Art Without Borders

Project Director’s Statement The dream of paradise cannot be realized as long as there is no honest, direct and uninhibited interaction between people, free of artificial machinations. Man is the key to peaceful and harmonious coexistence.

Culture, in its manifestations of all forms, reflects the notion of national identity, while the individual, with its world of dreams and desires is pushed to the side and remains unrecognized. To counteract this , it is important to reconsider and reevaluate our entire historical heritage and bring the individual to the foreground.

With the collapse of the Empire and emergence of new geopolitical dynamics, self-absorbed and conceited views and tendencies threaten to cause estrangement between societies, where the rights of the people are threatened to become objects of political machinations.

Today, while we are at the threshold of creating civil societies, the role of the individual has to acquire new significance. This includes respect for the basic tenets of freedom, and recognition of the individual citizen as the focal point of national, social and inter-personal relations.

Human civilization, as we know and cherish it is more endangered than ever. World shuddering tragedies, national and ethnic conflicts, organized violence undermining every human norm, speak louder than anything about the need for an open dialogue.

Large and small conflicts of tragic scales emerge all over the world. These seemingly unending man-made catastrophes can only be resolved by open communication and face-to-face contact. While respecting cultural diversity and uniqueness, cultural, social and political barriers have to be brought down and we should be able to “touch” one-another again.

In one exhibition it is virtually impossible to render and represent all of the manifestations and intricate tenets of contemporary art. However, on the background of present-day historical, social and political landscape, it is important to start bringing together as full range of contemporary artistic expressions as possible.

It is essential to have means and venues--the present group exhibition is one such opportunity--that will allow artists to communicate freely with one another and the outside world, in an environment conducive to letting emotions out and ideas burst uninhibited.

Art and the artist would become useless and unproductive, if limited and artificially separated by geographical and political boundaries and national and territorial conflicts. Artists strive for the exact opposite.

The meeting of the people of Caucasus and its extended region through contemporary art is much delayed, but it is still a great opportunity for “returning home”; returning to the same differences that are geographically and politically unavoidable. Returning to free and open discourse, where even the most difficult and controversial issues could be brought up and faced with. This is a great chance for contemporary art and artists to rediscover one another and to take part in building an atmosphere of understanding, tolerance and love. Our cultures have grown on the branches of the same civilization. There should not be any other choice.

Artists do have the ability of partaking in the process of creating a peaceful environment by submerging in and discussing the actual, often sensitive issues that arise between societies.

Edward Balassanian, Ph.D.

Pressetext

Art Without Borders
Exhibition of Contemporary Art of Armenia, Georgia, Iran and Turkey
Kurator: Sonia Balassanian

mit Sona Abgarian, Sonia Balassanian, Sharis Garabedian D´Ambrosi, David Kareyan, Grigor Khachatrian, Tigran Khachatrian, Irina Abjandadze, Koka Ramishvili, Nino Sekhniashvili, Sophia Tabatadze, Nadia Tsulukidze, Shirin Aliabadi, Shahab Fotouhi, Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Farhad Moshiri, Nicky Nojoumi, Neda Razavipour, Solmaz Shahbazi, Halil Altindere, Hatice Güleryüz, Berat Isik, Gülsün Karamustafa, Ahmet Ogut, Sener Özmen, Hale Tenger