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Research Across Yerevan, Tbilisi and Paris

armeniaart.com_UseRApril 30, 20262 min read

A journey across archives, studios, and diasporic networks

AMCA has recently completed an intensive field research trip across Yerevan, Tbilisi, and Paris — a key step in our ongoing work to document, contextualise, and position Armenian modern and contemporary art within a global framework.

By engaging with archives, institutions, and artists, we are reconstructing overlooked histories and mapping new connections that shape Armenian art’s place in the global narrative.

Fragmented Histories

Armenian art histories remain dispersed across geographies, archives, and personal
collections, limiting their visibility within global narratives.

Limited Documentation

Key materials — including artworks, archives, and exhibition histories — remain insufficiently recorded or digitised.

Dispersed Diaspora

Armenian artists have long operated across borders, yet their contributions are rarely understood as part of a connected international context.

Yerevan

Revisiting Origins

  • Archival research in national collections
  • Studio visits and artist conversations
  • Meetings with institutions and experts
  • Documenting underrepresented material

In Yerevan, the research focused on national collections, institutional archives, and direct engagement with artists and curators, highlighting both the richness of local production and the need for broader international visibility.

Tbilisi

Crossing Histories

  • Exploring the legacy of the Tiflis School
  • Tracing Armenian–Georgian artistic exchange
  • Discovering overlooked collaborations
  • Mapping regional networks

In Tbilisi, the research examined cross-border artistic exchange and the shared cultural environment often referred to as the Tiflis School, revealing how artistic ideas developed through proximity rather than national boundaries.

Paris

Diaspora Connections

  • Researching diaspora archives
  • Reconstructing avant-garde links
  • Tracing exhibition and publication histories
  • Engaging with communities and institutions

In Paris, the research focused on the Armenian diaspora and its role within European modernism, tracing exhibition histories and institutional networks that situate Armenian artists within a wider international context.

RESEARCH IN ACTION

Interviews

Documentation

Permisions

Degitization

Routledge

Scholarly book on Armenian art

AMCA Conference Contribution

Sharing findings and building dialogue

Digital Archive Development

Preserving and sharing resources

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Gallery photo 5
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Gallery photo 7
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Gallery photo 10
Paris
Paris
Yerevan 2- better
Yerevan 2- better

Funded by

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation – Armenian Communities / Հայկական Բաժանմունք

The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)

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The presentation explores contemporary approaches to the digital documentation and accessibility of Armenian cultural heritage through the work of the Armenian Cultural Heritage Institute. It will address how heritage preservation, digital technologies, and 3D scanning initiatives can support contemporary artistic creation, research, and new forms of cultural engagement, including projects such as the Armenian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2025.

DDD Kunst House is an independent virtual and physical shared space that aims to provide a platform for local and international artists and curators to connect and communicate in a pure and free environment. The concept was founded in 2020 by curator Tereza Davtyan during the lockdown in Yerevan, as a response to the need for an online space where artists and curators could work together outside the limitations of traditional art institutions, foundations, museums, and galleries. :DDD Kunst House initiates from messenger chats to studio visits while sharing an open space for proper communication and collaboration. It selects the most relevant projects and may showcase them spontaneously, without focusing on a specific target audience, as it is sure that the audience will, one way or another, find their way to :DDD Kunst House. Founded in 2020 during the global COVID-19 pandemic, :DDD Kunst House is an independent, curator-led platform dedicated to fostering artistic exchange, care, and experimentation across borders. Initially operating entirely online, the initiative built a strong and diverse community through digital exhibitions, public talks, and collaborative projects. In 2022, the platform transitioned into a physical location within the former Scientific Research Institute of Spa Treatment and Physical Medicine in Yerevan, a unique and unconventional space that continues to serve as a site for exhibitions, residencies, performances, workshops, and informal public gatherings. At the core of its programming is the Sleepover Artist Residency, a distinctive, process-oriented residency model that offers artists time and space to rest, reflect, and create without the pressure of fixed outcomes. Since its launch (2024–2025), the residency has welcomed over 20 international artists from countries including Germany, France, Taiwan, Switzerland, Croatia, the United States, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Georgia, Argentina/Chile, Italy, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. This ongoing international engagement has significantly enriched the local cultural context and fostered meaningful, long-term connections between artists, curators, and researchers. :DDD Kunst House continues to operate as a flexible and responsive platform that supports contemporary artistic practices while maintaining a strong commitment to inclusivity, hospitality, and critical dialogue. website: www.dddkunsthouse.com IG: @ddd_kunsthouse

This presentation introduces the mission and current activities of the Ervand Kochar Museum, situating its work within the broader context of preserving and promoting modern Armenian art. It reflects on the legacy of Ervand Kochar, highlighting key aspects of his artistic contribution, while also outlining the museum’s recent achievements and its ongoing efforts to reposition Kochar within an international art historical framework.

