Tag: culture

Բայց և սակայն, այնուամենայնիվ… Կատուների տեսանյութերով, կեղծ լուրերով ու սելֆիներով ողողված մեր գերհագեցված մեդիա իրականությունում, գնալով ավելի կարևոր են դառնում այն պատկերները որոնք, ինչպես պնդում է հայտնի ասացվածքը, «արժեն հազար բառ»։ Նման պատկերներից է գրաֆիկական նկարազարդող, արվեստագետ Նվարդ Երկանյանի «Նրանք եկել էին խաղաղությամբ» պաստառը, որն ընդամենը մի քանի սեղմ մանրամասների միջոցով կարողացավ ամփոփել Արցախի շրջափակման ողջ աբսուրդն ու հանրային ցասումը, ժամերի ընթացքում ողողելով ֆեյսբուքն ու ինստագրամը։ Նվարդի հետ քննարկել ենք նրա ստեղծագործական գործունեության քաղաքական կողմը, դիզայնի հասարակական ներգրավվածության կարևորությունը և այս միջոցի հեռանկարները նոր տեխնոլոգիաների դարաշրջանում։

Cemeteries serve as a reflection of societal beliefs, values and ideas and impact how we live and develop our identities; there we find every human manifestation, from the subtlest to the crudest.

The 2007 discovery of a 6,000-year-old winery in a cave in the Vayots Dzor region was an invitation for Armenians to rediscover their ancient wine-making traditions. Armenia’s once-forgotten wine culture began to reemerge and take on new forms.

«Կարծիք» բաժնում հրապարակված՝ Գևորգ Օսկանյանի «Ինչու է Հայաստանին պետք ռեալպոլիտիկ, հիմա՛» հոդվածի ձայնագիրը։ Ընթերցում է Գոհար Աբրահամյանը։ Ավելի քան 30 տարիների ընթացքում մշտապես խոսվել է Հայաստանի ազգային նպատակների արդարացիության և չափազանց քիչ` այդ նպատակներին հասնելու միջոցների և ընտրված նպատակների իրագործելիության մասին:

Today, there are ongoing excavations of archaeological sites throughout Armenia, including the excavation at the site of the ancient Armenian capital of Dvin. Despite the country’s huge archeological potential, specialists in the field often face numerous barriers.

During March 2022, the Word—not only allegorically, but in the most literal sense—finds itself outstretched like the Vitruvian man strung from the corners of our Armenian-Russian-Ukrainian semiotic triangle.

Azerbaijan openly announced that it would begin to destroy the Armenian cultural heritage of Artsakh and erase traces of the Armenian language from monuments. The European Parliament is one of the first institutions that has reacted to this Armenophobic policy.

In trying to understand what nationalism is or if it can be strictly national, this article re-examines the Armenian national movement of the 19th century in relation to the Italian Risorgimento.

Այս տարածքում հավաքվելու համար նախապայմաններ չկան, բացի մեկից՝ վերաբերվիր սեփական տանդ պես։ Վահան Ստեփանյանը պատմում է ինչ է Ռամբալկոշեն, նրա հիմնադրման և մշակութային գործունեության մասին։

Mher Mkrtchyan has made a marked and oppositional political film, which, however, is too superficial and collapses under the incredible transparency of its agenda, writes film critic Sona Karapoghosyan.

There is a Facebook group of Meghri natives that is more active than the official pages of many institutions. It is, however, also isolated, living a separate life, disconnected from the rest of the digital world just like the actual city.

Moving from one country to another can be a daunting exercise, not least of which is the cultural dimension. Entrepreneurs and social development practitioners Hiroki Tachiiri and Taiji Notsu, originally from Japan, made that move to Armenia. They talk to EVN Report about their latest venture, which includes a new company that will explore possibilities in the food, tourism and consulting industries, even a manga on Armenia which will be introduced in Japan.

How a black evening handbag found among countless items in Yerevan’s largest flea market revealed a paradigmatic shift from the egalitarian criteria of Soviet ideology, which accorded functional objects with purely practical properties.

Director Nora Martirosyan’s film “Should the Wind Drop” reveals the frustrating situation surrounding the airport as a starting point to delve into the history, problems and spirit of Artsakh.

