Et Cetera

The acquisition of Artavazd Peleshyan’s film rights by the German Co-production Office promises long-awaited restoration and global distribution. But the deal also exposes a deeper issue: Armenia’s lack of cultural policy to protect its cinematic heritage and maintain control over its most significant films.

At a British Library exhibition on British-Armenian history, Naneh Hovhannisyan reads labels—and reads between them. In this piece of creative nonfiction, she offers a personal response to a major cultural event for British Armenians, reflecting on cultural visibility, diaspora memory and the ambiguities of collective loyalty and representation.

In a year already marked by war, AI spectacle and cultural absurdity, Vigen Galstyan reflects on exhaustion, nostalgia and the politics of retreat. In this month's Artinerary, he calls on artists and cultural institutions to resist reactionary passivity and to imagine futures shaped by defiance rather than conformity.

Reflecting on the 2025 film year, Sona Karapoghosyan traces how global cinema engages with gender, grief, revenge, and political catastrophe, from Gaza to migration, while questioning trends, festival politics and what films reveal about the world we live in.

As December’s smog dulls Yerevan’s skies and spirits, the city’s cultural life offers a vital escape. In this issue of ARTINERARY, Vigen Galstyan highlights exhibitions, performances and gatherings that cut through the gloom, inviting reflection, connection and moments of light when the capital needs them most.

A decade on, Andre Torossian revisits Armenia’s landmark diaspora exhibition “Armenity” at the Venice Biennale, reading it through today’s post-2020 realities—war, displacement and the loss of Artsakh—to ask who speaks for Armenians, how identity relates to territory, and what forms of Armenity can endure.

A long-awaited South Caucasian co-production promises hope through collaboration, but “Caucasian Blues” struggles with stereotypes, weak writing and shallow politics, revealing how much harder genuine, transformative regional storytelling still is. Taline Oundjian’s review.

From daring contemporary art and rediscovered masters to global collaborations and philosophical meditations on home and identity, this issue of Artinerary traces Armenia’s restless cultural pulse. A snapshot of an art scene oscillating between imitation and invention, reverence and rebellion, beauty and critique.

In this essay, Karén Karslyan traces Donald Trump’s muddled rhetoric on Armenia and Azerbaijan, exploring how language, translation and spectacle mask authoritarian impulses. From Woolf’s Clarissa to Trump’s Nobel ambitions, words become warning signs of looming deeds.

This edition of Artinerary, curated by Vigen Galstyan, navigates Yerevan’s vibrant arts scene, from the rich legacies of Iranian-Armenian photographers and Saroyan’s visual experiments to contemporary solo and group shows, architectural dialogues, and eco-conscious cinema.