[artinfo] Strategies of (Un) Silencing Conference in Armenia

[Art&Education]

American University of Armenia

Blind Dates Project presents
STRATEGIES OF (UN)SILENCING

An Interdisciplinary & Cross-Cultural Conference
October 26-27, 2012

American University of Armenia
Alex and Marie Manoogian Hall
40 Marshal Baghramyan Avenue
Yerevan 0019, Armenia

<http://interspire.e-flux.com/link.php?M=12808&N=3909&L=7706&F=H>www.blinddatesproject.org/sous

SoUS seeks to explore the intersections among 
artistic practice, literature, and ethics/law. By 
identifying overarching themes that have been 
marginalized across time and place, the aim is to 
loosen the knots of repressed memories, silenced 
(hi)stories, and unresolved 
sentiments/perceptions associated with dominant 
narratives that are sustained by oppositional 
paradigms. As continuation of a series of 
discussions that began in context of a New 
York-based curatorial undertaking titled Blind 
Dates: New Encounters from the Edges of a Former 
Empire, the conference will examine what 
'remains' of the human geography that once 
constituted the vast Ottoman territory. While 
also inviting comparisons/contrasts in tackling 
the 'residues' of similar or parallel ruptures, 
including those involving the Soviet regime and 
the Cold War. New discursive cartographies based 
on shared affinities among the incongruent or the 
fragmented will be considered, as well as 
accounts of unities that do not resort to 
uniformity.


Panel One: October 26, 11am
Constructing and Deconstructing Empires: National Narratives Reconsidered
Moderator/ Discussant: Vahan Bournazian, human rights attorney and educator

Conflicting Visions of Liberation
Vardan Azatyan: Associate Professor of Art 
History, Yerevan State Academy of Fine Art

The Harem from Orientalism to Popular Culture: Post-Ottoman Women's Fashion 
Aikaterini Gegisian: London-based visual artist 
represented by the Kalfayan Gallery in Athens

National Narratives and Narrative Forms
Hrach Bayadyan: Lecturer in Media and Cultural 
Studies, Yerevan State University

Armenian Representation in Turkey during the Post WWII Period
Talin Suciyan: PhD Candidate and Teaching Fellow, 
Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich

Anthropological Curiosities at the Frontier: Kars, Pamuk and Others
Zeynep Sariaslan: Research Fellow, Social and 
Cultural Anthropology, University of Zurich

Evening: 7:30pm
Keynote Address: Amitav Ghosh
Bonds between Prisoners: Indians and Armenians in 
the 'Death Camps' of Syria, 1916-1918
Award-winning novelist Amitav Ghosh is the author 
of °©Sea of Poppies and River of Smoke


Panel Two: October 27, 11am
(Im)Possibilities of (Un) Silencing Violence and Trauma
Moderator/ Discussant: Siranush Dvoyan, literary 
critic and lecturer in comparative literature

Texts, Spies and Loyalty: The Politics of Ottoman-Armenian Print Culture
Nanor Kebranian: Assistant Professor of Armenian Studies at Columbia University

Traumatic Infidelities: The Experience and its 
Translators in Mabel Elliott and Zabel Yesayan
Shushan Avagyan: Translator and lecturer, American University of Armenia

Charents-Oshakan: On a Case of Ontological Incompatibility
Ashot Voskanyan: PhD in Philosophy and advisor to 
Armenia's Foreign Ministry Africa and Asia 
Division

Silent speech and the politics of intimacy
Kathleen MacQueen: Art Historian and a writer based in New York

Nowhere: An excerpt from a novel-in-progress
Viken Berberian: Author of The Cyclist and Das Kapital


Panel Three: October 27, 3pm
Ruptures and Ruins: (Re) Imagining Imperial Remnants
Moderator/Discussant: Initiator and producer of 
the SoUS conference, Neery Melkonian is a New 
York-based independent critic/curator who serves 
as the External Director of the Blind Dates 
Project-a reformulated edition of which is 
planned to migrate to Istanbul and Yerevan in 2013

A Travel Guide to the East of the Empire
Zülal Nazan Üstündag˜: Assistant Professor, 
Department of Sociology at Bog˜aziçi University

Time for Ruination: The Life of Armenian Aesthetics
David Kazanjian: Associate Professor of English, 
Comparative Literature and Literary Theory, 
University of Pennsylvania

A New Dictionary for Image-Forming Art: Soviet/Post Soviet Portraiture
Arevik Arevshatyan: Yerevan-based mixed media 
visual artist, stage designer and an essayist

Disputed Criticality: Tensions within the Field of Contemporary Art in Istanbul
Erden Kosova: Istanbul-based art critic and 
editor of 
<http://interspire.e-flux.com/link.php?M=12808&N=3909&L=7705&F=H>red-thread.org

Locating a Revanchist Continuum in Post-Ottoman Istanbul
Paul Benjamin Osterlund: Graduate student in 
Turkish Studies at Sabanci University

For program details, bios and abstracts of 
participants, please 
visit <http://interspire.e-flux.com/link.php?M=12808&N=3909&L=7706&F=H>blinddatesproject.org/sous.