Silvina Der-Meguerditchian

born 1967 in Buenos Aires, lives and works in Berlin

www.silvina-der-meguerditchian.de

Christopher Atamian: Can you describe the work that you will be showing at the Venice Biennale this year? Silvina der Meguerditchian: I will be showing three larger formats in my Semantic Fields series. They are mixed media works on wool and paper. 

CA: What is the theory behind the piece(s), if any? 

SdM: In Semantic Fields I explore the space between the image and the written word. Sometimes I like to create the illusion that the wool is going across walls or buildings. In this series I work with paper. Paper - the primary support of the written word - is punctured by the materiality of wool or sewing thread. The words “we”, “love”, “place” are deconstructed in a thicket of fibers. This “woolly encoding” with its soft, porous surface, speaks to the osmotic properties of language and the permeable limits between ideas and their signifiers. 

CA: How does your piece fit in with the themes of the group or of the Krossings Pavilion that you are coordinating and will be part of? What means for you the title of the presentation “voulu / obligé”? 

SdM: Well it seems to me that the concepts of diaspora and transnations are very important both to the exhibit and to our work at Under_Construction. The notion of a “transnation” is a concept that has been discussed for the last 15 to 20 years and is not yet well-defined…But from the pragmatic side, the difference is that for me a diaspora is a temporary state in which one is waiting to go back “home” when the situation (economic, political or whatever) gets better, while the idea of a transnation accepts that there is a place in-between. That both a mother land and a diaspora will continue to exist, in our case, both the Republic Armenia and the Diaspora build the transnation. The title came from a conversation with Achot Achot when we were discussing the focus for a new exhibition of underconstruction. And in the discussion we asked several times “what is it that brings us together?.” What is behind this common cultural inheritance, or what choices does this inheritance give us? Is this inheritance a choice, or we have no choice? Can we create a micro cosmos where we do behave differently as in the societies that we criticize/ or are unhappy with? I think that there must be place for contradictions and we have the right to enunciate them. Why should I shut up because I feel and think contradictory ideas? May be in the tension between two opposite or distant points (national identity/ cultural identity) we can experience a bit of truth. Maybe in the tension between voulu and obligé we can experience our Armenianness. As Derrida says in his last interview with J, Birnbaum “I don’t see why I would renounce a contradiction because one or the other journalist doesn’t understand me. To renounce an idea, only because it contradicts another would mean to deny myself.” 

CA: How and when did you become part of Under_Construction? 

SdM: I founded the group in 2005. 

CA: Where were you born and where do you currently reside? 

SdM: I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and I currently reside in Berlin. 

CA: Please comment on how you see the Diaspora-Armenia relationship-please discuss any aspect or in general terms-and the relationship or interplay between artists in the Armenian diaspora and the ROA? Is the art scene healthy in either location? 

SdM: At Under_Construction we're trying to create something that will last and that enriches "at the same time as" the art landscape in the ROA. It means that we are thinking of enlarging the landscape that maps our identities rather than making it smaller. Regarding the relationship between the artist from the Diaspora and the ROA, I had good individual interactions, but in general I didn’t have the impression when I was there that the artists were very interested in me or in interacting with me. During the residency in ACCEA in 2004 I got the feeling that I was being tolerated but that my presence wasn’t desired. For example last year in a conversation at the Madenataran with an artist who is active on the ROA scene, I was treated very badly. This artist tried to belittle my need or desire for dialogue. In a way he suggested that I want to exploit the artists by using/instrumentalizing them, he felt that the “diasporans” have nothing to give culturally and wanted to profit from them. Also he told me that they don’t need our help to build networks and be present in shows outside Armenia, because they are in the international scene, so… Of course I agree with him about the fact that we can’t come together only because we are Armenians, that would be idiotic…but I think that because of our common, very diverse Armenian links, as artists belonging to a not yet visible cultural space, facing conservatism and a lot of other issues, our dialogue could be fruitful. It’s really terrible to find so much arrogance in people such as him. I think that as artists, intellectuals, scholars, writers, etc. we can give a good example. Somebody has to begin. Competition is a good thing, but in our case, being dispersed and integrated/desintegrated in our host countries, I think that we have to join efforts and try to exchange, first of all “know-how,” to respect the efforts of others and work at building a landscape. Every attempt whose goal is to place one specific project ahead of another or “instead” of other projects or individual egos is like killing a part of ourselves. Of course, we have to remain critical, but all these good projects that are alive, such as your own (Chris Atamian’s) Nor Alik or Neery Melkonian’s Columbia University conference, or the San Francisco Film Festival, or our own underconstruction and others have to be connected. If the Armenian communities cannot function as places were this happens, then we have to
take the initiative and make it happen ourselves. I can imagine that there are enough benefactors that would be happy to know about our existence. I think our projects are strong enough to survive outside the diaspora and communities and have recognition in the outside world, and through the impact of our worktogether we can motivate some perhaps doubtful benefactors to join us and support this culture of diversity and generosity. I know it is difficult. In this respect, my diaspora project at the last, 52nd Venice Bienniale was frustrating, because the political level was fighting against this generous concept of “Armenian”, and the financial aspect was very difficult. But one big foundation in the Netherlands made it possible for us to continue. Concerning the artscene in the diaspora, when I was growing up in the Armenian community in Buenos Aires, this element was completely absent: there were no artists that I wanted to emulate. I think that the Armenian communities around the world are obsessed with the idea of preserving, preserving, preserving at all costs. What is lacking in the Armenian diaspora is the understanding that art isn't a hobby, and that for there to be artists who can spend time creating truly professional art - and not coffee-table art that only people within the community see - you have to create professionals and you have to believe in them for them and their art to exist. Finally, there also exists a mentality which says that one must send all one's money to Armenia, thinking that this will be one's salvation. They are forgetting that the diaspora is not 90 years old (i.e., it didn't begin in 1915 with the Armenian Genocide), but rather many centuries old. It's also an extremely rich culture, but it's a culture that must be cultivated as well. That includes, for example, beautiful illuminated manuscripts that were produced in times of peace. Those works of art were produced in the diaspora! The first Armenian newspaper was printed in the diaspora, in Madras. Which means that diasporan culture is extremely rich, but it has to be modernized and brought up to date because we can't continue to operate along paradigms that are hundreds of years old - it's impossible. If we continue this way, then the diaspora will simply die. 

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

SdM: I don’t know what you mean by “great,” you mean perhaps on that is recognized in the transnational scene? I don’t have an answer to this question. I suppose that to have internationally well-known artists you need countries or interested groups behind them that for one reason or another support or push the artists. And Armenian artists have nobody who wants to push them or who see an economic or political interest in that. I think that in the ROA, they had a kind of support system and that produced some great painters…

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 about this? The importance or place of language? 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? 

SdM: Language is also one of my main issues/passions. I also work as a translator and subtitler, so I understand your interest. I learned Armenian in school. When I was a little child, I use to live two and a half hours by bus from the Armenian school, so until the 4th grade I went to a normal Argentinean school. When I was ten, my desire to be part of the “Armenian world” where the rest of my family was and my desire to learn Armenian was so big that my sister and I woke up at 5 AM every day and spent two hours commuting each way to this Argentinian/Armenian school. Because my classmates were, of course, already more advanced, I started in the “masnavor tasaran,” (a special class for complete beginners). In one year I learned enough Armenian to jump four classes! So I can say that the relationship that I had very early with the Armenian language came from my own “desire”. Later on the Armenian school system; the lack of people able to recognize and encourage my desire, as well as the conservative context of the Armenian community let this desire die of starvation…I’m very sorry about that, and I’m very angry when Achot or Archi try to correct my Armenian, sometimes I don’t know if what I’m saying is wrong or if they want to convert me to their Eastern Armenian…And I don’t agree with Archi, when he complains about the different ways to say this and that in Armenian. Or how to pronounce a “p” or a “b.” I think that diversity is a wonderful thing and I’m very sad about the fact that Western Armenian is dying. I would love to be motivated to learn through contemporary books or literature…Can you suggest something? Regarding languages, I think we are definitely Michael Phelps, regarding solidarity and building something together the Armenians are less effective. We are trying to fill this gap with underconstruction. I worked for a long time with the theme of memory and it so happened that in 2004 I went to Armenia with the conscious goal of continuing to learn about myself and my identity. I was terribly disappointed: what I was looking for didn't exist in Armenia. The world that our grandparents came from is in the Middle East and Turkey, not present-day Armenia. On top of this, you have to add the fact that in the past 90 years, diaspora-Armenians and those living in Armenia have had very different experiences, so that in the end our desire to find the Armenian who is missing in us in the Republic of Armenia cannot be satisfied. Hayastantsis lived in Armenia for the past 90 years: they were born there, so they ask different questions. Those Armenians lived in a real geography, while ours was imaginary, with everything that entails. They are living in a post-Soviet country, and they have other worries. And so I said to myself, "I will never find what I'm looking for in Armenia, so I will have to create it myself." That's why I started the platform called underconstructionhome.net, so that artists - Armenians and non-Armenians - can communicate on a daily basis.