Ä²Ü ºô ²È ºðî äàôàêú²ü Üàð²ð²ð öàðò²è²î²ü ²ðìºêîÆ ÎºÜîðàÜ JEAN AND ALBERT BOGHOSSIAN ARMENIAN CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY EXPERIMENTAL ART êàüæ² ä²è²ê²üú²üæ SONIA BALASSANIAN ÊàβÜø BROODING ÜβðâàôÂÚàôÜ ÂÔÂÆ ìð² ºô ìæ ºà ²ðìºêî WORKS ON PAPER AND VIDEO-ART September 3-24 ê»åï»ùμ»ñ 2004 ºñ»õ³Ý, г۳ëï³Ý Yerevan, Armenia
1992 Ãí³Ï³ÝÇó Ç í»ñ Üáñ³ñ³ñ öáñó³é³ï³ý ²ñí»ëïÇ Î»ÝïñáÝÇ ( Üö²Î ) ÑÇÙݳ ¹Çñ»õ»Õ³ñí»ëï³Ï³Ý ջϳí³ñ êáýç ³ ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá ºñ»õ ³Ýáõ٠ϳ½Ù³Ï»ñåáõÙ ³í³Ý ³ñ¹ ³ñí»ëïÇ ËÙμ³Ï³Ý óáõó³ñ³ý ¹»ëÝ»ñ: ²Ûë ï³ñçý»ñç ÁÝóóùáõÙ, μ³óç Ñ³Û Å³Ù³Ý³Ï³ÏÇó ³ñí»ëï³»ïÝ»ñÇÝ ³ÛÉÁÝïñ³Ï³Ý Ï»ÝïñáÝÇ ßáõñç ѳٳËÁÙμ»- Éáõó, ݳ 1995 ÃíÇÝ Ý³ ˳ Ó»é Ý»ó г Û³ë ï³ ÝÇ ³é³ ççý å³ïù³ï³ý Ù³ëݳÏóáõÃÛáõÝÁ ì»ý»ïçïç ǻݳɻáõÙ, áñá ݳ ³Ý˳ ³Ý ß³ñáõݳÏáõÙ ³é ³Ûëûñ: ܳ г۳ëï³Ý μ»ñ»é ³ñí»ëïÇ ³ñï³Ñ³Ûïã³Ï³Ý Ýáñ Ó»õ»ñ (ÇÝëï³ÉÇ ³óÇ- ³, íç ¹»á ³ñí»ëï»õ ³ÛÉÝ): ²ÝóÛ³É 4 ï³ñçý»ñç ÁÝóóùáõÙ, ë³ï³ûý, Ýñ³ ï³ñ»ï³ý óáõó³ñ³ý ¹»ëÝ»ñÁ í»ñ³íí»óçý Ù»Ï ³Ý ³Ù ϳ۳óáÕ óáõó³ñ³ý ¹»ë/ϳï³ñáõÙÝ»ñÇ áñï»õ ³é ϳ ÇÝ ëïç½μ»õ í»ñç, ÇÝã å»ë óï ñá ÝáõÙ: ²Ûë ï³ñç (2004) ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá áñáß»é Ý»ñϳ۳óÝ»É Çñ ³ÝÓÝ³Ï³Ý ëï»õí³ áñíáõãûáõýý»ñá` 1989 Ãí³Ï³ÝÇÝ ÜÛáõ ÚáñùÇ ¾ ½Çà ²ñà å³ïï»ñ³ëñ³ñáõù óáõó³¹ñí³í ÃÕÃÇ íñ³ ϳ ï³ ñ³í Ýϳñ ãáõ ÃÛáõÝ,»õ Çñ í»ñ ççý ï³ ñç Ý» ñçý ëï»õí³í íç ¹»á ³ñí»ëïÇ ³ß˳ï³ÝùÝ»ñÁ: ²Ûë óáõó³ñ³ý ¹»ëáí ³ñí»ëï³»ïÇ ³ÝóÛ³É 15 ï³ñçý»ñç ³Ýó³Í ³Ý³å³ñÑÇ ëï½μç»õ í»ñççý ѳïí³ÍÝ»ñÇ»å³å³ïÏ»ñÝ»ñÁ Ý»ñϳ۳óíáõÙ»Ý Ñ³ÝñáõÃÛ³Ý ùýý³ñïù³ýá: òáõó³ñ³ý ¹»ëÁ ѳٳ¹ñ»É ºõ³ ʳã³ïñÛ³ÝÁ: 3 Since the Summer of 1992 Sonia Balassanian, the Founder and Artistic Director of the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art ( NPAK in Armenian acronym) has been organizing annual group exhibitions of avant-garde art in Yerevan. During these years besides bringing together Armenian contemporary artists around an alternative centre for contemporary art, she initiated first ever participation of Armenia at Venice Biennale, which she has been maintaining ever since. Moreover, she has introduced new means of expression (installation art, video art, etc.) in Armenia. During past 4 years, however, her annual exhibitions turned into one time exhibition/performances with a start and an end like in the theater. This year (2004) Balassanian has decided to present her personal creations: works on paper presented at the Exit Art Gallery in New York City in 1989, and her video art pieces created during recent years. Snapshots of the start and the end of artist s journey of the past 15 years are presented in this exhibition for public examination. Exhibition has been curated by Eva Khachatrian.
1989 ÜβðâàôÂÚàôÜ ÂÔÂÆ ìð² WORKS ON PAPER
DO ALD KUSPIT Donald Kuspit is an art critic and a professor of art history and philosophy at the State University of ew York at Stony Brook. He received the 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Contribution to Visual Arts from the ational Association of Schools of Art and Design. He is a 1983 recipient of the College Art Association's prestigious Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism. He is a contributing editor at Artforum, Sculpture, and ew Art Examiner magazines, the editor of Art Criticism, and the editor of a series on American Art and Art Criticism for Cambridge University Press. He has been awarded fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Commission, the ational Endowment for the Humanities, the ational Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation, among others. An author of numerous articles, exhibition reviews, and catalog essays, Kuspit has written more than twenty books, including Redeeming Art: Critical Reveries (Allworth Press), Daniel Brush, Joseph Raffael, Chihuly, and Idiosyncratic Identities: Artists at the End of the Avant-Garde. He lives in ew York City. êáýç³ ä³é³ë³ýû³ý. ÊáϳÝùÇ ²ñí»ëïÁ á ݳɹ ø²êöæâ àü²è ø²êöæâ á ݳɹ ø³ë Ç ÃÁ ³ñ í»ë ïç ùý ݳ ¹³ï»õ ³ñ í»ë ïç å³ï - Ùáõ Ã۳ݻõ Ç ÉÇ ëá ³ Ûáõ ÃÛ³Ý åñá ý» ëáñ ÜÛáõ Úáñ ùç êá ÝÇμ - ñáõùç Ý³Ñ³Ý ³ÛÇÝ Ñ³Ù³Éë³ñ³ÝáõÙ: ܳ ëï³ó»é ²ØÜ-Ç ²ñí»ëïÇ»õ ǽ³ÛÝÇ åñáóý»ñç ²½ ³ÛÇÝ ²ëáëÇ ³óÇ ³ÛÇ 1997 ÃíÇ ÎÛ³ÝùáõÙ Üí³ ³Í λñå³ñí»ëïÇ ²Ï³Ý³íáñ ²í³Ý¹ àõý»ý³éáõ Øñó³Ý³Ï -Á: ܳ 1983 ÃíÇÝ ³ñųݳó»É ²ñí»ëïÇ Ð³Ù³Éë³ñ³Ý-Ý»ñÇ ²ëáëÇ ³óÇ ³ÛÇ ²ñí»ëïÇ øýý³ ¹³ïáõÃÛ³Ý ³ñÓñ ì³ëï³ï Ñ»ÕÇݳϳíáñ üñ³ýù æûáõ»ã س ¹»ñ Ùñó³Ý³ÏÇÝ: ܳ Artforum, Sculpture»õ New Art Examiner å³ñ μ» - ñ³ï³ýý»ñç ÃÕóÏÇó ËÙμ³ Çñ, ÇÝãå»ë ݳ»õ ËÙμ³ ÇñÝ Art Chriticism -Ç»õ ø»ûùμ ñçç ѳ Ù³É ë³ ñ³ ÝÇ Ññ³ ï³ ñ³ï - ãáõ ÃÛ³Ý ²Ù» ñçï Û³Ý ²ñ í»ëï»õ ²ñ í» ï³ μ³ Ýáõ ÃÛáõÝ Ù³ - ï» Ý³ß ³ ñç: ܳ, Ç ß³ñë ³ÛÉ ÑÇ٠ݳñÏ Ý» ñç, ëï³ ó»é ³Ý ¹³ - Ù³Ï óáõ ÃÛ³Ý ïçï Õáë Ý»ñ üáñ¹ ÐÇ٠ݳ¹ ñ³ ÙÇó, üáõéμ- ñ³ûã Îá ÙÇ ëç ³ ÛÇó, سñ ¹³- μ³ Ýáõ ÃÛ³Ý ²½ ³ ÛÇÝ ÐÇ٠ݳ¹ - ñ³ ÙÇó, ²ñ í»ëï Ý» ñç ²½ ³ ÛÇÝ ÐÇ٠ݳ¹ ñ³ ÙÇó»õ áõ»ý- ѳÛÙ ÐÇÙݳ- ¹Áñ³ÙÇó: ³ óç μ³ ½áõÙ Ñá¹ í³í Ý» ñçó, óáõ ó³ Ñ³Ý ¹»ë- Ý» ñç ñ³ Ëá ë³ - Ï³Ý Ý» ñçó,»õ ϳ ï³ Éá Ý» ñç ï»ïë ï» ñçó, ø³ë Ç ÃÁ Ñ» ÕÇ - ݳ Ï»É ³í» ÉÇ ù³ý ùë³ý Çñù, Ý» ñ³é Û³É` öñ Ï»É ²ñ í»ë