Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide
Grammy award winner Marcus Miller
Multiple Grammy award winning American jazz composer and bass guitarist Marcus Miller will perform in Armenia‘s capital city of Yerevan on October 26.
Miller’s concert is scheduled as part of the #YerevanJazzFest2017, co-organized annually by the Armenian Jazz Association and Mezzo Production.
This year the festival is dedicated to the Avedis Zildjian Company, which is an American cymbal manufacturer founded in the 17th century.
Winners of the Aurora Creative Contest were named on May 1, 2017. Arpi Ghazaryan, a 7-year-old student at the Henrik Igityan Yerevan National Art Center was awarded the first prize in the Aurora Creative Contest. Sofya Yakovleva, a 13-year-old student of Saratov Children’s Art Studio, Russia, took the second place in the Contest, while Anna Kostanyan, an 11-year-old student at Gasparyan Art Studio, came the third.
As per the professional jury’s decision, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative granted special awards to two participants – Jasmina Hovhannisyan (11 years old, Nerkin Getashen village, Armenia) and Rudolf Avanesyan (14 years old, Yerevan, Armenia).
The winners not only took home prizes, but also received an invitation to attend the 2017 Aurora Prize Ceremony to be held on May 28 in Yerevan, Armenia.
“The number of children participating in the Contest was quite impressive. The Contest gave them an opportunity to understand the value of their works. They learned they were doing something important and they were encouraged. Submitted artworks were evaluated based on their compliance to the theme of the Contest as well as the quality of the work itself. All works were excellent but we still had to choose the best ones. The children who took part in the Contest are all winners”, stated artist Tigran Matulyan, Aurora Creative Contest Jury Member.
The awarding ceremony of the winners of the Aurora Creative Contest took place in Yerevan Hovhannes Tumanyan Museum during the opening of the exhibition featuring the best 63 works submitted for the Contest. The exhibition will be open through late May until the end of the Aurora Prize weekend.
Children aged from 7 to 14 took part in the Aurora Creative Contest announced in January 2017. More than thousand pieces of artwork were submitted to the Contest from Armenia, Artsakh, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Turkey, USA, Canada, Venezuela and France.
Roy Khatchadourian, an Armenian student from the University of Liverpool, won the Dissertation Medal at this year’s RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards for his thesis titled A Juxtaposition of Ideological Expressions: Evaluating the Urban Transformations of Yerevan (Armenia) During 1915-2015, De Zeen reports.
The RIBA President’s Medals are prestigious architecture awards granted to graduating students of architecture worldwide.
Tutored by Iain Jackson, Khatchadourian focuses on the role of architecture in creating a sense of identity following political oppression in the Armenian city of Yerevan.
“What determines our sense of belonging to a territory? How can an identity be maintained, or created? Yerevan – the crown jewel and capital city of Armenia – has been grappling with these issues in a quest of rediscovering its national pride, after years of political oppression, even genocide,” explained Khatchadourian.
“This dissertation explores the role of architecture in this endeavour through Alexander Tamanyan’s work, an overlooked master whose contribution forms today’s city branding…”
Besides Khatchadourian, six student winners were also announced at a ceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London on December 6.
Thomas Chee from The Chinese University of Hong Kong received the biggest accolade – the Silver Medal – for his project Crafts Vault: The V&A Academy of Artisanal Crafts.
The Bronze Medal, on the other hand, went to Allan Chong from Newcastle University for Formless for his project An Alternative Typology for Preservation.
Armenian GM Vladimir Hakobyan won the Rapid Chess Tournament dedicated to the national day of United Arab Emirates. The tournament featured 180 chess players from 25 countries, including 5 grand masters and 3 international masters taking part in the tournament.
Vladimir Hakobyan earned 8 points out of 9 available. Viktor Moskalenko of Spain came the second with 8 points, yet bypassed by Hakobyan on additional indicators.
Armenian pavilion curator Adelina Cuberyan von Furstenberg accepts the award
At an awards ceremony held to coincide with the Venice Biennale’s opening, the judges praised Armenia’s entry in the national participation category, declaring it the winner out of a total 89 entries.
“In a year that witnesses a significant milestone for the Armenian people, this pavilion marks the resilience of trans-cultural confluence and exchanges,” the international jury said, referring to the exhibit which was based around the Armenian diaspora. It comes days after Armenians marked 100 years since mass killings by Ottoman Turkish forces, which modern Turkey has refused to recognize as genocide.
The Golden Lion for best artist in the international exhibition went to American-born Adrian Piper. The Berlin-based conceptual artist created an installation of hospitality desks inviting participants to commit to one of three rules, including “I will always be too expensive to buy.”
“Her presentations invite us to engage in a life-long performance of personal responsibility,” the jury said.
Special awards
A Silver Lion to acknowledge a promising young artist went to South Korean Im Heung-Soon for a video work about working conditions for women across Asia.
The board of the Biennale awarded a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement to El Anatsui from Ghana, as well as a special Golden Lion for service to the arts to Suzanne Ghez of the USA.
The 56th edition of the contemporary art showcase is under the curatorship of Okwui Enwezor. Its official theme is “All the world’s futures.”
The Venice Art Biennale is due to run until late November, encompassing the Venice International Film Festival in September.
se/gsw (dpa, AFP, AP)