Sisian: Where Mediocrity Meets the Sublime

A work trip to Sisian unfolds from dreary mediocrity into an unexpected revelation. Through the

evocative paintings of Armen Hakobjanyan, Sisian’s stark landscapes transform, revealing a timeless beauty hidden beneath the town’s crumbling surfaces, and quiet melancholy.

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The Subtle Details of Syunik’s Cities

Maria Gunko

Apr 10, 2025

A journey through Syunik’s cities reveals overlooked details: laundry lines, rustwoven structures, and abandoned railways,

that tell richer, more intimate stories of place than tourist checklists ever could. Maria Gunko’s reflection on memory, materiality and urban meaning.

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Nocturnal Yerevan

Maria Gunko

Feb 24, 2025

Maria Gunko explores the city’s transformation after dark, where familiar spaces shift, new rhythms emerge,

and urban night pulses with secrecy, revelry and uncertainty. From hidden bars to shadow economies, it captures the mystery, intimacy and contradictions of Yerevan’s nocturnal self.

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Reading Metsamor, the Armenian Nuclear City

Maria Gunko

Jan 30, 2025

Metsamor embodies a complex interplay of post-Soviet deindustrialization, utopian aspirations, and organic transformation. Once a

symbol of Soviet modernity, it now reveals a layered reality—marked by decay, resilience and the unplanned vibrancy of everyday life.

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Tracing Armenian Heritage in Venice

Maria Gunko

Jan 7, 2025

Delving into the rich cultural legacy of Venice’s San Lazzaro degli Armeni island, Maria Gunko

reflects on the enduring significance of Armenian heritage around the world, the beauty of discovery, and the philosophical charm of places seemingly untouched by time.

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They Versus We

Maria Gunko

Nov 28, 2024

In this month’s column, Maria Gunko explores how the pronouns "they" and "we" are

used to navigate narratives of destruction, complicity and survival. She examines the shifting boundaries of agency and the struggle for meaning in a post-socialist, post-truth landscape.

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Haunts and Howls

Maria Gunko

Oct 30, 2024

In the forests of the Armenian Highlands, lies a small town stripped of Soviet modernity

with no more than metal corpses left of industrial buildings. For the past 30 years, the town has been reclaimed by a tide of greenery and with it, wildlife has returned. Now the howls of jackals echo through the streets.

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The Sense of Survival

Maria Gunko

Sep 25, 2024

Many have heard of the concept of the "sixth sense" but does it truly exist?

Through stories of survival tied to an inexplicable sense of danger, Maria Gunko delves into how intuition may serve as a powerful, unacknowledged survival mechanism.

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