ïá` Ö Ý³Å³Ù³ÛÇÝ Ø»Í³ñáõÙ (Allworth Press), Daniel Brush, Joseph Raffael, Chihuly,»õ سëݳѳïí³Í ÆÝùÝáõÃÛáõÝÝ»ñ` ²ñ í»ë ï³»ï Ý» ñá ²í³Ý ³ñ ¹Ç ì»ñ çáõù ³ß ˳ ïáõ ÃÛáõÝ - Ý»ñÁ: ܳ μý³ï íáõù ÜÛáõ Úáñù ù³ Õ³ ùáõù: êáýç ³ ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá Ù»ÏÁ ÙÛáõëÇ Ñ»ï»õÇó Ù»½ Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñ Ù³ïáõóáõÙª μáéáñý É ³ÏÝѳÛï ݳ˳å³ïÙ³Ï³Ý áõ»ñμý³ï³ý. ¹ñ³Ýù ÙÃÇÝ áõñí³ - ϳÝÝ»ñ»Ýª ¹áõñë åñí³í ÇÝùݳáãÝã³óÙ³Ý ÙÇ ÇÝã-áñ ï³ñûñçý³ï ïçñáõû - ÃÇó: äñáýçéçó ³ñí³Í ³ñ³Ï³Ý Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÁª Çñ»Ýó ñ»ïóç ³Ý»ñáí, áù - ñ³ ÃÇí»Ý: ñ³ý óçó ÙÇ ù³ ÝÇëÝ ³Ý ÉáõË, ÇëÏ Ù»Í Ù³ ëá ý³ Éá ë³ ÛÇÝ ³ÛÝ - åçëç ùã»ñáí»ý, áñáýù ÑÇß»óÝáõÙ»Ý áñáß» Çåï³Ï³Ý ³ëïí³ÍáõÃÛáõÝÝ» - ñç Ïïáõó Ý» ñá, áõ ñçß Ý» ñý É»ñ»õ³Ý»Ý ѳ ÝáõÙ Çñ»Ýó ÏÙ³Ë ù³ ÛÇÝ ³ÏáõÝù Ý» - ñá: ñ³ýù ûåïí³í»ý ïáñù³ï³ý Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÇÝ Ñ³ïáõÏ ïáï»ù³ûçý áõå - Ýáõ ÃÛ³Ùμ, Ï»ñ å³ñ Ý»ñ, áñáýù û»õ ëå³é í»é»ý ³Ý Ù» Õáõ ÃÛ³Ý ÙÇ ÇÝã -áñ å³ñ - ï³¹ñ³ï³ý ³ñ³ñùÇó: ²Ûë Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÇ Ù»Í Ù³ëÁ ³å³ë»é³Ï³Ý, μ³ûó ÙÇ ù³ýçëý áõý»ý Ç ³Ï³Ý ѳïϳÝÇßÝ»ñª ÏñÍù»ñ»õ áõé³í íçé»ý ¹áñýÛ³Ý áñ»ñ: 1 λñ å³ñ Ý»ñÝ ³Ûë ÉÇ á íçý Ùé³ÛÉ»Ý, ¹ñ³Ýù û ë»õ»ý, û ëáõñμ»õ û ÇÝù ݳ٠á, ÇÝã å»ë Ù³ñ¹ ϳ ÛÇÝ ÙÇ Ýáñ ó» ÕÇ μá ÅáÅ, áñá ïñ³ á ñ»ý ÝÙ³Ý ù»½ ͳÝáà ٳñ¹Ï³Ýó, ³ÛÝ ÙÇ ÇÝã-áñ ³Ýëå³ë»ÉÇ μ³ý ݳ˳½ áõß ³óÝáõÙ, û»õ ÇÝù ÝÇÝ å³ï ϳ ÝáõÙ ³Ýó Û³ ÉÇÝ: ñ³ýù ³ñ í³í»ý ³ÛÝ åç ëç ÙÇ Ï»Ý - ¹³ÝáõÃÛ³Ùμ, ÇÝãÁ»ñ³½³ÝóáõÙ ³ñ ¹»Ý ³Ï³ ¹»ÙÇ ³Ï³Ý ѳٳñíáÕ ùëå- ñ»ëçáýçëï³ï³ý ÇÝùݳμáõËáõÃÛáõÝÁ, ³ÛÝåÇëÇ ÑåáõÙáí, ÇÝãÁ ß»ßïí³Í ýñáï³åç ï»ëýçï³ý»ñáí 2»õ ѳ ïáõï Ùï³¹ñ í³í Ýñ μáõ ÃÛ³Ùμ: ñ³ýù ¹³ - ï³ñïáõãû³ý Ù»ç ϳËí³Í Ù»ÏáõëÇ ßóù³ñ»ñ»Ý, Ù³ñ ¹áõ ѳϳå³ïÏ»ñ - Ý»ñ, ³í»ÉÇ Çßï, Ù³ñ¹Ï³ÛÇÝ Ùáé³óáõÃÛ³Ý Ã³ áýý»ñç Ù»ç ³Ñ³íÇÅáÕ Ù³ñ ¹áõ ÙݳóáõÏÝ»ñ: Üñ³Ýó ÑÇí³Ý ¹³ ÇÝ ï»ëùá ÝÛáõÝù³Ý ѳÙá½Çã, áñ - 1 ø³ë ÇÃÁ ÝϳïÇ áõýç å³é»éáéçãû³ý»ñ ÏÝáç ³ñÓ³ÝÇÏÁ ( ìçé»ý ¹áñýÛ³Ý ÏÇÝÁ Ù.Ã.³. 22.000-21.000), áñá ѳÛïݳμ»ñí»É ìçé»ý ¹áñýáõÙ (²íëïñÇ ³), ³Û¹ ÇëÏ å³ï ³éáí, ³ÛÝ Ñ³ÛïÝÇ Ý³»õ ìçé»ý ¹áñýÛ³Ý Ù³ ¹áÝݳ ³ÝáõÝáí: îíû³é ³ñÓ³ÝÇÏÇ ß»ßïí³Í»ñáõÃÛáõÝÁ ¹³ñÓ»É ³ñí»ëïáõ٠ϳݳóÇ Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÇ»ñáõÃÛáõÝÁ Ýß»Éáõ ³Ûɳμ³Ý³Ï³Ý ÙÇçáó, ÇÝãÇó É Ñ»Ýó û ï íáõù ø³ë Ç ÃÁ - (ÍÝÃ. Ãñ Ù.): 2 üñáï³å - ³íïáÙ³ïÇëï³Ï³Ý ï»ëýçï³,»ñμ ÝϳñÇãÁ Ù³ïÇïÁ ϳ٠å³ëï»éá ùëáõù á ݳɹ ø³ë Ç ÃÇ ëáõûý Ñá¹ í³ ÍÁ ñ í»é 1989Ã. ÜÛáõ ÚáñùÇ Exit ý³ïïáõñ³ûçý ٳϻñ»ëÇ íñ³ ¹ñí³Í ÃÕÃÇÝ: ²ÛëåÇëáí, Ù³ïÇïÇ Ñ»ïù»ñÁ ³ñï³óáÉáõÙ»Ý Art óáõó³ëñ³ñáõù μ³óí³í êáýç ³ ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç ñ³ýçï³ï³ý ÃÕÃÇ ï³ï ¹ñí³Í ý³ïïáõñ³ý: ²Ûë ï»ëýçï³ý ( ñ³ï³åç ï»ëýçï³ûç Ñ»ï Ù»Ïï»Õ) ɳÛÝ ï³ñ³íáõù áõý»ñ ëûáõñé» ³ÉÇëïÝ»ñÇ Ùáï: гٳñíáõÙ, áñ ýñáï³åç ï»ëýçï³ý ѳÛïݳ- ³ß ˳ ï³ýù Ý» ñç óáõ ó³ Ñ³Ý ¹» ëç ³éÇ Ãáí: î»ëù ïáõù óáõ ó³ Ñ³Ý ¹» - 6 áñ Í»É Ø³ùë ¾éÝë ï᪠1925Ã-ÇÝ ï» ë Stokstad, Marilyn Art History, Second Edition, Prentice 7 ëç ÑÇß ³ï³ÏáõÙÝ»ñÁ í»ñ³μ»ñáõù»ý ³Û¹ óáõó³ñ³ý ¹»ëÇÝ: Hall, Inc., and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, New York, 2002, ç 1104- (ÍÝÃ. Ãñ Ù.): Woman of Willendorf c. 25,000-20,000 b.c., Limestone Naturhistorischen Museum, Vienna
Oskar Kokoschka Veronica's Veil Hieronymus Bosch, Christ Carrying the Cross. 1490. Oil on panel. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Ghent, Belgium 8 ù³ý ì»ñáýçï³ûç óßÏÇݳÏÇ íñ³ ïå ³Í áõ ëñμ³ áñí ï³é³å³ýùç í³ûñ - Ï»Ý³Ï³Ý å³ïï»ñá: 3 ²ÛÉ Ï»ñå ³ë³Í, ³ÝóáÕÇÏáõÃ۳ݻõ ³ÙμÇí³É»ÝïáõÃÛ³Ý ½ ³óáõÙÝ ³Ù» - Ýáõñ»õ ѳٳÑáõÝã Ý»ñùÇÝ ûμû»ïïý»ñçý, ù³ý½ç ³Ûë Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÁ ä³é³ - ë³ýû³ýç á áõ μý³ïçãý»ñý»ý, Ýñ³ ºë-Ç ÑÇÙݳñ³ñ μ³õ³¹ñçãý»ñá: ³ - ó³ñó³ï ³ÏÝóñóÛÇÝ, ï»õ³ï³ýáñ»ý í³ûñï»ý³ï³ý, ѳí»ñÅ ÁÝóóùÇ Ù»çª ¹ñ³Ýù Ù³Ñ í³ý ½ ³ óáõù»ý ³ é³ áõù: ²Ûë ½ ³ óáõ ÙÇ á ÇÝ áã ÙÇ Ï»ñå Ñݳñ³íáñ ã Ý»ñϳ۳óÝ»É, μ³ûó ¹³ ³ÝçÝç»ÉÇ ÇÝùݳ Çï³ÏóáõÃÛ³Ý ³Ù» - ݳÇÝïÇÙ å³ñ»ñçý, å³ñ»ñ, áñáýù Ý»ñϳ۳óÝáõÙ»Ý ³Ûë å³ïï»ñý»ñá: ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç ٳѳßáõÝã, ϽÇëï»Ýó۳ɳóí³Í Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÁ Ýå³ï³Ï³ - ÛÇÝ ÇÙ³ëïáí ѳٳñí»É»Ý ù³õ³ù³ï³ý, ¹ñ³Ýù ¹Çï³ñÏí»É»Ý áñå»ë Ùïá - ñáõùý»ñ Ýñ³ ѳÛÏ³Ï³Ý ÇÝùÝáõÃÛ³Ý ßáõñç, Ýñ³ ѳÛÏ³Ï³Ý ³ÛÝ ½ ³óáõÙÇ, û ÇÝùÁ ÏñÏÝíáÕ»ÝáóÇ ¹³ÛÇÝ ÙÇïáõÙÝ»ñÇ ½áÑ : ³Ûó ¹ñ³Ýó ³Ï³ï³ - ñ³ï³ý ï»ëùá å³ûù³ý³íáñí³í ã ½áõï ³Ûë Ùß³ÏáõóÛÇÝ ³ÏáõÝùáí. ϳ - ݳÝó Ý» ³ïÇí ÇÝùݳ½ ³óáÕáõÃ۳ݻõ ¹Åμ³Ëï ³Ï³ï³ ñç ½ ³óáõÙÁ»õë Çñ ¹»ñÝ áõýç ³Ûëï»Õ: ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá ٻͳó»É Æñ³ÝáõÙ, áñï»õ, ÇÝã - å»ë ÇÝùÝ ³ëáõÙ, ÏÇ ÝÁ ë³ñ Ù³Ý íáõù áñ å»ë ͳ 鳪 ë» é³ Ï³Ý áõ ³é ѳ ë³ - ñ³ï ïý³ûçý Ýå³ï³ÏÝ»ñÇ Ñ³Ù³ñ. 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Ãñ Ù.): 5 ²Ûëï»Õ ø³ë ÇÃÁ, Áëï áõãû³ý, ³é³ç ù³ßáõù Â»á ¹áñ ì. ²¹áéÝáÛÇ Ýß³Í Å³Ù³Ý³Ï³- ÏÇó ³ñ í»ë ïç ÑÇ٠ݳ Ï³Ý ¹Ç É» Ù³Ý. ³ÛÝ å»ë å³ ï³ëë³ý»ë ѳë³ñ³Ï³Ï³Ýù³Õ³ù³Ï³Ý³ñ ï³ ùçý Çñ³ ¹³ñ Óáõ ÃÛáõÝ Ý» ñçý, áñ ã»ý óñÏ í»ë í»ñ ççý Ý» ñçë: ²ÛÝ ³ñ í»ë - ïá,- ÝßáõÙ ²¹áé ÝáÝ, - áñá ѳ ë³ ñ³ Ïáõ ÃÛ³ ÝÁ ѳ ϳ¹ñ í» Éáõ Ù»ç ÙÝáõÙ ¹ñ³ ÙÇ Ù³ë ÝÇ ÏÁ, å»ïù ³ ÏÇ Çñ ³ã ù»ñý áõ ³Ï³Ýç Ý» ñá ³Û¹ ѳ ë³ ñ³ Ïáõ ÃÛ³Ý Ñ³Ý ¹»å... : î» ë » á ¹áñ ²¹áé Ýá Ü»ñ ù³ß í³ Íáõ ÃÛáõÝ, ñ³ Ï³Ý Ã»ñÃ, 2, 2002 (Ãñ Ù. ì. ²½³ï Û³Ý): ²ñ ¹»Ý 60-³ ϳ - Ý» ñçó Ç í»ñª áõß Ï³ åç ï³ Éǽ ÙÇ ½³ñ ³ óáõ Ùáí, ³Ûë ËÝ ¹ÇñÝ ³ñ í»ë ïáõù Çñ³ ϳÝó Ý» ÉÁ ¹³é - Ýáõ٠ݳÉáí ³í»ÉÇ áõ ³í»ÉÇ ³ÝÑݳñ, ³Ûë Ù³ëÇÝ íï³ûáõù, ûñçý³ïª ëçïáõ ³óÇáÝÇëïÝ»ñÇ, ìçïïáñ áõñ ÇÝÇ ëï»õí³ áñí³ï³ý Ï»Ýë³ ñáõãûáõýý»ñá: ø³ë ÇÃÁ ÉÇÝ»Éáí 80-³Ï³ÝÝ»ñÇ Ý» á- ùëå ñ» ëç á Ýǽ ÙÇ ï» ë³ μ³ý, Ñ»ï»õ»Éáí ²¹áé Ýá ÛÇÝ, ëùå ñ» ëç á ÝÇë ï³ Ï³Ý» Õ³Ý Ï³ñ - 9 Sonia BALASSANIAN, Self Portraits 1983 Print and acrylic on paper, New York, USA
