

Hunter College, Steinhauer Mullins Scholarship, Hunter College> <2003 ArtsLink Grant for

Individual Artists, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY> <2002 Center for Contemporary

Art, Yerevan, Armenia> <SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS> <2006 Arthouse at the Jones Center,

Austin, TX> <2005 White Box Gallery, New York, NY> <2004 Gigantic Art Space, New York,

Harvestworks, NY> <2002 National Academy of the Moving Image, Boston, MA>

www.AndrewDemirjian.com

Residence 2, 2004, videostills


Dried Old McNuggett, 2004, mixed media (top); Yerevan Conversations, 2002, videostills


Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1967 | lives and works in Berlin

Silvina Der Meguerditchian


Plug (2006), felt, wool, photo, 30 cm diameter

41


Socket, 2006, Felt, photo on canvas, 30 cm diameter


Silvina Der-Meguerditchian is the granddaughter of Armenian immigrants to Argentina and

was born in Buenos Aires in 1967. She grew up in Argentina and now lives in Berlin.

A recurrent theme of her work is the remembrance of the ethnic dislocation of the Armenian

people and the genocide they suffered. She uses photographic memorabilia and official

documents and merges them in her crochet collages into individual, often painful stories.

Silvina Der-Meguerditchian ties a net. She connects the disparate, builds bridges between

worlds apart or seeks a dialogue with the unknown. Her work "Connexion Obsession" is

emblematic for this artistic fervour. Her main focus is always on the actual process of

joining and dissolving, constructing and deconstructing identity. The installation

"Dispread but Together" depicts fragments of the Armenian diaspora in Argentina, France

and the US. Like a magnifying glass the artist captures moments, signs and traces of

Armenian life. By randomly placing these documents of commemoration in the open space they

become a caleidoscope linking the past, present and future. By contrast, her photographic

work "Aleppo Presences" documents the presence and existence of Armenian culture in

today's Aleppo. The search for traces, for "remnants" of Armenian culture today makes

their actual loss even more painful. Silvina Der-Meguerditchian's work represents a type

of mnemonics, namely the individual and collective art of commemoration.

Alep_Süleymaniye_01 (2006), photoprint, 60 x 100 cm


SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS <2006, Siempreviva, Klosterruine, Berlin> <2005 RECONOCER,

Galerie ELSI del RIO, Buenos Aires> <2004, The dream collection, Instituto Cervantes,

Berlin> <2003, Galerie Raskolnikow, Dresden, A.L.M.A Museum, Boston, U.S.A> <2002,

The textur of the identity, C.C. Recoleta, Buenos Aires> <2001, Subjektive Eindrucke, C.C.

Borges, Buenos Aires> SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS <2007,Visual Dialog: under–construction,

Mekhitarian Monastery, Venice, Reality Crossings,"Fotofestival Mannheim-Ludwigshafen-

Heidelberg"> <2006, Art fair ARTEBA06 with Gallery Elsi del Rio, Buenos Aires,

9. Biennale Gyumri, Armenia/ Zona de Trânsito, Cervantes Institut de São Paulo,

Zona efímera> <2005,Las lloronas del arte, Performance/Film with lab Berlin, Prima Center

Gallery, Berlin, ARTEBA 05- Artfair, Buenos Aires, "The free will", Bunker in the Arena,

Berlin Urban realities: Focus Istanbul, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, "Heimat: Inbetween",

Hamburg, "Corrosión", Uberlandia, Brazil,"Always visible", Sao Paulo> <2004,

Die Traumsammlung,Instituto Cervantes, Berlin, Evita: un Escudo, Senate from Buenos Aires,

"Ciclo" with Imaginary Line, C.C. Sao Paulo, Brazil, Print Triennial, InExile, Center for

Contemporary arts, Tallin, Eastland, Paradies Projekt, Kunstsalon, Berlin, Armenian

linking, Prima Center Gallery, Berlin> <2003, ARVEST, Los Angeles> <RESIDENCES: ACCEA,

Yerewan> PUBLIC COLLECTIONS <City of Buenos Aires, Collection of the American Embassy>

www.silvina-der-meguerditchian.de


Dispread but together, 2007, installation approx. 350 x 600 cm photo transpher on textile


New York, USA, 1969 | lives and works in the New York area

Dahlia Elsayed


Chance encounters (2006), 22" x 30" acrylic on paper

47



The artist lives in the US. In her work writing and painting appear as two related processes

complimenting each other. In her delicate paintings comprising text and images she creates

mappings of her own inner self. Autobiographical and social experiences form the basis

of her work resulting in an imaginary geography and phantasmajoric travel topography.

Due to the precise descriptions of fictitious places and landscapes, the landscapes of the

soul and dream world mapped out gain a certain idiosyncratic validity. In her works

"A Long Layover" of 2005 or "Landlocked" of 2006 this is, however, offset again by pairing

two virtually identical yet varying images of space.

