Artists in Accea
Christian Boltanski
Hiwa K
Lawrence Weiner
Adel Abidin
Sonia Balassanian
Curated by Mazdak Faiznia and Marina Hakobyan
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan opens its doors to the contemporary art with a grand project of “International Contemporary Art Exhibition: Armenia 2018’’ (ICAE2018), which includes: “Soundlines of Contemporary Art” and “Open Sounds of Contemporary Art’’.
The title “Soundlines of Contemporary Art” evokes the way of songs (The Songlines), the wellknown book by Bruce Chatwin on the oral tradition of the Australian aborigines during the “Dream Time”, from which derives a mapping of the territory. The exhibition reveals how the Armenian art is harmoniously tuning in to the international contemporary art, similarly to what happens in an orchestra in which the sound of the Armenian duduk integrates perfectly with other instruments.
Through the artistic expression “Soundlines” puts at the center of attention important concepts such as those of cultural interaction, identity, mobility, presence / absence, circulation of thought, territory, border as real and mental threshold that divides and permits at the same time cultural exchange and dialogue, ideal maps in relation to the territory as a problematic horizon, memory, sound understood as a voice that is not lost within globalization, which is counterbalanced by silence as a necessary pause to keep the voices separate and allow the introjection and interaction.
This extraordinary exhibition, the first of its kind in the Caucasian region, tells the world of art what it means to draw a network of new myths that derive from the imaginary world of artists who filter the world through their identity and social background, creating ghost images that live in resonance or dissonance, in a vibrant and amazing connection in the works of over seventy artists from different corners of the planet. The presence of artists of the most diverse origins and cultural roots is an occasion for a fertile, unprecedented exchange of ideas and knowhow.
Bringing “Soundlines” to Yerevan, when celebrating the Hundred Years of the Armenian Republic, reveals the full participation of this country in a broader artistic debate and highlights its vocation as a place for cultural exchange; at the same time it allows the invited artists to join the voice of Armenia and to get acquainted with the value of its silence, which is full of unperceived sounds and still unexpressed thoughts.