For decades, the Azerbaijani government has engaged in the destruction of Armenian monuments in its quest to erase all evidence of our culture. But the campaign of cultural erasure stretches beyond the physical, to the digital realm as well.

Although performance art has practically disappeared from the contemporary art scene as an autonomous medium, early practitioners had a profound impact in changing perceptions of the body in Armenia’s post-independence culture.

Hybridizing fine art and mass culture, Soviet-era “chekanka” art generated an unconventional visual world in which ancient and modern mythologies, as well as sexual and political desires could be blended into a patently local cultural narrative.

The “Top Ten of Rabiz” was a series of albums produced by a group of young men trying to reproduce the scattered reality of the 1990s through the language of music and an experimental format that was never really “rabiz.”

This is not a cyberpunk essay about a dystopian future, but rather an attempt to take a pragmatic look at creative industries and the landscape of digital culture in Armenia.

Artists have been facing a real problem in Armenia: not getting fairly compensated for the music they release. In an age when sales of physical disk copies have drastically declined, with concerts and tours put on hold because of a pandemic, how are musicians supposed to get by?

Literary theorist Tigran Amiryan takes the reader on a journey into the essence of Aram Pachyan's experimental novel "P/F", noting that while it might not appeal to aficionados of fictional prose it will cause an unquenchable thirst for contemplation.

Shushanik Kurghinian was a poet passionate about the plight of the oppressed, from the working class to the condition of women in Armenian society. Her poetry reflected her fierce spirit and indomitable will.

The ongoing crises in Armenia are forcing old ideas about the future to crumble, making way for as yet undefined horizons. In this process, contemporary art tries to intervene to create new spaces for imagining the future.

Is it necessary to assimilate or exterminate a people to affirm one's identity? Has an Azerbaijani identity been founded upon the genocide of a people, who, like in Turkey, lived side by side with the Turkic populations until the rise of nationalism?

In the context of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the “Albanian connection” has become a politicized issue of irredentism, hijacking the rich Christian heritage of Karabakh. The roots of this historiography go back to the Soviet policy of “nativization".

Vanadzor’s Hovhannes Abelyan Theater, built in the early 20th century, is just a few meters away from the Fine Arts Museum. Both buildings hold the memories and feelings of Armenia’s third largest city.

When emphasizing the preservation of historic structures and their integration into unban life, we should keep in mind that heritage should not be perceived as only architectural heritage and we should not think that it is only the physical heritage that is endangered.

When a State of Emergency was declared on March 16 in Armenia, cultural institutions mobilized their resources and opened their treasuries digitally showcasing the gems of Armenian culture.

Mariam and Eranuhi Aslamazyan are two of the most well-known female painters of Soviet Armenia. They broke stereotypes in the art world and left behind a rich legacy and heritage.

The late Samvel Karapetyan's work goes beyond Armenian heritage: It is a luminous testimony that highlights the violence of certain states to annihilate an indigenous culture with impunity.

Toxic masculinity is not only an attack on femininity, it is also an attack on manliness, on the cultural precepts of Armenian society and it is an assault of ontological proportions, writes Nerses Kopalyan.

A writer, resistance fighter, political prisoner and so much more. The life of Ellen Buzand (Yeghisabet Stamboltsian) is the stuff of legends. Her diaries and memoirs remain unpublished in the archives of the Yeghishe Charents Museum of Literature and Art.

The resort town of Dilijan in Armenia is known for its lush mountainous landscapes. It is also home to the Composers’ Union Resort, a place that hosted world famous composers in the 1960s and became a cultural hub in the former Soviet Union.

Mariam Mughdusyan had a dream and a goal - to bring about social change through the power of art and music and give children what she was once deprived of and help them to overcome poverty.

Western Armenia or Eastern Turkey? This 'lost homeland' has been a thorn in Turkey's side since 1923. The thorn reminds the Turks and the Kurds of a people who lived and thrived in Turkey, and who played an enormous role in the unfolding of Turkey's history, writes Paul Mirabile.

