THE THEORY OF
"FROM SEA TO SEA ARMENIA"
(working title)

 

Contemporary Art Centre of Giumri, Armenia

 

August 2006
The Fifth International Biennial of Conceptual Art

 

Curator:
Arpine Tokmajyan, Marlyne Sahakyan

 

Concept:
The greatest dream of Armenians is the rebirth of Greater Armenia.
   
This is one of the Armenian nation's phenomena that gave a new meaning to each Armenian. This provides a proof that Armenia was a country with a sea, more by people's belief than by actual fact.
   
After the division of Greater Armenia, a piece of this truth remained ingrained with each Armenian and passing from generation to generation became the only truth of that family about their nation. And so, the wholeness of the truth is not recreated. As a result, there are exhausting sequences of day dreams, which can't be forgotten for the sake of justice, while we haven't learnt to deal with them. These are unfulfilled dreams; we just need to be aligned with them. We can't copy or replace them, since even for imitation one has to give a real answer. We should either be reserved in our dreams or ascend to them. Only an ingenious answer would work.
   
As a result, in the empty basin of the Armenian Dream, the Navy, which can't confront any wave, is waiting for water.

A two parts project:
   
Performance: “ The Boat of the Armenian Dream.” 
Installation: “Sea replacing object”.

Performance: “The Boat of the Armenian Dream”
A - Concept:
How Historical Armenia (30 000 km), during centuries, lost gradually the greatest part of it's territory. However, the dream of a sovereign state is always alive in all Armenian heart. After the 1915 Genocide, when everything seamed hopeless, the Armenian people gathered its last strength and created a state on a small piece of land - The Armenian Republic.
This piece of land doesn't correspond to the Armenian Dream, but who knows where this tiny boat could lead?
B - Process of construction:
About 300 pages of a weekly, titled “My Rights”, glued to each other, ending up in a plain surface of 8 x 5 meters.
The performer opens this big sheet in front of the audience and starts folding it methodically. In the process of painful and hard work, the surface diminishes.
Finally, when everything seams hopeless, the performer opens the folding that turns into a boat.
Later, the performer dresses up in his handmaid Royal gears.
He sits in his boat and forces it to navigate without water.

Installation: “Sea replacing object”
Description:
Hanging on one corner of the wall: 14 photos describing the performance.
In front of the photos on the floor, there is an aquarium with a golden fish swimming.
A smaller aquarium is turned over in a way that it doesn't allow it to drawn.
Under the big aquarium, a map of Greater Armenia is spread.
Around the bigger aquarium are floating small boats and people's silhouettes.
Over the turned small aquarium, is placed a small boat and a plastic king.
On top of the whole installation is set a crown, and just behind, on the other corner of the wall is hanging the king's dress.
The whole installation is fenced with thorned wires.

 

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