
Each season has its “black holes” and the end of August is notorious for its atmosphere of melancholic ennui as we reluctantly bid goodbye to long summer days, holidays on the beach and sweaty armpits. Consequently, there was a bit of a “snooze button” on cultural events as well and we had to skip a week with barely anything to report on. However, this is just a minor breather before Yerevan and the rest of the country gear up for the fall season’s cultural whirlwind.
EXHIBITIONS

While the big museums in Yerevan are preparing for some truly blockbuster events in autumn, it is a good time to check out some of the smaller platforms for more left-of-field cultural offerings. The Nikoghosyan Foundation on Saryan Street has been one of the more active exhibition spaces in Yerevan for the past five years or so, yet is criminally little known outside of a small circle of art lovers. Primarily focusing on established Armenian masters of the 20th century, the gallery will be hosting a rare retrospective exhibition devoted to Arpenik Nalbandyan (1916-1964). An artist of sublime sensitivity, Nalbandyan made a dramatic transition from socialist-realist subjects in the early 1950s to very intimate, expressively painted scenes of domestic life and feminine spaces. Pitted against her much more famous brother (Dmitry Nalbandyan) and husband (Eduard Isabekyan), she was set on developing her own signature style before her untimely demise. Nevertheless, as one of the forebears of feminism, Nalbandyan occupies an undeniably crucial place in the history of modern Armenian art and should be known much more widely than she is.
Exhibition: “Solo Exhibition”, Arpenik Nalbandyan
Where: Nikoghosyan Cultural Foundation
19-21 Saryan St., Yerevan
Dates: Aug 24 – Oct 31
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Women artists are prolific in Armenia, but their work is yet to gain due exposure and visibility. The now fabled cafe-gallery Ilik, run by the fabulous Anahit Sahakyan has been a particularly loyal platform in that regard, frequently displaying the work of emerging women artists and craftswomen. Currently they’re hosting a show by the Quebec-based Armenian artist Anna Klim, whose very linear and labyrinthine drawings somewhat recall the surreal world of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, but have a peculiar “otherness” all of their own. Conveying the inner, emotional landscapes of the artist, these endearingly odd images create a suitably funky atmosphere for a drink at Ilik, where you’re always likely to get a good dose of Yerevan’s most interesting characters along with an excellent mojito.
Exhibition: “Solo Exhibition”, Anna Klim
Where: Ilik cafe-gallery
62 Hanrapetutyan St., entrance from Vardanants St., Yerevan
Dates: Open from August 18
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There is another space on the periphery of Yerevan that will be introducing the public to one more budding female artist. Painter Ina Michaelian is a relative newcomer to the local art scene and her solo show at the Latitude Art Space promises to bring some fresh, left-of-field perspectives on contemporary painting. Well, at least that’s an intriguing possibility suggested by the title of the show, “Back to the Future”, even if the artist’s work available online seems more interested in just being back to some vague point in the past.
Exhibition: “Back to the Future”, Ina Michaelian
Where: Latitude Art Space
7 Ashtarak Highway, Yerevan
Dates: Open from August 30, 7 p.m.
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Much the same can be said about the show of Armenian-themed works by Moscow-based artist Katerina Nosik at a new cafe-gallery space on Zakyan Street, Anirikasia. It’s always interesting to see how outsiders view and understand Armenia, regardless of what medium and style the artist is working in. But aside from the fact that the event text vaguely promises to “uncover complex and deep themes”, there is little to prompt us who Nosik is, what she does and why she would be uncovering anything complex or deep. If anything, the cover image of an Armenian girl in traditional headgear and the solely Russian-language text indicate the exact opposite — a regurgitation of stock standard colonialist perspectives on Armenia as some primitive, sunny fairyland on the outskirts of the empire. Nyet, ladies and gentlemen; there’s a lot more than that in the content of our dolma.
Exhibition: “Across Lines. My Armenia. My Face”, Katerina Nosik
Where: ANIRIKASIA
8 Zakian St., Yerevan
Dates: Aug 29 – Sept 1
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Up in Vanadzor, the local Museum of Fine Arts also has little to say about its showcase of the drawings and etchings of another young female graphic artist, Anna Torosyan. Judging from the artist’s facebook page, many of her work wants to hit the viewer hard with a heavy-handed and sentimental punch of pseudo-surrealistic “allegories” that are a tad embarrassing in their kitschy stylistics and guileless subject matter. But Torosyan shows considerable potential when she turns to more minimalist, abstract forms, which she executes with great technical flourish and tasteful restraint.
