Oct 21, 6 pm
Karen Andreassian
Ontological Walkscapes
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In 2007, the paradigm of Armenian society drastically changed as a result of post-electoral political processes throughout the country. Overcoming their fear, the community rediscovered the political. Besides being a protest site for ten days (in protest against the manifestly rigged presidential elections), Azatutyan (Freedom) Square became a communicative node as well. When Azatutyan Square was taken over by the authorities and the opposition forcibly dispersed, the protest continued in a different format. It continued in the Northern Avenue in the neighborhood of Azatutyan Square. At a certain hour each day, politically active people merged with crowds of ordinary city-dwellers and took part in a specific «political walk.» People just walked, discussed politics. In fact this activity was based on notions of invisibility and non-violent resistance, whose efficiency has been borne out over time.
What was the main purpose of my «infiltrating» the Department of Art History and Theory, Yerevan State University in 2002? It was during that period that I initiated a long-term research project on socio-political landscapes and their potential infiltration. It presupposed and presupposes networking as a mode of inquiry into omissions, losses, oversight and oblivion. The University communicative node/net gathered around the project «Ontological Walkscapes,» which emerged from the five graduation dissertations I supervised in 2008. These were works related to the discovery, factography and bio-organization of «space», «landscape», where factography is seen not as a static concept but as praxis. The student- correspondents’ group consists of Arevik Tadevosyan («Khachik», a village on the border with Azerbaijan), Ninel Melkonyan («Parakar», on the outskirts of Yerevan), Ani Danielyan («Nor Hachn», a satellite town), Parandzem Yegoryan («Hrazdan», a satellite town), AniSargsyan (an archive). Tigran Sahradyan, the reviewer, and Narek Bakhtamyan were also included in the project. Another student Tsovinar Banuchyan («Yerevan»), joined us this year. The decision to participate in the project was a choice to radically change one’s status. Looking back, it can fairly be said that the transition to a «political walker» had a factual influence on the participants’ lives – the sense of personal dignity, the sense of collective solidarity, the readiness to defend one’s own position. The work we carried out was evaluated by the department as being a provocation against the discipline of art history. In 2009, I quit my job at the department.
Conception: Karen Andreassian
In cooperation with: Stephen Wright
www.ontologicalwalkscapes.format.am
Karen Andreassian, Yerevan-based artist, activist.
Exhibitions (Selection): «Absence/Presence», Yerevan, 1993; the Venice Biennial, Armenian pavilion, 1995; «Geo-Kunst Expedition» within the framework of Documenta X in 1997; «Hi-story», Salzburg, 2002; «Adieu Parajanov», Kunsthalle Vienna, Austria 2003; Gyumri Biennial VI, Gyumri, 2008; 11th International Istanbul Biennial, 2009. Since 2003 he has been working on a longterm network project, «Voghchaberd», which was presented at the Centre pour l’image contemporaine Saint-Gervais Genève, 2004, and the XV Biennale de Paris, 2006, and is included in the FRAC collection, France.