Natural Resources, 2023

Description:

Thinking of a bibliography as an environment that informs, contextualizes, and shapes research, I wanted to create a more comprehensive one for the research conducted by AGBU on Armenia’s creative and cultural communities. This bibliography includes the 29 works cited in the report, and integrates elements from Armenia’s natural, urban, and political environments, acknowledging their equal impact on shaping the researchers’ perspectives. Events like the ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Artsakh, the large influx of Russian refugees resulting from the war in Ukraine, and the COVID-19 pandemic are all significant events that took place in Armenia during the time of research and are represented here through tangible objects. This installation was included in the Beyond Data exhibition that I co curated with anna Gargarian, at the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art.

Caption: A cross section of a tree branch with a bullet hole from the 2020 44-Day War in Artsakh. Insrcibed to Shoghakat by her husband. Artsakh.

Caption: A dandelion uprooted from a sidewalk in kentron, Yerevan.

Caption: Shotgun shells purchased from the historic Vernissage market, Yerevan.

Caption: The History of Armenia, written by my grandfather Vahan C. Vahan, and published by Ararat Publishing Company in Boston, 1936

Camera Roll: A large chunk of tuf found by the old clock factory. Tuf is the local rock that much of the architecture in the country is built with, Yerevan. A small log covered in moss and mushrooms, Dilijan.

Object index:

  • A sheet of bark shed by a tree (Dilijan)

  • A tree branch with a bullet hole shot through it from the Artsakh 44-day war (Artsakh)

  • 4 shotgun shells (Vernissage, Yerevan)

  • A ball of bee propolis (Gyumri)

  • 3 empty soggy cigarette packs (Yerevan streets)

  • A cup of Armenian coffee (AGBU office, Yerevan)

  • A chunk of obsidian (from the countryside)

  • A box of blue surgical face masks

  • A budding tree branch (Yerevan)

  • A copy of my grandfather’s book, The History of Armenia

  • An international outlet adapter

  • 29 research reports on the creative and cultural industries in and around Armenia and Europe

  • A tuft of uprooted grass (Gyumri)

  • Two dandelions uprooted from a sidewalk in kentron (Yerevan)

  • A small tree branch (Dilijan)

  • A small log covered in moss and mushrooms (Dilijan)

  • A cross section of the ground underneath the street in kentron (Yerevan)

  • A large chunk of tuf found by the old clock factory. Tuf is the local rock that much of the architecture in the country is built with (Yerevan)

  • A small bright orange piece of tuf from my walk to NPAK (Yerevan)

  • A small tree uprooted from behind the old clock factory and replanted in a blue cloth shopping bag (Yerevan)

  • 2 pieces of decorative sidewalk collected during street renovation project (Gyumri)

  • 3 chunks of asphalt collected during street renovation project (Gyumri)

Caption: A chunk of asphalt collected during a street renovation project, Gyumri.

Caption: A box of blue surgical face masks from the AGBU office, Yerevan.

Caption: A ball of bee propolis, Gyumri.

Camera roll: A chunk of obsidian found with others in the countryside. A cup of Armenian coffee made at the AGBU office, Yerevan. Three packs of soggy cigarette cases found on the street, Yerevan.

Caption: A budding tree branch, Yerevan.

Caption: A cross section of the ground underneath the street in kentron, Yerevan.

Camera roll: Cross section of a treebranch with a bullethole from the 44-Day Artsakh War, Artsakh. A budding tree branch, Yerevan. A sheet of bark, Dilijan.