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Hyperallergic
July 21 2014
Resisting the Russian Pull: Armenian Artists Speak Out
by Nevdon Jamgochian
YEREVAN, Armenia -- The Russians are not just trying to exert
themselves in Ukraine; they are actively staking claims to their
irredenta throughout their former territories. The opposition in
Armenia has lacked the drama and intensity of the resistance in
Ukraine and Georgia, but there is a small artistic challenge to what
many are calling the Russian recolonization of the area.
A few days ago the Russian version of the Blue Angels performed over
Yerevan. It was terrifying. Armenian news agency Tert.am's single line
of reporting about this event summed it up perfectly:
As to the MIG-29 and TU-25 jets flying too low, he [the spokesperson
for the Ministry of Defense] said: "It is normal for show flights.
They fly so low for people to admire."
An Armenian man whom I had just met offered me a pill as we watched
(and heard and felt) the Russians pretending to dive-bomb the city.
"To calm nerves during terrible noise," he said. It was hard to see
this as anything but a Russian effort to impress a tiny country of its
ability to roll over said country anytime.
Unironic memorial built by the Soviets for their textile factories in
Gyrumri, Armenia, five years before the earthquake that left
substantial portions of the town in ruins. (click to enlarge)
Most former Soviet territories want as little to do with Russia as
possible. Putin is up front about what his goals for the proposed
Eurasian Customs Union; he says he wants breakaway states to be linked
again to Russia, via the awesome parts of Soviet culture. Yikes.
Armenia is an exception to most Western-leaning, former Soviet areas.
The country seems, unlike its one fellow non-Muslim neighbor, Georgia,
to be slightly in favor of Russia. This is a devoutly Christian nation
that borders Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, with two of those countries
actively blockading Armenia. As such, there is a belief that the
Russians are protecting Armenia with their military base there -- that
Armenia needs Russia.
Art-Laboratory (Artlab), a Yerevan-based political art group, is
trying to fight this perception of Russia as protector. On June 26
they created an art action in the Russian base town of Gyrumri. a city
still partially in rubble from the earthquake of 1989. Artlab held a
press conference and bravely -- considering the possible repercussions
of fines, jail (unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility), or
whatever Russia might feel like responding with -- graffitied a ruined
building near the 102nd Russian Military Base.
The ruined building in Gyumri, Armenia, where Artlab held its action
The Artlab press conference
The action unfolded in similar ways to other art projects I have seen
in other parts of the world. Artlab's members started in high spirits
in Yerevan, excited about the transgression. What was different was
the formality the action gained once we arrived in Gyumri and how
seriously it was taken by local media. As soon as we arrived (I rode
along with Artlab), we were ushered onto a movie-set cliché of a
rundown newspaper office -- books and papers stacked all over, dingy
carpeting, fascinating framed photographs with water stains, and so
on. The only real difference between this newspaper building and the
ones I knew in the West was that instead of a Coke machine and coffee
percolator, there was a traditional jazzve, a long-handled copper
coffee boiler that makes demitasses of sweet Armenian coffee. This is
where Artlab's spokesperson (I was asked to list them as a collective
only, eschewing individual names) launched into an hourlong speech to
the six local reporters about the group's intended act.
The speech was a stem-winder about the history of Russia as a
colonizer -- an assertion that's refuted by Russia. The speaker claimed
that Edward Said's 1976 book Orientalism has only recently and
reluctantly been translated into Russian, and printed with dismissive
Russian commentary that's as thick as the book itself. The tone of
Artlab's conference was professorial and seemed to just underline the
basic fact that Russia is a bad guy making a regional power play. It
was strange to the point of surreal that these 12 artists (and a few
friends) were being given so much attention and respect for something
that seems so obvious. But then again, I guess this type of art is new
to the region, and the idea of poking Russia in the eye is something
will always give Armenians pause.
Artlab's tank stencil (click to enlarge)
>From there the art action lapsed back into the familiar. We left the
conference, and the group applied a giant stencil representing an
advancing T-90 tank to the side of a collapsed factory. An
accompanying stencil painted next to the tank featured Russian text,
which proclaimed that 80% of Azerbaijan's military hardware is bought
from Russia, with a listing of the various weapons bought by the
Azeris. This served as a direct refutation of the claim that Russia is
protecting Armenia from Azerbaijan.
We didn't get caught, and afterwards the members of Artlab razzed the
thankfully indifferent guards at Military Base 102 from the safety of
our bus. We then ate trout with bread cooked in underground pits as
approximately 1,000 homemade vodka toasts were made. This part of the
action felt familiar too.
Political art is notoriously turgid, but Artlab is doing some of the
more interesting contemporary work in this field. It may feel overly
familiar to Westerners, but this is not the West. This is a country
that's being actively blockaded and has Russian troops on full
display. When I asked a member how effective he thought Artlab's
action would be, he responded with the group's slogan: "The definition
of 'idiot' is one who does not get engaged in politics."
