Armenity

In this symbolic year 2015, in honour of the one-hundred-year commemoration of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, theMinistry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia has dedicated its pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale to the artists of the Armenian diaspora.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition staged at the Mekhitarist Monastery on the Island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni, Armenity (inspired by the French word "Arménité") presents the works by 16 artists, all of them grandchildren of the survivors of the first genocide of the 20th century: Haig Aivazian, Nigol Bezjian, Anna Boghiguian, Hera Büyükta?ç?yan, Silvina Der-Meguerditchian, Rene Gabri & Ayreen Anastas, Mekhitar Garabedian, Aikaterini Gegisian, Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi, Aram Jibilian, Nina Katchadourian, Melik Ohanian, Mikayel Ohanjanyan, Rosana Palazyan, Sarkis, Hrair Sarkissian.
The introduction by Adelina Cüberyan v. Fürstenberg (Armenity / Hayoutioun) and the Q+A between Ginevra Bria and Adelina Cüberyan v. Fürstenberg (Neither Victory or Defeat...But the Best Possible Participation) are followed by sections dedicated to each of the 16 artists, including texts by each artist and essays by international art critics and writers, such as Ruben Arevshatyan, Cecile Bourne-Farrell, Ginevra Bria, Adam Budak, David Kazanjian, Berthold Reiss, Gabi Scardi, Hrag Vartanian.
The third part of the catalogue includes essays by art historian and independent curator Neery Melkonian (Undoing Denials: Mapping a Curatorial Terrain), Valentina Calzolari Bouvier, Professor of Armenian Literature and Language at the University of Geneva (Armenia, Country of Stones - Armenia, Country of Books) and art writer and Ibraaz editor Stephanie Bailey (Transition Times). The catalogue is concluded by the biographies, the list of exhibited works and Armenian translations of all the texts.