10 ÉÇë: 5 ê»õáõãû³ý áñí³íáõãûáõýá, ëå³éí»éáõ Çñ ½ ³óáÕáõÃÛ³Ùμ Ñ³Ý ¹»ñÓ, Éñ - çáõ ÃÛ³Ý ÙÇ ß³ï ³ÏÝ Ñ³Ûï Ù» ˳ Ýǽ٠: Àݹ Í í³í ë»õáõ ÃÛáõ ÝÁ ¹»é á Û³ ÛÇó ëïë³í»õ»é ³ñ ¹Ç ùëåñ»ëçíáõãû³ý ÑÇÙÝ³Ï³Ý ï³ññá: ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá å³ñáõý³ïáõù»õ Ï»ÝïñáݳóÝáõÙ ¹ñ³Ýù Çñ í»ñ³ó³ï³ý Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÇ»õ Ï»ñå³ñ³ÛÇÝ ÙμÉ»ÙÝ»ñÇ Ù»ç (¹áõéÁª áë³ï»ñåí³í Ï»ñå³ñÇ, å³ïáõñ³ý - Ý»ñÁª ³ãù»ñÇ): ê»õáõãûáõýá Ýñ³ ͳÝñ³ã³ ³ÛÇÝ Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñáõÙ ¹³éÝáõÙ ÙÇ Ñ»ÕáõÏ, áñá ³Õ»ï³ÛÇÝÁ ³ëï³ ñáõù ϳï³ñ»ÉáõÃ۳ݻñ³Ý áí: ä³ - ɳë³ÝÛ³ÝÇ ½ ³ÛáõÝáõÃÛáõÝÁ Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñ ëï»õí»éáõ ϳñáÕáõÃÛ³Ý Ù»ç, Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñ, áñáýóáí ³ÝóÝáõ٠ѳٳß˳ñѳÛÇÝ å³ïù³ï³ý ÙÇ ³Õ»ï, ÇÝãÁ ¹ñ³Ýó ³í»ñáõÙÁ óáõûó ï³éçë ÇÝïÇÙ, ³ÝÙÇç³Ï³Ý ýáñù³ïáõù: ²ë»ÉÇùÁ ³ÏÝ»ñ»õ ¹³ñÓÝ»Éáõ ѳٳñ ѳٻٳï»Ýù ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç ÉÇñÇ - Ï³Ï³Ý Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÁª øçý»ñç åçï³ï³ý ï³ñ³íáõãû³ý Ñ»ï: 6 øçý»ñá Ù³ïáõóáõÙ óñçí»õ Áݹѳñݳóí³Í ë»õáõãûáõý, í³éíáõ ³í»ñ³ÏÝ»ñÇ ÙÇ áõýç - í»ñë³é ï»ë³ñ³ýª ¹ñ³ Ñ³Ý ¹»å ³ñï³ùÇÝ, Ï»Ýë³å³Ñå³Ý Ï»ñå³ñÝ» - ñáí, áñáýù ³í» ÉÇ ßáõï Çñ»Ýó Ù»ç ³å ñáõ í» ñ³ ó³ Ï³Ý ÏÛ³Ý ùç ³Ýáà ݻñ áõ ëçùíáéý»ñ»ý: øçý»ñç ɳÛݳï³ñ³Í ï³ñ³íáõãûáõýá ÙÇßï ã, áñ ѳÕáñ ¹áõÙ ÏÛ³ÝùÇ Ù»ç Ù³Ñí³Ý»õ Ù³Ñí³Ý Ù»ç ÏÛ³ÝùÇ ÙÇ ³Å³Ù³Ý³ÏáõÃÛáõÝÁ, ÇÝãÁ ³ÝáõÙ»Ý ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç åçñï Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÁ: øçý»ñç ë»õáõãûáõýá, Çñ»Ý Ý»ñ - ϳ Û³ó ÝáÕ áõç ¹ñ³ Ù³ Ûáí Ñ³Ý ¹»ñÓ, ѳï ϳ å»ë ÇÝ»ñï áõ ÏÛ³Ý ùç ѳ Ù³ñ ÙáËñÇ å»ë ³Ý³Ýó³Ý»ÉÇ, ÙÇÝã ¹»é ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç ë»õ Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÁ ϳóÝÇ μáõã ÉáõË Ý»ñ»Ý, áñáýù ¹»é ÉÇ»Ý Ïï ñáõ ÏÛ³Ý ùáí: Üñ³ ³Í ˳ ó³í ³Ï Ý» - ñç Ù»ç ϳñ ¹³ó íáõù áã ÙÇ ³ÛÝ íß ïç ó³íý áõ áõ μá, ³ÛÉ»õ ³éáÕç Ùá É» Ýáõ - ÃÛ³Ý ½³ÛñáõÛÃÁ: Æñ»Ýó áõç ÁÝÏ í³íáõãû³ùμ Ñ³Ý ¹»ñÓ, Ýñ³ Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÁ Ï»Ý ¹³ÝÇ»Ý ãí³ëëí³í μéýáõãû³ùμ: øçý»ñç ë»õ μ»ù³ï³ý ï³ñ³íáõãûáõýá, ÇÝãÇÝ Ñ» ݳϳÝáñ»Ý ³ç³ÏóáõÙ»Ý Ñ³íÇï»Ý³Ï³Ý ÑáõÛëÇ Ï»ÕÍ μáó»ñá, Áëï áõãû³ý, ɳí å³ñí³í ý³ï³éç½ù : ²Ûëï»Õ, Áëï Çë, ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá ¹»åÇ Ýáñ ½ ³ Ûáõ Ýáõ ÃÛáõÝ ï³ ÝáÕ ÙÇ ³ ݳ å³ññ óáõûó ï³ ÉÇë, ÇëÏ ¹³ Ñ» Ý³Ý ùá ¹»Ý Ý» ï»éý áñ å»ë Ëá Ï³Ý ùç Ù»ç μé ÝÇ Ý»ñ Ëáõ Åáõ٠ϳ٠ϻÕÍ ÙÇ ç³ù ïáõ - ÃÛáõÝ: л ݳÝùÁ Ù»ñ åáëïùá ¹»éÝ ûñ»ñáõù ¹³ñÓ»É ë»ýïçù»ýï³éáõãû³ý ѳ ³Ë ùáõý ÙÇ Ó»õ: ݳ Éáí ³ÛÝ ³í» ÉÇ áõ ³í» ÉÇ Í³Õ ñáõù Ù» ɳ Ù³Õ Óáõ - ÃÛáõ ÝÁ, ÇÝãÝ áõ ½áõÙ ù³ý ¹»Éª ¹³ñÓ Ý» Éáí ïñç íç ³É ³ÛÝ ³Ù» ÝÁ, ÇÝ ãçý ¹Çå ãáõù. Ñ» ݳÝùÁ ³å³ ëã»ïç½³óýáõù ½ ³óÙáõÝùÁ: äáëïùá ¹»éÝÇëï³Ï³Ý Ñ» ݳÝùÁ ³í»ÉÇ áõ ³í»ÉÇ ¹ÇïíáõÙ áñå»ë ϳ - ï³ï Ñ»Ýó Çñ íñ³, ³ÛÝ»ñÏ ãá ïáõ ÃÛ³Ý ÙÇ Ó»õ ѳ Ù³ß Ë³ñ ѳ ÛÇÝ å³ï Ù³ - Ï³Ý Çñ³ ¹³ñÓáõÃÛáõÝÝ»ñÇ»õ ÇÝùÝáõÃÛ³Ý ³Õ»ï³ÛÇÝ ½ ³óáÕáõÃÛ³Ý ³éç»õ, ÇÝãÁ ѳñáõó»É Ñ»Ýó ÇÝùÁ: äáëï-åáëïùá ¹»éÝÇëï³Ï³Ý ½ ³ÛáõÝáõÃÛáõÝÁ û ï³ áñí»éáõ ³ñí»ëïÇ É»½áõÝ áã ÙÇ ³ÛÝ Ý³ÛÇí Ï»ñåáí Ýß»Éáõ»ñÏñ³ÛÇÝ»ñ-³ñí»ëï³ÛÇÝ ëï½μáõýùá, ÇÝãå»ë ³ñíáõÙ ³ÏÝѳÛïáñ»Ý ù³õ³ù³ - ϳÏÝÝ»ñÇ ¹»åùáõÙ, ³ÛÉ ³é³ç³ñÏ»Éáõ ÙÇ ûõ³ïª ÑÇÙÝ³Ï³Ý ëï»õí³ áñí³ - Ï³Ý åñáó»ëý»ñç áõ Ý»ñùÇÝ Ý³ËÝ³Ï³Ý åñáó»ëý»ñç ÙÇç»õ, ÇÝãå»ë ä³é³ - ë³ýû³ýç Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÁ: äáëïùá ¹»éÝÇëï³Ï³Ý Ù³ÝÇåáõÉÛ³óÇ ³ÛÇ Ù»Í Ù³ëÁ ³Ý Çï³ÏÇó Ï»ñåáí Ý»ñ³éáõÙ ³Ûë ûõ³ïçó Ëáõë³»Éáõ áñóá, ÇÝãÁ ËóݻÉ, üáõïáûç μ³é»- ñáí ³ë³Í, ëï»õí³ñ³ñ ëáõμû»ïïç Ñ»ÕÇݳÏáõÃÛáõÝÁ í³ý»éá: 7 Æ ¹»å, ëáõμ - Û»ÏïÇ ëï»õí³ñ³ñáõãûáõýá ÙÇ ï»ë³ï ùýý³ ¹³ï³Ï³Ý ³ñÓ³ ³Ýù É»½íÇ áõ í³ñ ùç ³ÛÝ Ïá ¹» ñç Ñ³Ý ¹»å, áñáýù Ó»õ³íá ñáõù, Çß ËáõÙ áõ íï³ý áõù»ý ëáõμ - Û»Ï ïçª ûμ Û»Ïï ¹³é ݳ ÉÁ: ²ÛÝ ëïç åáõù, áñ ëáõμ Û»Ï ïá Ùá é³ Ý³ ϳ٠ѳÝÓÝ - íç ϳ٠áõõõ³ïç áõß ³¹ñáõÃÛáõÝ ã¹³ñóýç ëáõμû»ïï ÉÇÝ»Éáõ Çñ ½ ³óáÕáõÃÛ³ÝÁ, ÇÝãù³Ý É áñ ³Û¹ ½ ³óáÕáõÃÛáõÝÁ ³Ýѳëï³ï, μ³ûó»õ ³ÝíÇ»ÉÇ áõ Ý»ñÑ³Ï Ãí³: ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç ³ñí»ëïÇ Ï³ñ»õáñáõÃÛáõÝÁ»õ ¹ñ³ ³í»ÉÇ Ù»Í ³ÝÑñ³- Å»ßïáõÃÛáõÝÁ, ÇÝãÝ ³Ý ¹ÇÝ ³Ýѳï³Ï³Ý áñí»ñç í»ñ³ùμ³ñóáõãûáõýçó»õ ³ÛÝ É³í ѳñÙ³ñ»óí³Í ÉñÇíáõÃÛáõÝÇó, ÇÝãÁ ¹³ ѳÕáñ ¹áõÙ Çμñ»õ ³ÙμáÕç ³ÛÝ, áñ ¹³ í»ñ³ñ³ëï³ïáõù ëáõμû»ïïçíá áñå»ë ³Ýï³ñμ»ñáõÃÛ³Ý ÙÃ- ÝáÉáñïÇ Ù»ñÅáõÙ, ÙÃÝáÉáñï, áñï»õ ÑÇÙݳϳÝáõÙ ï»õç»ý áõý»ýáõù Ñ³Ù³ß - ˳ñѳÛÇÝ Çñ³ ¹³ñÓáõÃÛáõÝÝ»ñÁ (Ñ»Ýó ³Ûë ³Ýï³ñμ»ñáõÃÛáõÝÝ Ý»ñßÝãáõ٠ϳ٠ÝáõÛÝÇëÏ ¹³ëïÇ ³ñ³ÏáõÙ ëáõμû»ïï ÉÇÝ»Éáõ ½ ³óáÕáõÃÛ³Ý Ñ³Ý ¹»å ³Ý½- ³ÙáõÃÛáõÝÝ áõ ³Ý³ñ ³ÝùÁ): ØÇ»õÝáõÛÝ Å³Ù³Ý³Ï, Ýñ³ Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÁ ÏñáõÙ»Ý ³Ûë ûμû»ïïçí ³Ýï³ñμ»ñáõÃÛáõÝÁ ³ÛÝ ³ëïÇ Ù»ç, áñ»ñ»õáõù»ý