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Acquaintance with Armenian writer Zabel Yessayan
On the basis of research carried out by the Women’s Resource Center and withthe support of Utopiana’s media lab, a film about Armenian feminist writer Zabel Yessayan is currently in the works. The film is devoted to the writer’s activities during the Soviet period, an era where her true value was not recognized and since, she is currently unknown to Armenian readers. more...
All the research and filming were carried out without a preliminary budget, with nothing but the efforts of the Women’s Resource Center and Utopiana. The film is currently in post-production, an ongoing process taking place at Utopiana’s media lab.
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 Violet Grigorian-“The Art of Writing”
June-October 2008
A new series of practical seminars by writer Violet Grigorian was organized as a continuation of Nancy Agabian’s writing workshops titled “Non-literary writing.” more...
During the series of seminars the writer presented her own creative experiences while describing certain characteristics of the process of conception and fulfillment (as it pertains to writing). In addition, she will discuss her experiences of defending herself against those critics who aim not to liberate, but rather to limit, control and condemn, particularly with regards to female authors. Te participants were engaged in literary exercises which aided in practicing the know-how as it relates to the conception of text and the diversity of styles, while giving them a number of means of discovering and developing their creative possibilities.
Women from diverse professions participated in the project; some participants also had attended the practice sessions of Nancy Agabian’s “Non-literary writing” workshops.
At the end of the project, the most interesting pieces will be published in several issues of both the print and online versions of the literary journal Inknagir (“Autograph”).
In the future, development of audio CDs is envisaged, where the works created throughout the seminar will be recorded, read by their authors. These seminars gave a start to a series of new independent meetings, when the participants could raise various issues, discussed their professional viewpoints and/or independent researches on the same issue or theme. Two such meetings were conducted in December 2008.
Screening and discussion of “Alexandria Project”, a film by Australian director Ralf de Here Coordination Arpi Adamyan
meeting1-The film, as well as the discussion touched upon issues which are up-to-date in the Armenian context, too: the role of a woman (housewife) in family (sexual) relations, opportunities for a woman to change the policy of family relations, the issue of woman’s independence.
meeting2-Research-discussion “Virginity as a taboo” (Alina Poghosyan)Alina Poghosyan was presenting the outcomes of her ethnographic research on the issue of virginity in Armenia. During the discussion, several discords related to the methodology of the research came up.
The discussion was recorded by Utopiana’s media lab. Creation of a DVD is planned, which will include video-recording of the meetings as well as the research material.
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“Armenia Dreaming” An project on post Soviet urban imaginaries by Partizan Publik for Dutch Art Institute, Master Programme / ArtEZ Institute of the Arts.
In collaboration with Vardan Azatyan and Sophia Tabatadze, and various institutes and individuals in Armenia as well as in the Netherlands. May-June 2008
What visions, dreams or, one what might say, imaginary practices make Armenia’s reality these days? How are they realized/embodied in urban environments? Which are the centres (spaces, narratives, events, institutions, groups, situations, actors, etc.) where it is possible to discover in the people such visions, their work, their function? And what connection do these visions have with the problems that artists see before them? These are the big questions that the project “Armenia Dreaming” hoped to address. more...
Around 15 students of diverse nationalities and ethnic backgrounds from the Dutch Art Institute took part in the project. Accompanying them were a number of artists and cultural workers; an equal number of local Armenian art students and cultural workers were also involved. Various collaborative projects and respective narrative materials were implemented though cooperation, acquaintances, exchange of thoughts; they were exhibited on June 7, in the Art College of Mechitar Sebastatsi Educational Complex. The project included lectures, excursions in Yerevan as well as outside of the city, and film screenings. All events took place at Utopiana and with the technical support of our team. The film screenings, lectures and projects were held in the premises of Utopiana.am, with the technical support of Utopiana.am. The project was actualized thanks to the efforts of the Dutch Art Institute, Partizan Public (located in Amsterdam), Utopiana, the National Association of Art Critics, Open Armenian University, and the online art history journal “Reviser,” and with the financial support of Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation.
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 Vardan Azatian. Ideas of the Armenian Reality
April 2008
Generally speaking, one uses two types of language when speaking of politics in the Armenian context. The first one might call “journalistic,” which has as its basis the conviction that language is able to cite reality effectively and express the facts; and the second, one might call “parental neighbourhood.” In reality, these two types of languages complement one another; each draws upon the other while sharing a single necessary condition: the claim to have real true knowledge (that is to say, in both cases it is a question of reality). more...
It is evident that to understand politics, the professional knowledge — justifiably responsible for the person as much as for being social — of the excessive majority of members in a society is insufficient. An art theorist, for example, must, in a certain sense, become a journalist, a gossiper, in order to be capable of talking politics.
Furthermore, we are witnessing a fundamental splitting between social purpose and political life. It is this alienation in comparison with one’s own social purpose that produces an apolitical society (incidentally, this is a society that is easier to control for the purpose of political power). As a result, we witness deep bifurcation of the social mission (profession) and politics.It is this alienation from one’s own social mission that apoliticises the society and makes it easy-manipulated for the political authorities.
These lectures were an attempt to use the paradigm of art criticism, its language and its knowledge, as a way to comprehend the “political” as well as the “artistic” and to modify the interpretation while departing from the claim that the visual has always been the “teammate” of the political. Politics are none other than a practice of the imagining reality.
This series of lectures was devoted to the Armenian reality as “Image” and to the position of the “Visual Image” becoming an image in this reality.
Seminars were conducted in the premises of Utopiana.am. Utopiana’s media lab archived materials and prepared a DVD.
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 Hommage to Simone de Beauvoir
screening and discussion on March 2008
This project was developed for the centenary of Simone de Beauvoir’s birthday, as well as in honour of International Women’s Day. Discussions followed the screenings of Carole Roussopoulos’s films, which were translated and subtitled in Armenian. The following films were part of this program: more...
(a) Flowers for Simone de Beauvoir
(b) The fiftieth anniversary of The Second Sex (1949–1999)
(c) The tribulations of Mr. Sartre and Ms. Simone de Beauvoir toward the Caucasus
(d) Conjugal and spousal rape
The subtitling of these films were carried out by Utopiana’s media lab. This project was supported by the Ambassador of France in Armenia, The Club, and the Women’s Resource Center.
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 Marc Nichanian. Art, Myth and Politics
February 2008
A series of 4 seminar sessions were conducted, which covered the following topics:
a. humanistic and anti-humanistic criticism of Edward Said;
b. from Shelling to Franz Kafka and Daniel Varouzhan;
c. Lord Byron and national phylology;
d. A broken myth. more...
The purpose of the seminar was to present and analyse the phenomena of “Art, Myth and Politics” within the contexts of Eastern and Western Armenian literature, their correlations, similarities, influences or disconnections. The discussions mostly covered the approaches, disagreements and supplements of Armenian and Diasporan intellectuals on the issues of literature. The participants were suggested reading g “Orientalism” of Edward Said prior to the seminar.
The admission was free to all interested individuals. No prior selection of participants was carried out. Seminars were conducted in the premises of Utopiana. am.
Utopiana’s media lab archived materials and prepared a DVD.
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