Exhibition: “From Point to Point”, Anna Torosyan
Where: Vanadzor Fine Arts Museum
52 Tigran Mets St., Vanadzor
Dates: Open from August 27
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Printmaking is also the focus of a new/old show at HayArt Centre, which for some reason has recently become a platform for showcasing artists associated with the Yerevan Print Biennale. Currently, the centre has strangely decided to put on a retrospective exhibition culled from the 2nd edition of the Biennale from 2019. Exhibitions of past historical exhibitions are currently a major trend internationally, but in this instance, the recycling of a five-year old biennale edition only hints at gaps in programming and yet another uncertain direction for this troubled arts institution, which has been plagued by problems ever since it was constructed in the early 1980s. Still, the 2nd Print Biennale included the work of some of the best printmakers from around the world, and this is one of the rare opportunities to encounter them in Yerevan.
Exhibition: “The Selection: Second International Print Biennale, Yerevan 2019”
Where: HayArt Cultural Centre
7a Mashtots Ave., Yerevan
Dates: Aug 23 – Oct 13
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Handicrafts have been the kernel of Armenian culture until industrial design and manufacture took over things in the mid-20th century. And while there was a period of resuscitation by a group of talented artists in the 1950s, the crafts became the domain of pathetically indifferent souvenirs in the independence era. Fortunately, there appears to be a nascent renaissance in recent years thanks to the efforts of various young artists who are interested in reconceptualizing the significance of crafts in contemporary art and design. One of the more interesting (and monumental) projects in that regard is the 7-piece ceremonial carpet created by David Kochunts and AHA Collective for the 21st Golden Apricot Film Festival. Inspired by various topographical maps relating to Armenia’s Syunik region, these hand-woven carpets created subtle political allusions as the festival guests walked across it on the opening night. It’s a fresh approach that demonstrated how an artistic intervention into something as prosaic as a red carpet can generate new meanings and traditions – something that the festival is keen to do. Meanwhile, the public will get a chance to see these beautifully crafted pieces at AHA Collective’s exhibition space from September 2.
Exhibition: “Point of Reference”
Where: AHA collective
31 Moskovyan st., Yerevan
Dates: September 2-November 2
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Another medium that doesn’t get as much exposure (forgive the pun) in Armenia is photography. Mirzoyan Library often comes to fill this gap with always fascinating and professionally curated exhibitions of contemporary local and international photography. To mark the 10th anniversary since its foundation, the library is organizing a whole roster of events, including a double exhibition of two of the most interesting emigre Russian photographers currently based in Armenia — Ilya Rodin and Egor Kirillov. Both of these image-makers engage with documentary modes of photography, but do it in entirely different manner. Rodin’s conceptually-informed photographic approach ironically subverts expectations by transforming our overfamiliar surroundings into strange and alien encounters. It’s a gaze of a curious, engaged outsider that really helps to manifest a different, more disconcerting Armenia that exists beneath the banality of the everyday, yet is rarely made tangible.
Exhibition: “Photo Exhibition”, Ilya Rodin
Where: Mirzoyan Library
10 Mher Mkrtchyan St., Yerevan
Dates: Open from August 10
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The objectives of Egor Kirillov’s photographs parallel those of Rodin, yet his show “404” at Mirzoyan Library broaches more universal issues of displacement and loss. By layering two contrasting images over each other — of people and landscapes — the photographer generates a space of uncertainty and dislocation, existence and disappearance. His work hints at a profoundly universal condition of the postmodern world in which humans are never at one place at one time, constantly oscillating between their unstable physical locations and the more ideal (but unrealizable) spaces of memory, longing and dream.