Çμñ»õ ³Õ»ïÝ»ñ: Üñ³Ýù Ý»ñ³éÝáõÙ»Ý ³ß˳ñÑÇ ³Ýï³ñμ»ñáõÃÛáõÝÁª ï»ëùçó ¹³é- ݳÉáí ³Õ»ï³ÛÇÝ: ²ÛÉ Ï»ñå ³ë³Í, ëï»õí³ñ³ñáõãûáõýá ³ñÙ³ï³ó³Í å³ëçíáõãûáõýá Ù»ñÅ»Éáõ Ù»ç: ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÇ ÇÝùݳϳ٠ßÝã³íáñáõÃÛáõÝÁ (ÇÝãÁ ï³ñμ»ñ Ó»õ»ñáí ³ÏÝѳÛï Ýñ³ ¹éÝ»ñáõÙ»õ å³ïáõñ³ýý» - ñáõù) ÙÇ ³Ý ³ÙÇó û Ûáõñ³óÝáõÙ»õ û ½ïáõÙ Çñ³ ¹³ñÓáõÃÛáõÝÝ»ñÁ å³ëçí ÁÝ ¹áõÝ»Éáõ ³Õ³ ³ñÝ áõ ¹³ ëáõμû»ïïçí³óý»éáíª Ñ»ï ß ³óÝáõÙ ³ß˳ñ- ÑÇ»ñ»ëÇÝ, Ù³ïݳÝß»Éáí, áñ ¹³ ϽÇëï»ÝóÛ³É ÁÝïñáõÃÛáõÝ, ÇÝãÁ å³ñï³- ¹Çñ ã ñ, áñ ³ñ í»ñ: ä³ É³ ë³ý Û³ ÝÇ ³ñ í»ë ïá óáõûó ï³ ÉÇë, áñ Ù³ñ¹ ϳ ñáõ»õ Ç ½á ñáõ ãéç Ý»É ³ß ˳ñ ÑÁ á Ë» Éáõ, μ³ûó ݳ ϳ ñáõ ï³é ¹ñ³Ý ¹Ç ݳ ÙÇÏ, ëï»õí³ñ³ñ ³ñÓ³ ³Ýùª ³ñ³ï»Éáí,»Ã» áã Çëå³é çýç»éáí ³Ýû ݳϳ- ÝáõÃÛ³Ý ½ ³óáõÙÁ: ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç Ï»ñå³ñÝ»ñÇ ÏñÏÝíáÕ μýáõûãá (Ýñ³Ýó ³å³ýÇ áõñ³ïç- íáõãû³ý ½ ³óáõÙÁ, ÇÝãÁ í»ñççýý»ñçë ³ÝÑ³Ý ëïáõãû³ý ³Ýí»ñç í³ñç ³óÇ - ³Ý áõ Ýñ³Ýó Ý»ñùÇÝ Ë³éÝ³ß áãç ÇÝùݳμáõË μ³½ù³å³ïïáõùý, áõ û»õ Ï»ñå³ñÝ áõ½áõù ³½³ïí»É Çñ ï³é³å³ýùçó, μ³ûó Çñ³Ï³ÝáõÙ ÙÇ ³ÛÝ ï»õ³ï³ý áõ ³Ý ³ñ³Ï Ï»ñåáí ÏñÏÝûñÇݳÏáõÙ ³ÛÝ) áã ÙÇ ³ÛÝ å³ñ½³å»ë ÑáõßáõÙ Ýñ³Ýó ÙáÉ» ÇÝ μýáõûãá, ³ÛÉ»õ Ýñ³Ýó ÙÇ ³ëÝ³Ï³Ý ÙݳÉáõ áõý³ïáõ - ÃÛáõÝÁª ³ÝÏ³Ë ³ÛÝ É³ñáõÙÇó, áñá ëå³éýáõù å³ï³éáï»é Ýñ³Ýó: ²Ûë Ï»ñå, ÙÇ»õÝáõÛÝ Ï»ñå³ñÁ Ù»ñ Ùïù»ñÇ Ù»ç ٻ˻Éáí ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá ÇÙ³ó ï³éçë, áñ ¹³ û ñïí³í, û ï³é³åû³é, ñïí³íª Çñ ÇëÏ ï³é³å³ýùçó: Ûáõ Õ³ Ï³Ý μåß ÏÇ Ù»ç γý Ï³Ý Ëá ëáõù ÙÇ ÑÇ í³ý ¹Ç Ù³ ëçý, áí μ³ óç Çñ í»ñ ùçó áõ ñçß áãçýã ãáõ ÝÇ ³ß ˳ñ ÑÇÝ ï³ Éáõ, í»ñù, áñá ½³ñ ¹³ñ í³í Ññ³ß»Ï áñ ¹»ñáí: 8 γñ Í»ë ä³ É³ ë³ý Û³ ÝÁ»õë» Õ» óçï í»ñù áõ ÝÇ, μ³ûó ¹ñ³ íñ³ áñ - ¹»ñ ãï³ý: гٳß˳ñѳÛÇÝ Çñ³ ¹³ñÓáõÃÛáõÝÝ»ñÁ (³é³çÇÝ Ñ»ñÃÇÝ ä³é³ - ë³ýû³ýç ³ñÓ³ ³ÝùÁ ¹ñ³Ýó) ѳíÇïÛ³Ý Ã³ñÙ Ïå³Ñ»Ý ³Û¹ í»ñùá: ²Û¹ ¹»å ùáõù, ³ñ¹ Ûá±ù ³Ûë áñ Í» ñá ³í» ÉÇ ßáõï ëçùå ïáù»ý, ù³ý ³ñ í»ëï: ²ñ¹ - Ûá±ù ϳ ³ÛÝ åç ëç É³í ³ñ í»ëï, áñá ½»ñÍ ëçùå ïáù ÉÇ Ý» Éáõó: ²ñ¹ Ûá±ù ¹ñ³ ɳíÁ ÉÇÝ»Éáõ ÙÇ Ù³ëÁ ³ÛÝ ã, áñ ÇÝùÁ ϳñáÕ Ý»ñϳ۳óÝ»É ³í»ÉÇÝ, áñ ³ÛÝ Ï³ñáÕ í»ñ³ó³ñï»é Çñ óýáñ³ûýáõãûáõý᪠¹³ñÓÝ»Éáí ³ÛÝ Ù³ñ¹Ï³ÛÝáñ»Ý ѳÙá½Çã, ù³ý½ç ѳïáõÏ Ý»ñϳ۳óÝáõÙ å³ãáéá Ç ³Ï³Ý ³ß˳ñÑÇÝ áõõõ - í³í ÙÇ ³ñ Ó³ ³Ýù, ³ñ Ó³ ³Ýù, áñá ÃíáõÙ ³í» ÉÇ Çñ³ ϳÝ, ù³ý ³ß ˳ñÑÝ ÇÝùÁ: ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç ýç áõñ³ïçí ³μëïñ³ÏóÇ ³Ý»ñÁ áõý»ý ѳÙá½ãáõÃÛ³Ý ³Ûë áñ³ïá: ²ß˳ñÑÇ Ñ»ï ¹Ç ³É»ÏïÇÏ³Ï³Ý ÇÝïÇÙáõÃÛ³Ý Ù»çª Ýñ³Ýù Ù»½ ÇÙ³ó»Ý ï³ ÉÇë, áñ ³ß ˳ ñá Ó³ Ëá ÕáõÙ, Ù³ ë³ùμ ³ÛÝ å³ï ³ éáí, áñ ³ÛÝ Ç íç ³ÏÇ ã ½ëå»Éáõ Çñ»Ý áõõõí³í ÇÝùݳÝáñá Ù³Ý ³ÛÝ ëï»õí³ñ³ñ ³ñ - Ó³ ³ÝùÁ, áñáýù É Ñ»Ýó ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç áñí»ñý»ý: ³ñ Ù³ÝáõÃÛáõÝÁ ì³ñ ¹³Ý ²½³ïÛ³ÝÇ 11
Sonia Balassanian: The Art of Brooding By Donald KUSPIT Sonia Balassanian gives us figure after figure, all of them conspicuously prehistoric and uncanny: dark ghosts from some strange zone of inner self-annihilation. The male profile figures, with their erections (some are headless, most have phallic noses, suggestive of the birds beaks of certain Egyptian deities) are in the minority. Other figures show their skeletal roots; they have the totemic intensity of ancestral figures that have been consumed in some obligatory act of piety. Most of these figures are asexual, but some have female indicators, breasts and bulging Willendorfian bellies. The figures are consummately grim and black and holy, and self-contained, like the chrysalis of some new species of human that bears an unwelcome resemblance to known humans, and presages something unexpected while at the same time being a throwback. They are executed with a verve that bypasses by now academic expressionistic spontaneity, through a touch intensified by frottage strategies and a peculiarly purposive delicacy. They are isolated stalactites suspended in a void, anti-representations of the human, more precisely, residues of the human in its descent to oblivion-leavings of the human, as convincing in their morbidity as the momentary image of gritty, sacred suffering captured on Veronica s napkin. In other words, the sense of transience and ambivalence is pervasive, and appropriate for internal objects (for these figures are the inhabitants of Balassanian s spirit, the core constituents of her self). Absolutely instantaneous, permanently momentary, perpetually in process, they emanate a sense of death. Its spirit is ultimately un-representable yet indelible in the most intimate moments of self-awareness, such as these images represent. Balassanian s death-infected, existentialized figures have been regarded as political in purpose (a reflection of her Armenian identity, her Armenian sense of being a victim of repeated genocidal intentions). But this cultural source cannot be all that gives them their look of destiny; women s sense of negative identity and unfortunate destiny also informs them. Balassanian was brought up in Iran, where, as she says, woman was defined as a servant for sexual and generally domestic purposes (a type of non-entity from a Muslim point of view).