View photos at http://hyperallergic.com/138755/resisting-the-russian-pull-armenian-artists-speak-out/
July 21 2014
Resisting the Russian Pull: Armenian Artists Speak Out
by Nevdon Jamgochian
YEREVAN, Armenia -- The Russians are not just trying to exert
themselves in Ukraine; they are actively staking claims to their
irredenta throughout their former territories. The opposition in
Armenia has lacked the drama and intensity of the resistance in
Ukraine and Georgia, but there is a small artistic challenge to what
many are calling the Russian recolonization of the area.
A few days ago the Russian version of the Blue Angels performed over
Yerevan. It was terrifying. Armenian news agency Tert.am's single line
of reporting about this event summed it up perfectly:
As to the MIG-29 and TU-25 jets flying too low, he [the spokesperson
for the Ministry of Defense] said: "It is normal for show flights.
They fly so low for people to admire."
An Armenian man whom I had just met offered me a pill as we watched
(and heard and felt) the Russians pretending to dive-bomb the city.
"To calm nerves during terrible noise," he said. It was hard to see
this as anything but a Russian effort to impress a tiny country of its
ability to roll over said country anytime.
Unironic memorial built by the Soviets for their textile factories in
Gyrumri, Armenia, five years before the earthquake that left
substantial portions of the town in ruins. (click to enlarge)
Most former Soviet territories want as little to do with Russia as
possible. Putin is up front about what his goals for the proposed
Eurasian Customs Union; he says he wants breakaway states to be linked
again to Russia, via the awesome parts of Soviet culture. Yikes.
Armenia is an exception to most Western-leaning, former Soviet areas.
The country seems, unlike its one fellow non-Muslim neighbor, Georgia,
to be slightly in favor of Russia. This is a devoutly Christian nation
that borders Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, with two of those countries
actively blockading Armenia. As such, there is a belief that the
Russians are protecting Armenia with their military base there -- that
Armenia needs Russia.
Art-Laboratory (Artlab), a Yerevan-based political art group, is
trying to fight this perception of Russia as protector. On June 26
they created an art action in the Russian base town of Gyrumri. a city
still partially in rubble from the earthquake of 1989. Artlab held a
press conference and bravely -- considering the possible repercussions
of fines, jail (unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility), or
whatever Russia might feel like responding with -- graffitied a ruined
building near the 102nd Russian Military Base.
The ruined building in Gyumri, Armenia, where Artlab held its action
The Artlab press conference
The action unfolded in similar ways to other art projects I have seen
in other parts of the world. Artlab's members started in high spirits
in Yerevan, excited about the transgression. What was different was
the formality the action gained once we arrived in Gyumri and how
seriously it was taken by local media. As soon as we arrived (I rode
along with Artlab), we were ushered onto a movie-set cliché of a
rundown newspaper office -- books and papers stacked all over, dingy
carpeting, fascinating framed photographs with water stains, and so
on. The only real difference between this newspaper building and the
ones I knew in the West was that instead of a Coke machine and coffee
percolator, there was a traditional jazzve, a long-handled copper
coffee boiler that makes demitasses of sweet Armenian coffee. This is
where Artlab's spokesperson (I was asked to list them as a collective
only, eschewing individual names) launched into an hourlong speech to
the six local reporters about the group's intended act.
The speech was a stem-winder about the history of Russia as a
colonizer -- an assertion that's refuted by Russia. The speaker claimed
that Edward Said's 1976 book Orientalism has only recently and
reluctantly been translated into Russian, and printed with dismissive
Russian commentary that's as thick as the book itself. The tone of
Artlab's conference was professorial and seemed to just underline the
basic fact that Russia is a bad guy making a regional power play. It
was strange to the point of surreal that these 12 artists (and a few
friends) were being given so much attention and respect for something
that seems so obvious. But then again, I guess this type of art is new
to the region, and the idea of poking Russia in the eye is something
will always give Armenians pause.
Artlab's tank stencil (click to enlarge)
>From there the art action lapsed back into the familiar. We left the
conference, and the group applied a giant stencil representing an
advancing T-90 tank to the side of a collapsed factory. An
accompanying stencil painted next to the tank featured Russian text,
which proclaimed that 80% of Azerbaijan's military hardware is bought
from Russia, with a listing of the various weapons bought by the
Azeris. This served as a direct refutation of the claim that Russia is
protecting Armenia from Azerbaijan.
We didn't get caught, and afterwards the members of Artlab razzed the
thankfully indifferent guards at Military Base 102 from the safety of
our bus. We then ate trout with bread cooked in underground pits as
approximately 1,000 homemade vodka toasts were made. This part of the
action felt familiar too.
Political art is notoriously turgid, but Artlab is doing some of the
more interesting contemporary work in this field. It may feel overly
familiar to Westerners, but this is not the West. This is a country
that's being actively blockaded and has Russian troops on full
display. When I asked a member how effective he thought Artlab's
action would be, he responded with the group's slogan: "The definition
of 'idiot' is one who does not get engaged in politics."
View photos at http://hyperallergic.com/138755/resisting-the-russian-pull-armenian-artists-speak-out/