While understanding the historical importance and benefits of bicycles in women’s lives, why are less females riding bikes? Some major cities in the U.S. and Europe have conducted studies to understand this, and the main factor is safety.

In the face of war and turmoil, music has remained one of Artsakh’s most cherished aspects of their culture. Tradition and new influences are what keep the music alive.

The young girl, who was almost “killed” by the stunning music of Komitas Vardapet on a beautiful spring day in Tbilisi, was Margarit Babayan, a 28-year-old mezzo-soprano, who later would become a renowned singer and a vocal teacher across Europe, and be remembered as the beloved friend and muse of Komitas Vardapet.

“Western Armenia” as a concept is a crucial component of the Armenian national narrative, mostly in the Diaspora. In this article, Varak Ketsemanian raises some questions regarding the Armenian reality’s understanding of “Western Armenia,” its biases and blind-spots. He suggests refining the ways in which we discuss and represent “Western Armenia” in the 21st century.

This year, more than 60 percent of submissions to the Golden Apricot Film Festival (GAIFF) feature women directors, while the global average of female directors is a dismal 7 percent. GAIFF has organically found itself in a situation many European film festivals and international organizations dream of being in, writes Karen Avetisyan.

Shamakhi is an Armenian dialect that is on the verge of extinction. While many Armenians from Shamakhi feel a sense of pride in their history and dialect, for the new generation who, along with the rest of the Shamakhetsis were forced to flee their village during the Karabakh War, the dialect is simply a matter of history.

Artistic Director of the Hover State Chamber Choir and first woman Rector of the Yerevan State Conservatory, Sona Hovhannisyan is a trailblazer who lives, exists and creates between sweeping times of change and transformation.

There is art underground. It is beautiful and that is probably why it is hidden. Meet Armenia's underground musicians through EVN Youth Report's series.

Armenian culture and tradition, once subsumed into Byzantine or medieval studies, now has its own separate but important place in the history of art and civilization along with others such as Venice, Rome, and Greece thanks to a groundbreaking exhibition entitled Armenia! at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Translated into several languages, Mariam Petrosyan’s epic novel “The Gray House” has enchanted readers across the world. In this first book review, Lilit Margaryan speaks with the elusive Petrosyan about her life and the life of a novel that took 18 years to write.

Despite its obvious ruin, Stepanakert’s grand dramatic theater captures the beauty of a past era and now there are efforts to restore the structure’s life and soul in the same spirit of how it was built.

A perceived absence of agency has led to growing public indifference in Armenia. When those who do take a stand, regardless of their tactics, are left to stand alone, more questions than answers surface. From the recent sentencing of radical opposition activists, to sit-ins and hunger strikes Opera Square to continuing impunity, everyone seems to be forgetting to ask, why?

Director Jivan Avetisyan of Tevanik and The Last Inhabitant talks about surviving the Spitak earthquake, the Karabakh War and the memories and experiences that have become the guiding force of his life and his films.

While contemporary Armenian writers are searching for a new language of expression, Arevik Ashkharoyan, a literary agent, has taken on the task of bringing their voices to a global audience. In this first essay for EVN Report, Ashkharoyan writes about the challenges of representing a book that many believe is about the army but in fact is a metaphor for a repressed society.

From referencing the issue of sex-selective abortions to drinking toasts in honor of women, the grammatically genderless Armenian language, still fails to provide a space for its speakers to develop sensitivity towards the intricacies of gender as social conventions and cultural constructs. Rafik Santrosyan, PhD in Linguistics, explains how.

Jag Bambir, one of Armenia’s most beloved musicians, is an early pioneer of the rock and roll movement in the former Soviet Union. In this piece, Raffi Meneshian reviews a recent concert Jag gave in Gyumri in April where he presented his latest creation – Treaton.

Atoussa S. explores the history of women writing and their absence in the literary canon. In this essay for EVN Report, she seeks answers to the questions: What circumstances make women writing/literature possible? What do women own in their writing? What is the meaning of this ownership?

In this moving piece, Paul Chaderjian writes about belonging and identity, of hovering in a ‘Go Between’ space, suspended between two worlds and how unexpected encounters make connecting to the concept of home a reality.