This presentation examines the question of national identity among artists of the Tbilisi school of painting of both Georgian and Armenian origin. It focuses on professional artists Mose Toidze and Grigol Sharbabchyan, as well as self-taught painters Niko Pirosmani and Karapet Grigoryants.

A comparative analysis of their works reveals, on the one hand, shared themes and motifs, and on the other, differences in aesthetic and artistic perception. These differences, among artists living within the same geographical and social environment, demonstrate the resilience of long-standing national traditions in both cultures.

Abstract: Charles Sirató’s Dimensionist Manifesto (1936) created a network linking the international avant-garde, including Ervand Kotchar and António Pedro. Grounded in the theory of relativity and an interpretation of the fourth dimension, it extended this idea across literature, painting, sculpture, and their transgressions. These arts were expanded upon by adding a new dimension to the traditional ones. While Kotchar’s “painting in space” and Pedro’s dimensional poems viewed dimensional increase based on concepts of simultaneity and duration, Sirató emphasized a scientifically informed, material objectification as the basis for new perception. Together, these perspectives define a key transformation of the art object in the avant-garde in the 1930s.


Leon (Serge) Tutundjian: A Moment in Time: The Paris avant garde in transition amid a multiplicity of theories and practices.

Between 1925 and 1930, Paris functioned as a cauldron of ideas and experimental practices across film, poetry, sculpture, painting, and philosophy. At the centre of these developments were urgent questions of space and metaphysics-above all, the relationship between objects and the role of the viewer in the realisation of a work of art.

Within this field, Leon (Serge) Tutundjian emerges as a key figure. His work destabilises form, collapsing the boundary between object and perception and requiring the viewer’s active participation. In doing so, he anticipates the logic of Tachism-not as a style, but as a mode of thought in which the artwork is realised through perception.

Alongside Kochar and Kakabadze, Tutundjian exhibited with the Parisian avant- garde, contributing to a shift from form to experience. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 curtailed this moment of experimentation, forcing artists and markets into retreat. Tutundjian left Parris soon after, his trajectory abruptly interrupted.

This brief period-following the cultural intensity of Weimar Berlin-proved decisive in shaping modernism. Though now largely forgotten, Tutundjian was not peripheral, but integral to this redefinition of the artwork as a site of unstable meaning and viewer realisation.

This presentation explores how the unique institutional model of the ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe supports media art across its entire lifecycle: From ideation and production through exhibition to preservation and restoration. Central to this approach is empowering artists through the support infrastructure and expertise of its people, integrating cutting-edge tools into an ecosystem that bridges artistic production, maintenance, and long-term conservation of
media art works.

What happens when a museum cannot honestly say what a work is, who made it, or whether what you are seeing matches what was first shown? This talk argues that digital instability is not a technical problem awaiting a solution — it is the underlying condition of cultural work today. Moving through three interlocking registers — technical, cognitive, and authorial — it proposes framing as care as a curatorial practice adequate to the present: one that renders uncertainty legible rather than resolving it, and that holds institutions accountable for the systems they host, commission, and call art.

This presentation explores how and why the ArtNexus project integrates international expertise with local governance to foster a resilient and democratic cultural sector in Armenia. By examining our multi-stakeholder approach to policy development and institutional support, we highlight how collaborative program models can bridge the gap between global standards and local artistic needs while maintaining respect for cultural differences.

This theme looks at cross-border initiatives, artist collectives, and collaborative projects that connect Georgian and Armenian artists and cultural practitioners. In reaction to common histories of empire, conflict, migration, and underfunded cultural infrastructures, it emphasises the practical, ethical, and political aspects of cooperation. It explores how such partnerships negotiate national narratives and conflict legacies while addressing networked practices, such as co-productions, artist-run spaces, residencies, exhibitions and digital platforms.