Exhibition: “404”, Egor Kirillov
Where: Mirzoyan Library
10 Mher Mkrtchyan St., Yerevan
Dates: Open from August 13
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Down at the Artist’s Union of Armenia, punters will soon get the chance to see a show with an immense historical importance for both photography and anthropology. Before becoming a sadly mediocre socialist-realist painter, the Goris-born artist Guros (Gurgen Paronyan) was one of the very few photographers based in the Syunik region. Working in the 1920s-30s, he left an astonishing record of his homeland and its people before it was fundamentally transformed by Soviet industrialization. Known primarily to a select group of researchers, this vast archive of documentary images has been practically unknown to the wider public until now. Thanks to the efforts of ethnographer Argam Yeranosyan, 180 of Guros’ glass negatives have been digitized, cleaned and collated in an exhibition and an accompanying book that will be presented on August 30. It’s difficult to underestimate the political and cultural significance of this endeavour, which so vividly attests on life in Syunik at the turn of 20th century.
Exhibition: “Guros. The Documentarian of Syunik”, Gurgen Paronyan
Where: Artist’s Union of Armenia
16 Abovyan St., Yerevan
Dates: Aug 30 – Sept 6
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SCREENINGS

The film scene is also heating up around the country with the return of some annual festivals and special screenings. Already in its tenth year, the Apricot Tree International Documentary Film Festival is currently the most important showcase of documentary cinema in Armenia. Usually hosted in various rural locations, the festival has moved to the incredibly picturesque village of Debed this year, which will provide a stunning backdrop for the screenings. While Apricot Tree has struggled to keep afloat due to lack of proper resources, its rich program always manages to bring a healthy slice of the best in recent documentary filmmaking and this year is no exception.
Screening: “Apricot Tree International Documentary Film Festival”
Where: Debed Village, Lori
Dates: August 24-31
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Another documentarian who has a particularly strong resonance for the Armenian cultural space is the diasporan filmmaker Jacques Kebadian. From the 1960s onwards, Kebadian consistently researched and filmed various topics that dealt with the leftist resistance in Europe, the diasporan experience, the Armenian Genocide and people who live on the margins of society. His films often aim for a direct political impact and are a testament of documentary cinema’s power to embody historical time and also transform it. Unfortunately, his work is very little known in Armenia and there is a fantastic opportunity not only to watch one of his latest films, but also meet Kebadian in person on September 1, at the National Library of Armenia.
Screening & Meeting: “20 Years Later”, Jacques Kebadian
Where: National Library of Armenia
72 Teryan St., Yerevan
Dates: August 24-31
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Meetings and Lectures
September is also the high season for the publishing world and there are some great book launches to look forward to in the coming week. But most importantly, the annual Yerevan Book Fest will be back on September 6, either enticing, or frustrating local book lovers with its rather pompous presentation of the country’s inconsistent and chaotic book industry.

One book that I’m eagerly looking forward to at the Book Fest is the new collection of poetry by Gemafin Gasparyan — one of the more distinct voices in contemporary Armenian literature. Aside from its considerable literary qualities, what is significant about the confrontationally entitled “A History of Defeat”, is the fact that it’s an unflinching reflection on the 2020 Artsakh War and its tragic consequences. Having been a direct participant in the military operations, Gasparyan is that rare contemporary writer trying to deal with the trauma of war-time loss without falling into the usual cycle of victimhood and self-lamentation. Another veteran of the 44 day war, artist Davit Kochunts provides the book’s poignant illustrations — an almost unheard of feature these days, which makes this publication even more special and exciting. Hence, “A History of Defeat” may well become a future classic, and you have a chance to grab your signed copy and meet the author and artist on September 6 at the book’s official launch.
Book Launch: “The History of Defeat”, Gemafin Gasparyan
Where: National Gallery of Armenia
1 Aram St., Yerevan
Dates: September 6, 7 p.m.
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There will be other book launches and discussions during the festival that should be on the radar of book lovers. The poet Karen Antashyan will be presenting his new collection of writings called ‘Chor’ that is a clever attempt to apply social-media generated linguistic games on often profoundly serious and tragic issues of recent years. Goin back further in time, the prolific essayist-novelist Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan will be introducing his latest entry in an informal saga of semi-autobiographical tales on Yerevan of 1970s-90s. Talint-Pfest looks at the last years of the Brezhnev era through the eyes of a young man who grapples with the daily indifference and cruelty of his environment. Both authors will be present at the festival for reading and Q&A sessions.
Festival: “Yerevan International Book Festival”
Where: National Gallery of Armenia
Republic Square, Yerevan
Dates: September 6, 7, 8