Art Residence for Artists at NPAK (May 24 – June 30)
The first stream of NPAK STUDIOS provides residence for artists from Artsakh, Russia and Ukraine.
The program will enable artists to continue their artistic practice, despite the unstable realities of the world, will allow residents to be integrated into the local context and get acquainted with the contemporary artists of Armenia.
NPAK studios will be open throughout the project. Visitors will be able to watch the process, get acquainted with the artists, and also take part in open lectures. The purpose of the workshops is to gather a team of artists working in different media to jointly explore current realities and new forms of artistic activity.
Project curator – Bela Poghosyan
1. Workspace for artists, reading groups and lectures;
2. Educational program: workshops, artist talks, portfolio review;
3. Personal consultations with mentors;
4. Possibility to conduct your own master class or any other initiative agreed with NPAK during the residence project;
5. Expenses for materials and accommodation are not provided.
For those on the “run”, this is an opportunity to temporarily become a citizen of another history, another reality, an island of security and a fragile world. Residences provide a point from which to start moving, a point to which you can direct your attention. ACCEA/NPAK creates a space where the truly cosmopolitan and democratic regimes of coexistence have the opportunity to take place or at least to be realized partially and to create new forms of cooperation between different cultures.
Artist-in-run residency is an attempt to fix the spontaneity of realities, to create a new system of coexistence during the period of movement and transformation, where it is possible to speak, reflect on own mistakes and create a new world around ourself.
P.S. I thank art critic Ivan Streltsov for his assistance, help and joint reflections on the current situation
Final Exhibition
Artist – run – residence
July 6 – 6 august, 2022
Throughout a month, we worked with a group of artists on spontaneously created realities and thoughts, tried to understand the essence of migrations and gain mobility. During this period, many participants became citizens of a completely different history, witnesses of local processes and participants in the Armenian “present”, in which they did not plan to be.
Each of us chose the position that created the safest vacuum for ourselves, so choosing to be in a more distant position is also a choice, in this case. Everyone responds to the challenge of reality in their own way.
For the first few months, migrants do not consider themselves as migrants, just as refugees do not consider themselves as refugees. We coined the word “relocating” in order not to face reality, to maintain the state of affairs that was before. The location of living has changed, but what is the reason behind the desire to continue doing what one did: is it ensuring a stable existence or not admitting mistakes?
For 30 years, Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art /NPAK/ has been a space for expressing not only the known and understandable, but also the experimental and transitional. The framework of NPAK, outlined in the 90s, is still relevant today.
Instability, split in societies and the world… It remains only to collect fragments in the ruins of meanings and perceptions, create new connections and navigate in spontaneity. In this case, NPAK has become a kind of shelter for the existence of marginal reflections and actions.
“Artist – run – residence”
Curator: Bela Poghosyan, 2022