Previous Residents:

2001
Taleen Berberian
Rene Gabri (image and text)
Linda Ganjian (image and text)
Jesse Lambert (image and text)

RENE GABRI

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Image: still from 'movements'

Projects:
In addition to the studio visits and public discussions which I participated in and helped organize in Yerevan and Gyumri, I divided my time meeting people at the ACCEA, wandering through the city of Yerevan and taking day trips to the surrounding areas of Armenia. One of the more interesting activities I organized was Artistalk, an ongoing project.

The most expansive project I worked on was 'movements', a video-travelogue looking at Armenia after 10 years of independence. The work developed in the year following the residency, but I used all of the footage from smaller video projects that I was working on during my stay there.

Details about 'movements'
In 2001, on the 1700th anniversary of Christianity in Armenia, I participated in a residency at the ACCEA. During that time I was working on several concurrent projects, and the idea arose that maybe the most dynamic work that could come out of this trip would be to somehow combine all of the different elements. This work is a sort of journal, rough, with transitions that do not always line up perfectly in terms of theme. It is about Armenia as it is today, my impressions, the impressions of people I encountered, as told through a variety of genres (interviews, still shots of the city, materials shot for other projects).

What patches the disparate elements together is a narration sometimes spoken, sometimes written, and sometimes tied together by reflexive quotes about the process of editing. This work aspires to do something that is very close to me at this moment in my art practice, a working process that is closer to life, inviting risk, failure, and in some cases an open-endedness; but it also invites a vitality to the work, an immediacy that is sometimes missing in projects that are "over-worked".

So in a sense, 'movements' serves as a sort of journal, telling several concurrent stories, juggling between them, and in the process creating an interesting collage of words, ideas, memories, and images.

Experience:
In terms of my own work, my experience with the residency at the ACCEA was invaluable. It opened up an entire working method for me, which I had up until that point only dreamt of having. I found myself inspired by the people and challenged by the difficult economic and social situation many people are experiencing at this time.

Everyone who worked at the Center was extremely helpful in helping realize and organize events and projects. Ideally, I would have liked that we had a direct liason working with the residents, because I would have felt more comfortable early on in the residency to seek assistance organizing events/activities at the Center.

Overall, I feel so strongly about the experience that I am committed to working to get other artists to attend the residency in the coming years.

LINDA GANJIAN

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Image: still from' Genatse', 2002

Work:
I worked on two projects during my residency in Armenia. First I continued developing a sculpture from the Golden Cities series, molding hot glue (i.e. plastic) over small found objects to create intricate, fantastical landscapes. I experimented with smaller sculptures, incorporating my impressions of the city, as well as using objects from the flea markets. My second project involved documenting the Armenian toast-making tradition. I set up a table in public (in Yerevan and Giumri) and invited individuals to make a toast to the world. The final video (approximately 10 minutes) contains footage of these toasts, which present a document of the mindset of the locals, their hopes for the future, and their attitude towards me, as an American-Armenian.

Experience:
The highlight of working in Armenia was meeting and interacting with the local art community. Most days I was seated in the middle of the Center, a highly frequented spot for local artists; many conversations began spontaneously, which led to future meetings outside the Center and studio visits. Giving slide talks of my work and other people's work was another way of starting a dialogue that continued throughout the summer. Performing the public toast-making project was a way of engaging the general public in a more direct way and challenged me to work in video in a more spontaneous, documentary manner.

JESSE LAMBERT

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Work:
The paintings I made at NPAK were a response to my experiences of language and architectural space in Armenia. I developed a series of abstract paintings on paper that transformed my own personal painting language through the lens of these experiences. In these paintings, fragmented linear forms that are both reminiscent of the body and the Armenian alphabet float upon a loose grid of rectangles derived from the structure and color of stone walls in modern and ancient Armenian architecture. The result reflects one aspect of my experience of social space in Armenia: my fragmentary yet total immersion in a barely understood language and my experience of a completely new and encompassing architectural space. As presented in the paintings, one experience creates the space for and contains the other.

Experience:
Getting to meet artists in Yerevan was one of the most interesting experiences I had there. NPAK functioned as a vital meeting place for artists, both in a casual way as when artists would drop by and hang out and in a more structured way as when there were performances and presentations. NPAK gave a structure and a context for my stay in Yerevan, allowing me to work and share my work, but also allowing me to meet other artists, to do studio visits and meet socially to exchange perspectives about art and other ideas. Getting a chance to experience the reality and perspectives of working artists in Armenia was an invaluable experience. As much as I learned about their lives, I also gained a better understanding of the limitations of my own life as an artist in New York and the insular art world context that I find myself in.