Dahlia Elsayed's imaginary mappings tell the story of dislocations and individual mementoes

thereby representing the aesthetic matrix of cultural reality that today's immigrants are

faced with. As in Emily Artinian's case, books play an important role in the artistic work

of Dahlia Elsayed. The artist keeps a diary by writing, making collages and painting.

In her books everyday experiences are transformed into visual images, personal memories

are linked with collective ones to serve as tangible proof of the past.

First and last chance saloon, 2006, acrylic on paper, 45” x 80”


EDUCATION < 1994 Columbia University School of the Arts, MFA Creative Writing - 1992 Barnard

College, BA English, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa > SOLO EXHIBITIONS < 2006 Portlock Black

Cultural Center, Lafayette College, Easton, PA > < 2005 Clementine Gallery, New York, NY (two

person show) - Women's Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY > < 2004 Laznia Centre for Contemporary

Art, Gdansk, Poland > < 2003 Johnson & Johnson Corporate Art Gallery, NJ - The Jersey City

Museum, Jersey City, NJ > < 2002 Armenian Library and Museum of America, Watertown, MA >

GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES < 2005 Rutgers Center for Innovative Printmaking, NJ - Headlands

Center for The Arts, Sausalito CA > < 2004 NJ State Council on the Arts, Individual Artist

Fellowship - Women's Studio Workshop, Rosendale NY, The Newark Museum > < 2003 ArtsLink Grant

for Individual Artists - Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY > < 2002 Center for

Contemporary Art, Yerevan, Armenia > PUBLIC COLLECTIONS < The Newark Museum - US Department

of State, Art in Embassies - Johnson & Johnson Corporation - The Jersey City Museum -

Zimmerli Art Museum - Hunterdon Museum of Art - Montclair Art Museum - New Jersey State Museum >

www.dahliaelsayed.com

A delicate retreat, 2006, acrylic on paper, 40” x 30”


Landlocked, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30” (Detail)


Moscow, Russia, 1971 | lives and works in Berlin, Yerevan and Moscow

Archi Galentz


"The Black Garden" wall installation of 9 litho prints on canvas, 45 x 45 x 3 cm each

Master exam, UdK Berlin, 1997

53


"The Globe of the Land Hajk", 2003, wood, watercolour on paper 80 x 60 x 60cm

view at "Getting closer", ifa-gallery, Berlin


"My Bed Wall in Berlin", 2005, installation with a private art collection ap. 350 x 300 cm

Archi Galentz was born in Moscow in 1971. He comes from an Armenian family with a long history

of painters and now lives and works in Berlin. A recurrent theme that is central to his artistic

work is the question of Armenian identity, especially in relation to political factors such as

the demise of the Soviet Union and the resurgence of Armenian awareness. This is also reflected

in his artistic preoccupation with fictitious maps. He started to experiment with maps when he

discovered a lithography stone dating back to the 1870s depicting a map of the environs of

Berlin which no longer exist in this form. The fascination with this map showing specific

details of a place forever lost inspired Archie Galentz to his three-dimensional work "Hajk"

of 2003. The result is a paradox, a cube-shaped globe with drawings of imaginary state fron-

tiers and nations. This work is also relevant to the question of a national Armenian identity.

The artist designed numerous variations of one and the same map trying to find answers and/or

develop positive examples of an imaginary Armenia in the process. "These maps symbolise the

whole process of developing an identity and keeping it", Archie Galentz said. The search for a

paradise lost as the central theme of Archi Galentz's work was already evident in "The Black

Garden" of 1997 in which the aspect and use of colour were, however, key issues - painting as

a medium to illustrate the condensation of life and the strategies for survival.

view at "Situated Self" MoCA, Belgrad


EDUCATION <1989, State University of Arts Yerevan, Armenia, 1992 University of Arts (UdK)

Berlin, 1997 Masterclass degree> <SOLO SHOWS> < 2007 "Pose As A Position", The Club,

Yerevan> <2006 "USTA, has you got some ASTAR?", Prima Center, Berlin> <2005 "This Days in

16 Years", Prima Center, Berlin> <2001 "Im Schwarzen Garden", Südost Zentrum, Berlin>

<2000 "Archi Galentz. Malerei" Gallery Taube, Berlin> <GROUP SHOWS> <2007 "Grand bleu",

Artcore, Paris> <2006 "Don't be Scared", ACCEA, Yerevan, "5th International Gymri Biennale

", Armenia> <2005 "Situated Self ", MoCA Belgrade, Serbia and City Art Museum, Helsinki,

Finnland, "ego, International Festival", MoCA Medellin, Columbia, "Focus Istanbul: Urban

Realities", Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, "INTERNATIONAL", NCCA, Moscow> <2004 "Not In The

Sky and Not On The Earth", MoCA Skopje, Macedonia, "Na Kyrort, Russian Art Today",

Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden> <2003 "Flowers from no man's land", Gallery in Parlament,

Berlin, "Paradies", Bunker Alexanderplatz, Berlin, "Getting Closer" ifa-Gallery, Berlin and

Bonn> <2002 "Ostensiv", CAH Moscow, "Nativ Land - Fatherland", Malij Manej, Moscow, "Stop!

