From September 24th 2015 to January 31th 2016

Photoreport below text, bottom of this page.     

In the context of the 2015 commemorations of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, the Boghossian Foundation presents an exhibition of two major artists of the Armenian contemporary culture.

Born in 1938, in Istanbul, Sarkis, studied French, painting and interior design before moving to Paris in 1964. In 1969, he is invited by the critic Harald Szeemann to take part in the known exhibition When Attitudes Become Form. Since the 1980s, Sarkis broke into the international scene with his striking plastic universe. Working with sculpture, installations, photography and cinema; he brings together objects from different cultures, questioning the memory politically and poetically.

In 2015, he is invited to represent the Turkish Pavilion with his work Respiro and to take part in the exhibition Armenity at the Armenian Pavilion at the 56th edition of the International Venice Biennial. He is also showcasing his work at the 14th edition of the Istanbul Biennial.

Born in 1924, Sergueï Parajanov, is considered as one of the major filmmaker of modern cinema. He became famous in 1964 with his movie Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Wild Horses of Fire). But it is truly in 1986, with his movie Sayat Nova, that the artist showed his poetic and allegoric writing, transmitted into a staggering visual beauty. This film was not considered as official art and thus was not distributed on the soviet territory. From 1973 to 1977, Parajanov was detained in a Soviet labour camp; this aroused the mobilisation of the artistic world. During his imprisonment, he created a singular work composed of collages, boxes, dolls and hats just like “condensed movies” he said. Most of his production is kept at the Museum of Yerevan (Armenia), which is dedicated to the artist.

He shot two other movies: Legend of Suram Fortress (1985) and Achik Kerib (1988) inspired by the cultural and ethnic diversity of the Caucasus. He passed away in 1990 on the shooting of the movie The Confession.

As a tribute, Sarkis has conceptualized a facing of their respective works for the Villa Empain.

Presented for the first time in Belgium on the occasion of this exhibition, all of Parajanov’s works have been kindly loaned by Yerevan’s Parajanov Museum (Armenia).

Sarkis is represented by the Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Brussels and Paris), which considerably contributes considerably to this exhibition.

Curators: Diane Hennebert, Christophe Dosogne and Erik Bullot

A catalogue including a study of Erik Bullot and an original script of Sergueï Parajanov will accompany the exhibition.