Armenia, picturesque and friendly country

A REASON FOR MY VISIT
I visited Yerevan at the end of July and at the beginning of August 2008. I participated at the 3rd International Summer School for art curators (www.naac.am/aica/html/eng/issac/ssc08.html), where I presented achievements of World of Art, School of Contemporary Art (www.worldofart.org), run by organisation I work for, SCCA-Ljubljana. I gave a talk about programmes of SCCA-Ljubljana with emphasis on video art. During a three-part presentation I took the participants to a journey with three main stops: 1) curatorial education and practices; 2) SCCA operation within the world of art; 3) an overview of video art in Slovenia from the beginnings up to now.
At the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (www.accea.info/), at their program Discussion at the Library, I had a presentation of Slovene video (an overview, with a special focus on archiving video art) and a screening of one program of videos of Slovene artists. The program includes five videos of female artists from Slovenia. The artists are exploring the meaning of performance or just a “pure” action taken in front of the camera. The audience was surprised by the simplicity of some videos and at the same time by the complexity of the others.

ARMENIAN VIDEO ART – A PLATFORM FOR IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL STATEMENTS
In the comparison with Armenian video art, Slovene video art has already passed different stages of its development, while Armenian videos are at the moment (my personal observation only!) in the process of reflexion. Video art in Armenia became one of significant media from Venice Biennial in 2001, when under the selection of Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art the art from Armenia was represented by video artists. Video art turned out to be the most accepted and popular medium and form of artistic expression. On the one hand, this tendency is dictated by globalization and high technologies. Media art offers artists the chance to easily transport their works any place in the world. Besides, video is the most inexpensive and accessible media. The development of video art in Armenia is tied in with a trend to be modern, to be associated with international contemporary art. Video art has become a signature and a statement for the artists about current ideological and political issues. Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art is a promising starting point to discover Armenian video art scene. Among exhibitions they organise film screenings called One frame, one minute, the festival of nothing but one-minute videos form all over the world.

OTHER ART SCENE
Further more, for those, interested in women issues, queer issues and activism, I recommend Utopiana and WOW (Women-Oriented-Women) organisations and initiatives. Utopiana is – among others – a cultural institution. The project Queering Yerevan (queeringyerevan.blogspot.com/2008/12/
from-utopiana.html), which is a collaborative initiative of Armenian queer artists, writers and curators is realized within the framework of the WOW collective. It takes as its point of departure concrete mnemonic experiences of concrete queer artists in a specific time and space: Yerevan, 2000s.

For those, interested in public institutions and their projects focused in modern and contemporary arts, two organisations must be checked out: Museum of Modern Art is run by Henri Igitian, a very enthusiastic director, who might give you a speech about the collection of the museum as well s about the establishment of this once unique institution in former USSR, the historical challenges it faced and the current goals. The other is Cafesjian Museum Foundation (www.cmf.am/home/index_eng.html), form the western European perspective an utopian project, which is at the moment in a process of stagnation.

PLEASANT ESCAPE
And how to get away from contemporary arts and find a shade in boiling hot Yerevan, as I experienced during my stay? In Yerevan, you have to visit Sergei Parajanov Museum (www.parajanov.com/museum_info.html), where I was impressed by his collage works, you have to try Armenian delicious grilled dishes and visit their monasteries in Echmiadzin, Geghard, at the lake Sevan, and around city Dilijan. Pay attention to changes of countryside, from very dry areas to green forests. And never forget to have a bottle of fresh water. I can not imagine when I have drunk so many mineral water as in Armenia. And of course, of Armenian cognac and Russian vodka. As a heritage from not so recent USSR times, you might hit upon some public statues of war generals. And you will not be able to avoid Mother Armenia, taking care of Yerevan city. She holds the spot where a giant statue of Stalin once stood.
And how to communicate in Armenia? I tried with some mixture of Slovene and Russian language. Nevertheless, the taxi drivers understood. And I did not get lost. Because Armenians are really, really nice, willing to help you anytime.