Achot Achot

born 1961 in Yerevan, lives and works in Paris

www.afactum.com

Christopher Atamian: What is the title of your piece at the Venice Biennale?

Achot Achot: All my works are called AFACTUM, a title I‘ve been giving to all my works since 1990. It’s an invented word that means non-fact, an action outside material facts. 

CA: Can you describe it and the theory, ideas or subject behind it? 

AA: Creating is a way to harmonize my existence. I am mostly concerned by self-realization, the difference between body and soul, the subtle forms of existence, the translation of my ecstasies and my moral sufferings. Art is another way to communicate with God, a way to pray. 

CA: How does it fit in with your previous work, if at all?

AA: It’s a logical result of all my spiritual and philosophical researches. I often find the same plastic or artistic links in them. 

CA: How does it fit in with the themes of the Krossings Pavilion that you will be part of? 

AA: I prefer to answer this question later.

CA: Where were you born/did you grow up? 

AA: I was born in Armenia in 1961 and I left the country in 1993 to settle down for good in France, where I currently live. 

CA: Please comment on how you see the Diaspora-Armenia relation-you are free to discuss any aspect or in general terms-and the relationship or interplay between artists in the Armenian diaspora and the ROA? 

AA: I spoke about it in detail in the catalog of the Armenian-Estonian exhibition in Tallin this year called ThisPlACEd. 

CA: How healthy is the art world in both these cases and what can be done to ameliorate things (education, museums, visibility, curatorial training etc?”) 

AA: Worldwide, art is gravely sick: I made a performance piece on this subject in Colombia in 2005. Today, contemporary art has a unidentified disease that is difficult for many to identify, but for me it’s quite clear: it has been completely invented for propaganda and control. Contemporary by comparison to whom and what? When did contemporary art begin and when will it finish? The medium does not matter: painting, installation, video, photo, etc. Contemporary art is a spirit which controls the mentality of the artists so that they stay subservient to (governmental)

politics and in its service. With this cliché one imposes a way of thinking and deprives us of our moral freedom! To get out from this situation, one must work towards a real education based on the disinterested transmission of knowledge, free of any judgment by the art market. 

CA: Difficult question: why hasn’t there been a “great” Armenian artist since Gorky?

AA: On the one hand, Gorky is an excellent artist and on the other hand he was a part of a movement which was promoted a lot. His relation with de Kooning, Breton and the others played an important role. For now, there is no Armenian artist as famous as Gorky, not because we are running out of great artists, but because of the “karma” of current Armenian artists. This will certainly change one day and we will then have another famous Armenian artists. 

CA: can you discuss one or two previous works that you’d like to bring to the attention of readers, please. Please feel free to explain your work or theoretical concerns as you see fit. 

AA: My entire work is concerned with a broad understanding of human existence. Art is not a profession for me: it is the way to understand and to explain the world. Often, I create shocking work in order to awaken my spectators, to jolt them to attention. I am also interested in medicine, philosophy and religion—all things which I also express in my works. 

CA: You write in the ThisPlACEd catalogue that "you grew up in the USSR but didn't realize it" and that "you gave bribes at the market but didn't realize it." Can you explain what you mean? 

AA: The Apostle Paul said that we were not sinners because there was no law; but now we are, because the law is established. 

CA: My piece for the Venice Biennale centers around Nigoghos Sarafian and the questions of language and exile. Can you comment on any aspect that interests you surrounding these issues? How language structures us or how we are structured by language particularly in diasporic existence? Sarafian writes: “Our homeland has escaped us, we have been thrown out to sea. This is perhaps the best way to learn how to swim.” Are we Michael Phelps or a bunch of toddlers splashing around in a wading pool? 

AA: If we eliminate our language outside Armenia we also eliminate the Diaspora. Western vs Eastern Armenian? I am convinced that the official language of every Armenian in the world has to be the official language of Armenia. We can speak all the dialects we want between us, but what is official has to be in the language of the official country. 

CA: Thank you.