From Ararat to Angeltown

A bilingual English/Armenian artist’s book, resulting from research commenced during my two-month artist’s residency at the Armenian Centre for Contemporary and Experimental Art (ACCEA), Armenia.

My objective was to investigate and interpret the climate in contemporary Armenian literature, especially in relation to the significant changes occurring during 12+ years of post-Soviet sovereign state-hood. I also wanted to develop my exploration of the artist’s book, beyond individual authors, as a medium for literary interpretation into the wider topic of national literatures.

From interviews with over 20 contemporary writers, it emerged that experimental writing is not being published there today – in an economically and culturally imposed variant of the censorship of the Soviet era. Furthermore, scholarship in the field of contemporary Armenian letters is almost non-existent, both in Armenia and the west. My central concern thus became the creation of work that would call attention to this issue. The result was this publication of new writing in the unusual format of an oversized book with life size photographs of the authors, intended to call attention to the reading process by bringing reader and author together in scale, literally placing them face to face.

The book contains new works by 6 Armenian authors and an essay by me on the issues surrounding publication (see running text along top margin of the book). I digitally recorded my meetings with the writers, and transcriptions of our discussions form another component of the text.

Emily Artinian

Subject Area: Artists' books and text-based art

Current Research

1. Participating in http://www.underconstructionhome.net/, a visual dialogue amongst Diasporan Armenian artists spread around the globe, exploring issues of identity and transnationality. This culminates in a group show - the Alternative Armenian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2007.
2. Participation in the collaborative project REGENERATOR, organised by the Centre for Fine Print Research, Bristol. 60 participating artists are 'regenerating' books that have been withdrawn from the University of the West of England Library.
3. Founded http://www.thestreamingbook.com/, video interviews with artists working with the book form - the first, and as yet only, research project dedicated to giving book artists a platform online to clearly display and talk through their work in this time based, 3D medium, for which still imagery provides inadequate documentation.
4.Current studio practice is focussed on a new series of works investigating the neurobiology of visualising narrative.

• http://www.emilyartinian.com/
• http://www.accea.info/