15 To be both Armenian and woman is to be made to feel doubly undesirable, second rate, oppressed, unreal. It is to have anonymity forced on one and compounded (to have ones existence degraded, and defiled by a recognition that negates defiled into non-identity). Indeed, Balassanian s figures are de-differentiated, de-individualized, irreal-unrecognizable as true persons. They have only collective identity; personal identity-indeed, personhood as such has been blotted out. Clearly Balassanian has learned the lesson of suffering well; she has been schooled in the best concentration camps. Her terse figures embody society s inhumanness and injustice. Her awareness of the death in life has been formed by a world that does not give her the right to exist in her own terms. The isolation of her figures reflects the ambiguity and insecurity of her existence: her indifferent treatment as an Armenian and woman, making her pursuit of autonomous existence difficult, perhaps unrealizable. The blurred quality of the figures-the hallucinatory quality that suggests the impossibility of their existence-reflects their strange handicap: they give the appearance of not existing-of non-existence. This experience of non-existence-inexistence is the terrible inner fate of an Armenian and woman. She has the sense of being dead in the world s eyes while still alive in her own. The blur communicates an irreducible uneasiness; unexpectedly, it also conveys an uncompromising will to live, but a rejection of the terms-armenian and woman-the world has given one in which to do so. But there are no other terms left for Balassanian. Through the abstractive blue the figure becomes a generalized victim. More particularly, it becomes representative of all victimized women. Balassanian s new figural work is continuous with her repetitive, visual manipulation of her portrait photograph in a series of 1983 images, dedicated to the memory of those women who perished as a result of political turmoil. She uses herself to symbolize disfigured women in general, victimized by events beyond their control -events simultaneously in the world and the self. Certainly the new works continue the mood of her 1982 Franklin Furnace exhibition Black, Black Days But they metaphysicalize, as it were, the painfully physical, abstracting mortal flesh into a fluid form of immortal suffering. The windows and particularly the doors in the exhibition also belong to the mood of hardened negativity-despair which has become a kind of militant position, a stiffened banner-with their earth-encrusted, dark surfaces, and general air of pride and destruction. Balassanian has said that she is interested in their abandoned state, their bleakness; this goes hand in hand with the sense of pastness and loss that informs her images, and that is inseparable from the sense of death. Subliminally, whenever we see something old we are reminded of death, because it bespeaks loss; Balassanian s works are full of age and souvenirs of death; yet they are inconsolable, that is, they convey stoic endurance. Balassanian s art addresses directly what I think, beyond the question of tribal movements and individual achievement, is the pressing issue of contemporary production: how to be sensitive, or, to put this another way, how to get beyond (postmodernist) cleverness yet stop short of (quasi-expressionistic) mawkishness. To put this still another way; how to use sensitivity to style-the language of art-to be sensitive to life. Such sensitivity is the most authentic kind of seriousness today. The real innovation is to find new ways of being sensitive, of conveying the proper emotional weight of events, their intimate impact. The problem is how to convey a sense of adequate response to horrendous external events-a response that accurately acknowledges them without submitting to them: that stands up to them while acknowledging their reality. It is a response that constitutes a durable subject by assimilating a bad enough environment without 14 succumbing to it. The problem of sensitivity haunts all art today, and may be its special responsibility, because there seems precious little sensitivity in the world at l a r g e. Art ought to use its seductive visibility to offer an alternative responsiveness to the more entertaining kind generally hawked in our society. (So much art seems to want to have the shrill, instant-impact voice of entertainment these days-a voice that stifles rather than catalyzes reflection.) In the end, only a fresh invention of sensitivity can give art credibility. The use of blackness, with its sense of depletion, is one obvious mechanism of seriousness. Blackness made urgent has been a staple of modern expressivity since Goya. Balassanian contains ans concentrates it in her abstract figures and figural emblems (the door is a surrogate figure, the windows surrogate eyes). The blackness becomes the liquid in her barometric figures, registering the catastrophic with consummate nuance. Balassanian s sensitivity consists in being able to make figures, permeated by a sense of world-historical catastrophe, show their devastation in an intimate, immediatist format. The point can be sharpened by comparing Balassanian s lyric figures to Kiefer s epic space. Kiefer offers a diffuse, generalized blackness-a universal scene of smoldering ruin-with life-conserving figures (more the vessels and symbols of abstract life that alive in themselves) external to it, Kiefer s broad space does not always convey the simultaneity of death-in life/life-in-death that Balassanian s taut black figures do. His blackness, for all the drama with which it presents itself, is peculiarly inert, and as impervious to life as ashes, whereas Balassanian s black figures are blunt axe-heads still full of cutting life. One reads into her charred beings not only the pain and wailing of mourning, but the anger of healthy outrage. For all their dispiritedness, her figures are vitalized by unspent violence. Kiefer s black scenic space, ironically supported by fake flames of eternal hope, is a wellgroomed fatalism. Here, I think, Balassanian points the way to an important element of the new sensitivity: the necessary abandonment of irony, as an intrusion on -false intervention in-brooding. Irony has become an often bombastic form of sentimentality these postmodernist days. Increasingly, it mocks the melancholy it means to underscore, trivializing all that it touches, and anestheticizing feeling. Postmodernist irony increasingly looks like a joke on itself-a form of timidity in the face of world-historical events and the catastrophic sense of selfhood they initiate. Post-postmodernist sensitivity will use the language of art not to naively make a worldly extra-artistic point, as some all to obviously political are does, but to suggest the link between basic artistic processes and internal primal processes, as Balassanian s figures do. Much postmodernist manipulation unwittingly involves an attempt to escape this link, spurred on by the dismissal of, in Foucault