Who Is Coming?", NCCA, Moscow> <2000 "EXPO 2000", Armenian Pavillon, Hannover, "2nd.

International Gymri Biennale", Armenia> <1989 "Student Posters", Museum of National Art,

Sardarabad, Armenia> COLLECTIONS <Museum of National Art, Sardarabad,Armenia, MoCA Skopje,

Macedonia, MoCA Belgrade, Serbia, MoCA Medellin, Columbia><CURATED ><2007 "Dez'avju",

Open University, Yerevan> < 2006 "Questioning Saro Galentz", Boyadjian Gallery, Yerevan>

www.ArchiGalentz.arrieregarde.org

"ArWest" 2006, atelier situation, Berlin


"99 Tao Signs plus Stels Bomber", 2006, oil on canvas, gold frame, 65 x 85 cm

view at "Im Black Garden" SüdOstZentrum, Berlin


Yerevan, Armenia, 1972 | lives and works in Los Angeles

Sophia Gasparian


Let’s not chat about despair, 1999, mixed media on paper 8" X 10"

59


Help, 2006, acrylic on wood 20" X 16"


Sophia Gasparian was born in the Soviet Republic of Armenia in 1972. At the age of 15 she

emigrated with her parents to the US and now lives and works in Los Angeles. In her work

she experiments with various artistic media such as collages, language and print as well

as film and video. Sophia Gasparian's unconventional works combine the aesthetics of chil-

dren's drawings or graffiti with quizzical, if not to say sarcastic social criticism.

There is always a troubling, eerie, even brutal element in her drawings such as "See that

my grave is kept clean" of 2004 or "Help" of 2004.

The Armenian genocide is central to her mixed media collage "Why do Armenians stink?" and

put into a wider historical and political context. The drawing "Let's not chat about des-

pair" deals with the painful topic of remembrance and questions the impact this has on the

existence of those generations experiencing the traumata of ethnic dislocation through the

life and despair of their parents and grandparents. In her recent photographs the artist

looks at the phenomena of a hybrid Armenian-US American culture and its potentially wide

scope of life planning and identification possibilities.

See that my grave is kept clean, 2002, mixed media on board 12" X 15"


EDUCATION <1999 San Francisco Art Institute, MFA Fine Art Filmmaking, 1995 University of

California, Santa Cruz, BA Theater Arts/ Film/Video, GROUP EXHIBITIONS <2007 Genocide Poster

Exhibit, Woodbury University Gallery, Burbank, CA - Women in the Arts: Reflections La Sierra

University Division 9 Gallery Riverside, CA 2006 It Came from Beyond the Stars Monkeyhouse

Gallery Los Angeles, CA - Chain, Letter High Energy Constructs Chinatown Los Angeles, CA -

Armenian Genocide Poster Exhibit UCLA Gallery, 2005 Up Close & Personal Southern California

Women's, Art Caucus 2004 Los Angeles Municipal Gallery Open Call Lynn Zelevanski/LACMA Award

2003 VitVeersch installation Ishallah Gallery Los Angeles, CA 2002 Dia de los Muertos Altar

Exhibit Avenue 50 Gallery, Highland Park, <CA COLLECTIONS> Center for the Study of Political

Graphics TEACHING EXPERIENCE San Francisco Art Institute Extension Education Fine Art

Filmmaking BIBLIOGRAPHY 2005 ArtTalk Magazine Discovering Ms.X:The Art World's Feminine Side>

www.sophiagasparian.com

Jump 2006 acrylic on wood 24" X 18"


Orphan blues, 2006 acrylic on wood 20" X 16”


Editionunderconstruction e V.Leonhardstr. 15D-14057 BerlinTel. 0049 30 [email protected]

The copyrights for texts and picturesbelong to the artists and authors.

Design: Marula Di Como / Florencia YoungPrint: druckhaus köthen GmbH, Friedrichstr. 11/12, 06366 Köthen/Anhalt

Curators: Silvina Der-Meguerditchian, Barbara HöfferProduction assistants: Ursula Mateo, Mirima de la SierraTexts: Barbara Höffer, Marc Wrasse, Dr. Estela Schindel, Ali Akay, S. Der-MeguerditchianEditorial support: Emily ArtinianTranslations: Yvonne Schwarzig, Luis Sarabia Utrilla, Marga Zips, Christine Gardon

We would like to thank all those who have helped make this project possible: Abbot Elia, Eliseo Djulian, Samuel Bagdasarian, Christoph Tannert, Sirje Helme, Marina Kalaidjian, Houry Youssouffian, Sabrina Williams, Joan Agajanian Quinn, Maria Inés Abrahamian, Concha Argüeso, Chus Lopez Vidal, Mark Wrasse, Oliver and Avedis Neehus, Jorge Vartparonian, Huberta von Voss, Gotthardt Schön.

F U N D A C I O NA R M E N I A

supported by

THE MEKHITARIST CONGREGATION

Imprint


Documents

Underconstruction_ visual dialogue: Talking about identities in the Armenian Transnation