By Vahram Aghasyan
Perhaps the greatest heritage left from Soviet Union is the architecture. Its ghostly expressions can be seen in unfinished buildings, abandoned factories, and incomplete desolate districts. Vahram Aghasyan shows the distinct examples of absurd manifestations of Soviet architecture in his video documentaries, among which are ‘’Block 16’’ and ‘’Bangladesh’’.
The artist has created another portrait of Beirut, which is not related to the Soviet Union, but has a lot of similarities with Yerevan. Both cities are post-conditional: they are both in post –Soviet and postwar realities. In both instance people are trying to adjust to new conditions and cope with the new lifestyle. The society usually focuses on the collapse of the system, on war, whereas the artist is interested in the traces that are left by these events, which outline the progression of the reality.
Curator: Eva Khachatryan
June 2 – 22, 2005