s words, the authority of the creative subject. In fact, the creativity of the subject is a kind of critical response to the codes of language and behavior that shape, dominate and threaten to turn it into an object-to compel it to forget or forego or simply not attend to its feeling of being a subject, however indeterminate yet indisputable and inherent that feeling seems to be. The importance of Balassanian s art-the larger point it makes, beyond the sublimity of individual works and the fine-tuned integrity it conveys as a whole-is that it re-asserts the subjective as a refusal of the atmosphere of indifference in which events tend to occur in the world. (it is this indifferencewhich instills-even indoctrinates-insensitivityto and disrespectfor the feeling of being a subject.) At the same time, herfigures assimilate that objective indifference inthatthey look likecatas t r o p h e s. They internalize the world s indifference by becoming catastrophic in appearance. In other words, creativity is rooted in a refusal of passivity; the involuted animateness of Balassanian s figures, evident in a different way in her doors and windows,
is at once an assimilation and refinement of the idea of passive acceptance of events, and a throwing of the idea back in the world s face by subjectivizing it-indicating that it is an existential choice which does not have to be made. Balassanian s art shows that one may not be able to change the world, but can make a dynamic, creative response to it, calming onets sense of helplessness, if not eliminating it. The repetitive character of Balassanian s figures-the sense of their disfigurement being an endless variation of their anxiousness, a spontaneous multiplication of their innerturmoil, asthough the figure wanted to rid itself of its suffering but could only replicate it interminably and awkwardlysuggests not simply their obsessional character, but their ability to remain integrated despite the tension that threatens to tear them apart. It is as though, by hammering home the same figure, Balassanian lets us know that it is a survivor as well as a sufferer-a survivor of its own suffering. In The Country Doctor Kafka spoke of a patient who had nothing but his wound to bring into the world, a wound beautiful with glowing red worms. Balassanian also seemsto have a beautiful wound, butthere are no worms in it. World events-above all Balassanian s response to them-will keep it forever fresh. Are these works then more symptom than art? Is there any good art that escapes being symptom? Isn t part of its goodness that it can represent more that itself-that it can transcend its fictionality by making it humanly convincing-especially representing a response to the pathological wo rld, and make that response seem more real than the world itself? Balassanian s figural abstractions have this quality of conviction. In dialectical intimacywith the world, they
1999-2004 ìæ ºà ²ðìºêî Video Art
SONIA BALASSANIAN BLACK, BLACK DAYS Eva KHACHATRIAN 20 In Armenia Sonia Balassanian is known as a multi-media artist. During the past four years she presented large-scale projects of theatrical nature. They are "synthetic" works including theater, music, poetry and video art. The first performing piece was "Collapse of Illusions" (2000) where Sonia cooperated with a number of artists, who took part in the project by their socio-political works of varying media. In following multi-media works Sonia places higher emphasis on cooperation and collective work, and such performing works as "Shadows of Dust", "Brooding" and very personal contemporary interpretation of "Anoush" [based on H. Toumanian Armenian classic tragic poem]. In these rather somber works once again we see our regressive society drown in traditional mores. In this year's project Sonia Balassanian appears to the Armenian audience by a less known side of her work; by drawings and video-art made independent of performing/multi-media projects. This is an analysis on video-art section of the project. Speaking about content of Balassanian's videos it is imperative to underline two important and dominating themes: One is the subject of sacrifice, and the other the woman, her role, her status, which is also related to the concept of sacrifice. In her works Balassanian shows sacrifice of animals and women, who are equally condemned and unprotected. A woman sitting in her bed is "sewing" wound of her feet with such a comfort as if she is sewing a dress. This scene is from Sonia Balassanian's "Smothering the Cry of the Womb" (2000) video art. The artist shows a married woman as a convicted victim. The women are condemned. Her pain and tortures are compared with those of the Jesus. Wounds of crucifixion serve as symbols of sacrifice. In this work feelings of helplessness and uncertainty dominate. Simultaneous with visual images we hear voice of the woman. Sonia Balassanian's "Smothering the Cry of the Womb" video is based on her extremely emotional, surrealistic, void of any logic, same-name poem. Emotions of the poem have been transferred to the video. Actually as a result of fusion of the poem and the video imagery, video takes over the task of expressing the emotion, and the poem serves as a background. In general poetry, which is a separate part of Sonia Balassanian's creative self, plays a major role in her paintings/drawings, installations and videos. The theme of sacrifice is present in many of Balassanian's works. The most minimalist presentation of this theme can be seen in her "Skinning the Lamb" (1995) video. By showing the Armenian (and not only Armenian) ritual of animal sacrifice, it seems that the artist relocates it to the sacrificed Armenian people, or the mankind itself. I we study this work in more detail, we will notice that instead of showing the act of the sacrifice, that is the act of slaying the animal, but the acts following it, the process of "cleaning". We see the close-up of a man's hand, armed with a knife, carving through the white layers of the fat under the skin of the lamb. There are no traces of blood. In spite of presence of knife (as a tool of violence) the element of brutality and violence is mostly absent. This is more a scene of repentance of sins, cleansing, and emancipation. There is no hidden meaning here. Sacrifice has been related to the repentance of sins, which has been expressed in this near documentary style work. Generally, together with the "theatrical" character of Sonia Balassanian's videos, there are works, which represent direct real life episodes ("Sentenced to Death", 2000), the story of a mother talking about her son killed in war, or the work on September 11 incident "United" (2003). From this г۳ëï³ÝáõÙ êáýû³ ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá ѳÛïÝÇ Çμñ»õ ³ñí»ëï³»ï` ³ß- ˳ïáÕ ÙáõÉïÇ Ù» ¹Ç ³ á Ç Ù»ç: ì»ñççý ãáñë ï³ñçý»ñç ÁÝóóùáõÙ ê. ä³ - ɳë³ÝÛ³ÝÁ Ý»ñϳ۳óÝáõÙ ñ Ù³ëßï³μ³ÛÇÝ, ³í»ÉÇ ß³ï óï»ñ³Ï³Ý μýáõûã ÏñáÕ Ý³Ë³ Í»ñ: ñ³ýù ëçý㻽³ûçý ³ß˳ï³ÝùÝ»ñ»Ý` Çñ»Ýó Ù»ç Ý»ñ³éáÕ Ã³ïñáÝ,»ñ³ÅßïáõÃÛáõÝ, åá»½ç ³, íç ¹»á ³ñí»ëï: ²é³çÇÝ å»ñ - ýáñù³ýë³ûçý μýáõûã ÏñáÕ Ý³Ë³ ÇÍÁ` ä³ïñ³ýùý»ñç öéáõ½áõù - Ý ñ (2000), áñï»õ êáýû³ý ѳٳ áñí³ïó»ó ÙÇ ß³ñù ³ñí»ëï³»ïÝ»ñÇ Ñ»ï, áñáýù Ý»ñϳ۳ó³Ý Çñ»Ýó ³ß˳ï³ÝùÝ»ñáí, å»ñýáñù³ýëý»ñáí` ù³õ³ - ù³ ϳÝ- ëá óç ³ ɳ Ï³Ý μá í³ý ¹³ Ïáõ ÃÛ³Ùμ: г çáñ¹ ÙáõÉ ïç Ù» ¹Ç ³ ³ß ˳ - ï³ýùý»ñáõù êáýû³ý ³í»ÉÇ ß»ßï³¹ñáõ٠ѳٳ áñí³ïóáõãû³ý, ÏáÉ»ÏïÇí ³ß˳ï»Éáõ Ñ³Ý ³Ù³ÝùÁ,»õ ÍÝíáõÙ»Ý ³ÛÝåÇëÇ μ»ù³ï³ý³óáõùý»ñ, ÇÝã - åçëçù»ý öáßáõ êïí»ñý»ñá, ÊáϳÝùÁ»õ ÛáõñáíÇ Ù»Ïݳμ³Ýí³Í ų- ٳݳϳÏÇó ²ÝáõßÁ : ²Ûë ³é³í»É³å»ë Ùé³ÛÉ ëï»õí³ áñíáõãûáõýý»ñáõù»õë Ù»Ï ³Ý ³Ù ï»ëýáõù»ýù Ù»ñ Ñ»ï³ ¹»Ù ѳë³ñ³ÏáõÃÛáõÝÁ ³í³Ý ¹³Ï³Ý å³ïï»ñ³óáõùý»ñç Ù»ç ˻չí³Í: ²Ûë ï³ñí³ Ý³Ë³ ÍáõÙ êáýû³ ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá Ý»ñϳ۳ÝáõÙ Ñ³Û Ñ³Ý ¹Ç - ë³ï»ëçý áã ³Û¹ù³Ý ѳÛïÝÇ ÏáÕÙáí` ÝϳñÝ»ñáí»õ ÙáõÉïÇ Ù» ¹Ç ³Ý»ñÇó ³é³ÝÓÇÝ ³ñí³Í íç ¹»á ³ß˳ï³ÝùÝ»ñáí: ²Ûë í»ñéáõí³ï³ýá í»ñ³μ»ñáõù òáõó³ñ³ý ¹»ëÇ ìç ¹»á ³ñí»ëïÇ μ³åýç: Êáë»Éáí ê. ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç íç ¹»áÝ»ñÇ μáí³ý ¹³ÏáõÃÛ³Ý Ù³ëÇÝ, ³ÝÑñ³ - Å»ßï»ñÏáõ ϳñ»õáñ»õ»ñ³ÏßéáÕ Ã»Ù³Ý»ñ Áݹ Í»É. Ù»ÏÁ ½áѳμ»ñáõÃÛ³Ý Ã» ٳݻõ ÙÛáõ ëá` ÏÇÝÝ, Ýñ³ ¹» ñá, ϳñ ³ íç ³ ÏÁ, áñ ݳ»õ ½áõ ³Ïó íáõù ½áѳμ»ñáõÃÛ³Ý Ã»Ù³ïÇϳÛÇ Ñ»ï: ê. ³É³ë³ÝÛ³ÝÁ Çñ ³ß˳ï³ÝùÝ»ñáõÙ óáõûó ï³éçë Ï»Ý ¹³ÝÇÝ»ñÇ ½áѳμ»ñáõÃÛáõÝÁ»õ ϳݳÝó, áñáýù ÝáõÛÝå»ë ¹³ï³å³ñïí³Í»Ý»õ ÝáõÛÝù³Ý ³Ýå³ßïå³Ý: ÎÇÝÁ ³ÝÏáÕÝáõÝ Ýëï³Í ϳñáõÙ Çñ áïù»ñç í»ñù»ñá. ³ÛÝåÇëÇ Ñ³Ý ëïáõ - ÃÛ³Ùμ ϳñ Í»ë ßáñ ϳ ñáõù: ²Ûë ï» ë³ ñ³ ÝÁ êáý Û³ ä³ É³ ë³ý Û³ ÝÇ "Smothering the Cry of the Womb" ( Ê»Õ ¹»É ²ñ ³Ý ¹Ç ÇãÁ, 2000) íç ¹» á ³ß - ˳ï³ÝùÇó : лÕÇݳÏÁ óáõûó ï³éçë ³Ùáõëݳó³Í ÏÝáçÁ Çμñ»õ ½áÑÇ áñ ¹³ï³å³ñïí³Í : Üñ³ ó³íá, ã³ñã³ñ³ýùý»ñá ѳٻٳïíáõÙ»Ý øñçëïáëç ã³ñã³ñ³ýùý» - ñç Ñ»ï: ¼áѳμ»ñáõÃÛ³Ý ËáñÑñ ¹³ÝÇß»Ý Í³é³Ûáõ٠˳ã»ÉáõÃÛáõÝÇó Ùݳó³Í áïù»ñç í»ñù»ñá: ²Ý»É³Ý»ÉÇáõÃÛ³Ý, ³ÝáñáßáõÃÛ³Ý ½ ³óáÕáõÃÛáõÝÝ»- ñ³ïßéáõù ³Ûë ³ß˳ï³ÝùáõÙ: ìç½áõ ³É å³ïï»ñçý ½áõ ³Ñ»é ÉëíáõÙ ÏÝáç Ó³ÛÝÁ: êáýû³ ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç "Smothering the Cry of the Womb" íç ¹»á ³ß˳ï³ÝùÇ ëï»õíù³ýá ÑÇÙù ͳé³Û»É í»ñçý ³ëïÇ ³ÝÇ ½ ³óÙáõÝù³ÛÇÝ, ëûáõññ» ³ÉÇëï³Ï³Ý, ½áõñÏ áñ»õ ïñ³ù³μ³ýáõãûáõýçó, ÝáõÛÝ ³Ýí³ÝáõÙÁ ÏñáÕ, Çñ ÙÇ μ³ý³ëï»õíáõãûáõýá: ³Ý³ëï»ÕÍáõÃÛ³ÝÁ μýáñáß ½ ³óÙáõÝù³ÛÝáõÃÛáõÝÁ ѳÕáñ¹í»É íç ¹»á ³ß - ˳ï³ÝùÇÝ, ³í»ÉÇ ßáõï åá»½ç ³ÛÇ»õ íç½áõ ³É ß³ñùÇ ÙÇ ³ÓáõÉÙ³Ý ³ñ¹ÛáõÝ - ùáõù íç½áõ ³É å³ïï»ñý í»ñóýáõù Çñ íñ³ ½ ³óÙáõÝù³ÛÝáõÃÛ³Ý ÉÇáíÇÝ ³ñ - ï³ñ³ûïáõùá, ÇëÏ åá»½ç ³Ý ýáý ͳé³ÛáõÙ: ÀݹѳÝñ³å»ë åá»½ç ³Ý, áñ ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç ëï»õí³ áñíáõãû³ý ³é³ÝÓÇÝ ÙÇ Ù³ë ϳ½ÙáõÙ, Ù»Í ï»õ ñ³íáõù ݳ»õ Ýñ³ ÝϳñÝ»ñáõÙ, ÇÝëï³ÉÛ³óÇ ³Ý»ñáõÙ, íç ¹»á ³ß˳ï³ÝùÝ» - ñáõù: ¼áѳμ»ñáõÃÛ³Ý Ã»Ù³Ý ³éϳ ê. ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç μ³½ù³ãçí ³ß˳ï³Ýù - Ý» ñáõù: ñ³ ³Ù» ݳ ÙÇ ÝÇ Ù³É Ï»ñ åáí å³ï Ï» ñáõ ÙÁ ϳ ñáõ»ýù ï»ë Ý»É "Skinning the Lamb" ( ³é³Ý سßÏáõÙ,1995) íç ¹»áÛáõÙ: Ü»ñϳ۳óÝ»Éáí Ï»Ý ¹³ÝÇÝ»ñÇÝ ½áѳμ»ñ»Éáõ ѳÛÏ³Ï³Ý (»õ áã ÙÇ ³ÛÝ Ñ³Û - 21 êàüæ² ä²è²ê²üú²ü êºô êºô úðºð ºõ³ ʲâ²îðÚ²Ü ä³ïñ³ýùý»ñç Éáõ½áõÙ Collapse of Illusions öáßáõ ëïí»ñý»ñ Shadows of Dust ÊáϳÝù Brooding ²Ýáõß Anoush
23 22 point of view we can separate works, which are closer to documentary genre, and are more films than videos. These two works have one common denominator: tragedy. The first one ("Sentenced to Death") is the tragedy of a woman who has lost her son in war. In the other the artist shows the tragedy of an entire nation after the incidents of September 11. Incidentally, we do not see weeping people, only gray, damaged buildings. We see New York in a completely different appearance, where there is no extravagance, beauty, might. Only skeletons left behind from civilization. Returning to the Armenian traditions, we appear in a different environment. In "Brooding" video (2002) we see elderly women sifting wool and quietly murmuring songs. In comparison with "Skinning the Lamb" this, as it is suggested by its title, is a milder work. One of the scenes of women's daily mundane is depicted here, which somehow has meditative character during which a woman mind may drift in other directions. However, together with quiet murmurings there are certain emphases, for example distinct sounds of whipping switches, or sharply changing editing of frames of unfortunate and miserable looking portraits of women, which superimpose mind-provoking motives upon this traditional ritual. Incidentally, Sonia Balassanian is one of the unique artists, who, while reflecting upon national, and traditional themes, is able to stay away from its traditional visualization and observe it from contemporary persons point of view. Balassanian presents picture of unfortunate and miserable woman, which she attaches to the contemporary woman as well. In one of her videos ("Untitled", 1999) we see different women whose common denominator is unsuccessful and failed relations with men, who express their feelings by hate-filled exclamations, by crying and sobbing, by hysteric laughter or by outright confession. Woman is again put in the state of the victim. She is defenseless. The only thing she can do is to express her emotions. But this is no solution, since there is no struggle, but the artist brings up respect towards women, and forces us to think about women's rights one more time. "Haghpat-2" (2000) contains unique images of a woman and a man. In the beginning a woman appears, or rather is born under mystic sounds. Later the man emerges from one of the holes on the floor. Bare bodies with their careful crawls on the floor resemble ravenous beasts who look like have come out for prey. The wild animal ambiance is amplified by sounds of toads, birds and other animals. These male and female figures which looks like are searching something (maybe ϳϳÝ) ³í³Ý ¹áõÛÃÁ` Ñ»ÕÇݳÏÁ ϳñÍ»ë ï»õ³ áëáõù ³ÛÝ Ñ³Û ÅáÕáíñ ¹Ç ϳ٠áõõ Õ³ ÏÇ Ù³ñ ¹áõ íñ³, áñ ½á ѳ μ»ñ í³í : ºÃ» ³í» ÉÇ Ù³Ý ñ³ïñ ÏÇï ½Ý - Ý»Ýù ³Ûë áñ ÍÁ, ÏÝ Ï³ ï»ýù, áñ Ýϳ ñ³ ñ í³í áã û Ñ»Ýó ½á ѳ μ» ñáõ ÃÛ³Ý, ³ÛëÇÝùÝ Ï»Ý ¹³ÝáõÝ ÙáñûÉáõ ³ÏïÁ, ³ÛÉ ¹ñ³Ý ѳçáñ ¹áÕ áñíáõáõãûáõýá, áñ Ù³ù ñ³í»ñ ÍáõÙÝ : Ø»Ýù ï»ë ÝáõÙ»Ýù Ëáß áñ åé³ Ýáí Ýϳ ñ³ Ñ³Ý í³í ïõ³ - Ù³ñ ¹áõ Ó»éù` ¹³Ý³Ïáí ½ÇÝí³Í, Ï»Ý ¹³Ýáõ ϳßíÇ ï³ï ïýíáõ ëåçï³ï ë³é»ñç ß»ñïÁ Ïïñ»ÉÇë: ²ñÛ³Ý áñ»õ Ñ»ïù ãï³. ¹³Å³ÝáõÃÛ³Ý, μéýáõãû³ý ɻٻÝïÁ Ù»Í Ñ³ßíáí μ³ - ó³ï³ûáõù, ãý³û³í ¹³Ý³ÏÇ, Çμñ»õ μéýáõãû³ý áñíçùç ³éϳÛáõÃÛ³ÝÁ, ë³ ³í»ÉÇ ßáõï Ù»Õù»ñÇ ù³íáõãû³ý Ñ»ï ϳåí³Í ÙÇ ï»ë³ñ³ý ` Ù³ùñí»Éáõ, ³½³ïí»Éáõ: ²Ûëï»Õ áñ»õ óùÝí³Í ÇÙ³ëï ãï³. ½áѳμ»ñáõÃÛáõÝÁ ϳåí³Í Ù»Õù»ñÇ ù³íáõãû³ý Ñ»ï, ÇÝãÁ»õ ³ñï³Ñ³Ûïí»É ³Ûë ³ëï³ ñ³ï³ý ųÝñÇÝ Ùáï Ýϳñ³Ñ³Ýí³Í íç ¹»áÛáõÙ: ÀݹѳÝñ³å»ë êáýû³ ä³é³ë³ý - Û³ÝÇ íç ¹»áÝ»ñÇÝ Ñ³ïáõÏ Ã³ï»ñ³Ï³ÝáõÃÛ³Ý Ñ»ï Ù»Ïï»Õ Ï³Ý ³ß˳ - ï³ýùý»ñ, áñáýù Çñ»ÝóÇó Ý»ñϳ۳óÝáõÙ»Ý áõõõ³ïç ÏÛ³ÝùÇó í»ñóí³í ¹ñ - í³ Ý»ñ ("Sentenced to Death" سÑí³Ý ³ï³å³ñïí³Í, 2000)` Ùáñ å³ïùáõãûáõýá å³ï»ñ³½ùáõù ½áÑí³Í áñ ¹áõ Ù³ëÇÝ Ï³Ù ë»åï»ùμ»ñç11-ç ¹»åù»ñÇ Ñ»ï ϳåí³Í íç ¹»á ³ß˳ï³ÝùÁ` "United" ( ØÇ ³óÛ³É, 2003): ²Ûë ³éáõÙáí ϳñáÕ»Ýù ³é³ÝÓݳóÝ»É ³ëï³ ñ³ï³ý ųÝñÇÝ Ùáï ³ß - ˳ ï³ýù Ý» ñá, áñáýù ³í» ÉÇ ßáõï ýçé Ù»ñ»Ý, ù³ý íç ¹» á Ý»ñ: ²Ûë»ñ Ïáõ ëï»õ - ͳ áñíáõãûáõýý»ñá ÙÇ ³íáñí³Í»Ý Ù»Ï Ëݹñáí` áõμ»ñ áõãû³ùμ: ²é³çÇ - ÝáõÙ` "Sentenced to Death" ÙÇ ÏÝáç áõ μ»ñ áõ ÃÛáõÝ, áñ Ïáñó ñ»é Çñ áñ ¹áõÝ å³ï»ñ³½ùç ųٳݳÏ, ÙÛáõëáõÙ` Ñ»ÕÇݳÏÁ óáõûó ï³éçë ÙÇ ³ÙμáÕç ³½ Ç áõμ»ñ áõãûáõýá ë»åï»ùμ»ñ 11-Ç ¹»åù»ñÇó Ñ»ïá: Æ ¹»å, Ù»Ýù ã»ýù ï»ëýáõù áõμáõ Ù³ñ¹Ï³Ýó, ÙÇ ³ÛÝ ÙáËñ³ áõûý, íý³ëí³í ß»Ýù»ñ: Ø»Ýù ï»ëýáõù»ýù ÜÛáõ-ÚáñùÁ μáéáñáíçý ÙÇ Ýáñ Ï»ñå³ñ³ÝùÇ Ù»ç, áñï»õ ãï³ ßé³ÛÉáõÃÛáõÝ,»Õ»óÏáõÃÛáõÝ, ѽáñáõÃÛáõÝ, ÙÇ ³ÛÝ óçíçéç½³óç ³ÛÇó Ùݳó³Í ÏÙ³ËùÝ»ñ: ì»ñ³ ¹³éݳÉáí ѳÛÏ³Ï³Ý ³í³Ý ¹áõÛÃÝ»ñÇÝ Ù»Ï ³ÛÉ ÙÇç³í³ÛñáõÙ»Ýù ѳÛïÝíáõÙ: "Brooding" ( ÊáϳÝù, 2002) íç ¹»á ³ß˳ï³ÝùáõÙ ï»ëýáõù»ýù μáõñã ã ËáÕ»õ ÙÇ ³Å³Ù³Ý³Ï ùãç ï³ï»ñ áõ ٻͳѳë³Ï ϳݳÝó: "Skinning the Lamb" ëï»õí³ áñíáõãû³ý Ñ»ï ѳٻٳï³Í ë³ ³í»ÉÇ Ù»ÕÙ ï»ë³ñ³ý ` ѳٳå³ï³ëË³Ý ³Ýí³ÝÙ³ÝÁ: ä³ïï»ñí³í ϳݳÝó Ï»Ýó³Õ³ÛÇÝ ï»ë³ñ³ýý»ñçó Ù»ÏÁ, áñ ÇÝã-áñ ï»õ Ù» ¹Çï³óÇáÝ μýáõûã ÏñáõÙ»õ áñç ÁÝóóùáõÙ ÏÇÝÁ ϳñáÕ ï³ñí»é Ùïù»ñáí: ê³ï³ûý Ñ³Ý Çëï ÙñÙÝ - ç³ýùç Ñ»ï Ù»Ïï»Õ áñáß ³ÏÇ ß»ßï³¹ñáõÙÝ»ñ ϳÝ, ûñçý³ï, ³Ûï»ñÇ Ñ³ñ - í³íçó ͳ áõ ÏïñáõÏ Ó³ÛÝ»ñÁ, ϳݳÝó ¹Åμ³Ëï åáñïñ»ïý»ñá, áñáýù Ëݹñ³Ñ³ñáõÛó ÙáïÇí»Ý ÙïóÝáõÙ ³Ûë ³í³Ý ¹³Ï³Ý ÍÇë³Ï³ï³ñáõÃÛ³Ý Ù»ç: Æ ¹»å êáýû³ ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá ³ÛÝ»½³ÏÇ ³ñí»ëï³»ïÝ»ñÇó, áñ ³Ý¹ñ³ - ¹³éݳÉáí ³½ ³ÛÇÝ, ³í³Ý ¹³Ï³Ý ûٳïÇϳÛÇÝ, ϳñáÕ³ÝáõÙ ½»ñÍ ÙÝ³É ¹ñ³ ³í³Ý ¹³Ï³Ý å³ïï»ñáõùçó»õ ¹Çï³ñÏ»É ³ÛÝ Å³Ù³Ý³Ï³ÏÇó Ù³ñ ¹áõ ѳ۳óùáí: Üϳñ³ ñ»éáí ÏÝáçÁ, ê. ä³é³ë³ýû³ýá Ý»ñϳ۳óÝáõÙ ¹Åμ³Ëï ÏÝáç Ï»ñ - å³ñ³ýùá: ²Ûë ¹Åμ³Ëï ÉÇÝ»Éáõ ³Ï³ï³ ÇñÁ í»ñ³ ñíáõù ݳ»õ ųٳ - ݳ ϳ ÏÇó ÏÝá çá: ìç ¹» á ³ß Ë³ ï³ýù Ý» ñçó Ù» ÏáõÙ ("Untitled"/ ²Ý í»ñ ݳ - Çñ, 1999) ï»ëýáõù»ýù ï³ñμ»ñ ϳݳÝó, áñáýù ÙÇ ³íáñíáõÙ»Ý ïõ³ù³ñ¹ - ϳÝó Ñ»ï ãëï³óí³í, ãñ³çáõí³í ѳñ³μ»ñáõÃÛáõÝÝ»ñÇ ßáõñç, ÇÝãÝ ³ñï³ - ѳÛïíáõÙ ³ï»ÉáõÃÛ³Ùμ Éóí³Í Ëáëù»ñÇ, ɳóÇ, ÑÇëï»ñÇÏ ÍÇͳÕÇ ÙÇçáóáí ϳ٠áõõõ³ïç Ëáëïáí³ÝáõÃÛ³Ý: ÎñÏÇÝ ÏÇÝÁ ѳÛïÝíáõÙ ½áÑÇ Ï³ñ ³íÇ ³ÏáõÙ. ݳ ³Ýå³ßïå³Ý, ÙÇ ³Ï
25 each other) do not meet or notice one another. Another characterization of malefemale relations. Together with videos I would like to discuss a composite installation work of Sonia Balassanian, which unique in the sense of its sharply emphasized socio-political content. In reality it is a series of three installations, which seem to be stages of development of a conceptual project. It is directly related to the past (Persia) where the artist was born and has lived until the [Islamic] revolution. Women are again in the main role. In the first installation of this triptych there are seven black-robed seated frozen figures surrounded by spotlights. Their faces or figures are covered, but their clothes hint that they are women. In the next room there is another more powerful vision of same women. From holes on the wall-mounted black boxes one after another appear peering eyes. Woman is a mold, and only her sad eyes are alive. In the other installation "The Other Side-2" (1993) the seated figures of the previous work are standing up, and in the third one: "Shadows of My Sisters" (1993) which is the culmination of this triptych, we see the black more recognizable human figures in various positions, seated, laying down, etc., and scattered all over the exhibition space. It seems like that frozen and dead same-shape figures of the previous installations in this one have somewhat come to life. Inn this work by introducing variety, the artist emphasizes the aspect of individuality. This sociopolitical work is direct criticism addressed to the fundamentalist regime emerged in Persia after the revolution, where the primary victims are women. Generally Sonia Balassanians works have tragic character, which are expressed both by thematic as well as aesthetic means. Her videos for example, are mostly shot in black and white or in dark colors. Residing in the United States, born in Iran, and being an Armenian, the artist represents a mixture of these three cultures, to which is added her individual character: sensitive, emotional, incapable of being indifferent, tending diversity. This seems to be the reason for dealing in various media. It seems that a single medium does not suffice. And all of this happens intuitively. Often we are have difficulty in explaining or finding logic for her work. We just have to try to feel like the artist does. μ³ ÝÁ, áñ ϳ ñáõ ³Ý»É` ½ ³ó ÙáõÝù Ý»ñ ³ñ ï³ Ñ³Û ï»éý : ê³ Ï³ÛÝ ¹³ áñ»õ ÉáõÍáõÙ ãç ï³éçë, ù³ýç áñ ãï³ å³ûù³ñ, ë³ï³ûý Ñ»ÕÇݳÏÁ ѳٳÏñ³Ýù ³é³ ç³ó ÝáõÙ Ù»½ Ùáï ³Û¹ ϳ ݳÝó Ýϳï Ù³μ»õ ëïç åáõù»õë Ù»Ï ³Ý ³Ù ÑÇß»É Ï³Ý³Ýó Çñ³íáõÝùÝ»ñÇ Ù³ëÇÝ: "Haghbat 2" ( гÕå³ï-2, 2000) ÏÝáç»õ ïõ³ Ù³ñ ¹áõ Ûáõ ñ³ ѳ ïáõï å³ï - Ï»ñ Ý»ñ»Ý: êï½ μçó ѳÛïÝ íáõù ÏÇ ÝÁ, ³í» ÉÇ ßáõï ÍÝáõݹ ³é ÝáõÙ ß³ Ù³ ݳ - Ï³Ý Ó³ÛÝ»ñÇ Ý»ñùá: ²ÛÝáõÑ»ï»õ áë»ñçó, ³Ýóù»ñÇó Ù»ÏÇó ¹áõñë ³ÉÇë ïõ³ù³ñ ¹Á: Ø»ñÏ Ù³ñÙÇÝÝ»ñÁ Çñ»Ýó ãáñ»ùã³ã, ½ áõûß ù³ûéí³íùáí ÇÝã-áñ Çß ³ ïçã Ï»Ý ¹³ ÝÇ Ý» ñç»ý ÝÙ³Ý íáõù, áñáýù ϳñ Í»ë áñ ëç»ý ¹áõñë»Ï»É: Î»Ý - ¹³Ý³Ï³Ý ³ß˳ñÑÇ ÙÃÝáÉáñïÁ áõå ݳóÝáõÙ»Ý Ý³»õ áñï»ñç»õ áõñçß Ï»Ý - ¹³ÝÇÝ»ñÇ, ÃéãáõÝÝ»ñÇ Ó³ÛÝ»ñÁ: ÎÝáç»õ ïõ³ù³ñ ¹áõ ³Ûë Ï»ñå³ñ³ÝùÝ»ñÁ, áñ ϳñ Í»ë ÇÝã -áñ μ³ý»ý Ýï ñáõù, ÙÇ áõ ó» Çñ³ñ, ³Û¹ å»ë É ã»ý Ñ³Ý ¹Ç åáõù ϳ٠ã»ý ÝϳïáõÙ Çñ³ñ. ÏÝáç»õ ïõ³ù³ñ ¹áõ ѳñ³μ»ñáõÃÛáõÝÝ»ñÇ»õë Ù»Ï Ýϳñ³ Çñ: ìç ¹»á ³ß˳ï³ÝùÝ»ñÇ Ñ»ï Ù»Ïï»Õ Ïó³ÝϳݳÛÇ Ýᯐ ê. ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç ÏáÙåá½ÇóÇáÝ ÇÝëï³ÉÛ³óÇ ³Ý»ñÇó Ù»ÏÁ, áñý ³é³ÝÓݳѳïáõÏ Çñ ëáõñ Áݹ Í í³í ëá óç ³É- ù³ Õ³ ù³ Ï³Ý μá í³ý ¹³ Ïáõ ÃÛ³Ùμ: Æñ³ ϳ ÝáõÙ Ëáë ùá ÝáõÙ»ñ»ù ÇÝëï³ÉÛ³óÇ ³Ý»ñÇ Ù³ëÇÝ, áñáýù ϳñÍ»ë Ù»Ï åñáó»ëáõ ³É ݳ - ˳ ÍÇ ½³ñ ³óÙ³Ý ï³åý»ñý»ý: ²ÛÝ ³ÝÙÇç³Ï³Ýáñ»Ý ϳåí³Í ³Ýó - Û³ÉÇ, ä³ñëï³ëï³ýç Ñ»ï, áñï»õ ÍÝí»É»õ ³åñ»É Ñ»ÕÇݳÏÁ ÙÇÝã»õ ѻճ - áëáõãûáõýá: É˳íáñ ¹»ñ»ñáõÙ ÏñÏÇÝ Ï³Ý³Ûù»Ý: ²Ûë ïñçåïçëç ³é³ - ççý ÇÝëï³ÉÛ³óÇáÝ ÏáÙåá½ÇóÇ ³ÛáõÙ ë»õ ßáñ»ñáí Ýëï³Í, ù³ñ³ó³í ýç áõñ- Ý»ñ»Ý` ßñ ç³ å³ï í³í ÉáõÛ ë» ñáí: Üñ³Ýó ¹»Ù ùá ϳ٠ϳ éáõó í³í ùá ãç»ñ»õáõù, ë³ Ï³ÛÝ ½»ëï Ý» ñá Ñáõß áõù»ý Ù»½, áñ ¹ñ³Ýù ϳ ݳÛù»Ý: ÎáÕ ùç ë»ý Û³ ÏáõÙ ³Û¹ ÝáõÛÝ Ï³ ݳÝó Ù»Ï ³ÛÉ, ³í» ÉÇ ³½ ¹» óçï Ýϳ ñ³ Çñ : ä³ ïçý ³Ùñ»óí³Í ë»õ ³ñÏÕÝ»ñÇó ³ãù»Ýù ï»ëýáõù, Ù»ÏÁ ³ÛÝáõÑ»ï»õ ÙÛáõëÁ: ÎÇÝÁ` ÙÇ Ï³Õ³å³ñ»õ ÙÇ ³ÛÝ ïëñáõãûáõý ³ñï³Ñ³ÛïáÕ ³ãù»ñÝ»Ý Ï»Ý ¹³ÝÇ: ØÛáõë ÏáÙåá½ÇóÇ ³ÛáõÙ "The other side " 2 " ( ØÛáõë ÎáÕ ÙÁ-2, 1993) ݳ Ëáñ - ¹áõÙ Ýë ï³í ýç áõñ Ý» ñá ³ñ ¹»Ý Ï³Ý Ý³Í»Ý,»õ»ñ ñáñ ¹áõÙ` "Shadow of my Sisters" ( øáõûñ»ñçë êïí»ñý»ñá, 1993), áñ ÏáõÉ ÙÇ Ý³ óç ³Ý ³Ûë ïñçå ïç - ËÇ, ï»ëýáõù»ýù ë»õ ýç áõñý»ñç ³í»ÉÇ Ù³ñ¹Ï³ÛÇÝ ï³ñμ»ñ³ïá, ÇÝãÝ ³ñ - ï³ñ³ûïíáõù ï³ñμ»ñ åá½³ý»ñç ÙÇçáóáí` å³éï³í, Ýëï³Í»õ ï³ñ³íùáí Ù»Ï óñí³í: γñÍ»ë ݳËÏÇÝáõÙ ù³ñ³ó³í, ³ÝÏ»Ý ¹³Ý, ÙÇ ³ÝÙ³Ý ýç - áõñý»ñá ³Ûëï»Õ ÇÝã-áñ ã³ áí Ï»Ý ¹³Ý³ÝáõÙ»Ý: лÕÇݳÏÁ` ³Ûë ÏáÙåá½Ç - óç ³ÛÇ Ù»ç μ³½ù³½³ýáõãûáõý ÙïóÝ»Éáí, ß»ßï³¹ñáõÙ ³Ýѳï³Ï³ÝáõÃÛ³Ý å³ñá: ²Ûë ù³õ³ù³ï³ý-ëáóç ³É³Ï³Ý ëï»õí³ áñíáõãûáõýá` áõõçõ ùýý³ - ¹³ïáõÃÛáõÝ ` ѳëó» ³ ñí³í ä³ñëï³ëï³ýáõù ѻճ áëáõãûáõýçó Ñ»ïá áû³ó³í ýáõý ¹³Ù»Ýï³É é»åçùçý, áñç Ñ»ï»õ³Ýùáí μáéáñçó ß³ï ïáõåáõù»ý ϳ ݳÛù: ÀݹѳÝáõñ ³éÙ³Ùμ êáýû³ ä³é³ë³ýû³ýç áñí»ñá áõμ»ñ ³Ï³Ý μýáõûã»ý ÏñáõÙ, ÇÝãÇÝ Ýå³ëïáõ٠û ûٳïÇϳݻõ û ëã»ïçï³ï³ý ÙÇçáóÝ»ñÁ` Ù»Í Ù³ë³Ùμ Ùé³ÛÉ áõûý»ñç Ù»ç Ýϳñ³Ñ³Ýí³Í íç ¹»áÝ»ñÁ ϳÙ` ë»õ áõ ëåç - ï³ï: ²åñ»Éáí Ý³Ñ³Ý Ý»ñáõÙ, μ³ûó ÍÝí³Í ä³ñëï³ëï³ýáõù»õ ÉÇÝ»Éáí ѳÛ, ³ñí»ëï³»ïÁ Ý»ñϳ۳óÝáõÙ ³Û¹»ñ»ù Ùß³ÏáõÛÃÝ»ñÇ ÙÇ ³Ë³éÝáõ - ÙÁ, áñçý ³í»É³ÝáõÙ ³ñí»ëï³»ïÇ ÇÝùÝáõÃÛáõÝÁ` Ñáõ½³Ï³Ý, ÙáóÇáݳÉ, ³Ýï³ñμ»ñ ÉÇÝ»Éáõ ³ÝϳñáÕáõÃÛ³Ùμ, μ³½ù³½³ýáõãû³ýá Ó ïáõ: ñ³ýáí å³ûù³ý³íáñí³í ݳ»õ ó³ýïáõãûáõýá ³ñí»ëïÇ ï³ñμ»ñ ųÝñ»ñáõÙ ³ß˳ - ï» Éáõ, ϳñ Í»ë Ù»Ï É» ½áõÝ μ³ í³ Ï³Ý ã : ºí ³Ûë ³Ù» ÝÁ ï» ÕÇ áõ Ý» ÝáõÙ μá Éá - ñáíçý ÇÝïáõÇïÇí ³Ý³å³ñÑáí: г ³Ë ¹Åí³ñ³ÝáõÙ»Ýù ÇÝã-áñ μ³ó³ï - ñáõãûáõý ï³é ϳ٠ÇÝã-áñ ïñ³ù³μ³ýáõãûáõý ïý»é Ýñ³ áñí»ñáõù, ÙÝáõÙ ÙÇ ³ÛÝ ½ ³É, ³ÛÝ å»ë, ÇÝã å»ë Ñ» ÕÇ Ý³ÏÝ ½ áõù: