- A single channel experimental video
Anna Grigorian (Canada)
Modern Art Museum, Yerevan
August 6, 2021
Anna Grigorian’s single channel experimental video ‘Room’ is reflecting on the issues of oppression, violence, and femicide. While the factual data used in the video is directly taken from the realities of Armenia, gender-based oppression and violence reaching physical retaliation and murder are ongoing and widespread, making the work relevant across countries.
Despite the violent topic, the work excludes any direct violent imagery. The monotonous, calm recital of the murder cases is accompanied by a series of choreographed performative actions staged by the artist, creating an allegorical space where the discourses on gender, boundaries of the body, and patriarchal order are deliberated upon through artistic expression.
Having moved from Armenia to Canada in 2012, Anna Grigorian has completed a BFA in Studio Arts (disciplines of Intermedia Arts and Photography) at Concordia University in 2018. Although Griforian’s art practice started to form in Montreal, developing art projects in Armenia is among the artist’s primary goals. While in Montreal, she has been active as an artist, volunteer, and organizer. The main inspiration of Grigorian’s work comes from facing and challenging accepted socio-economic realities, unspoken rules on individual well-being, fixed structures that influence and often dictate our life. Constructing absurd, surreal situations gives her possibility to present the accepted norms and dominant structures of societies from a different angle.
The presentation of the project within the ACSL international programs is made possible thanks to the support of the Canada Council for the Arts
The video of the project is available here.
Armenian text here.
