A New Future: Armenian Exchange 2025
A 2-week exchange of American and Armenian artists and curators in Yerevan.
View over 1000 snapshots of our trip on Flickr.
Flux is forever indebted to our hosts, Armenian Curator Eva Khachatryan and artist Vahram Aghasyan, who were generous to organize an ambitious itinerary for a Flux cohort of American artists including Kalon Hayward, Walker Tufts, Georgia Muenster, Tray Tsui, Heather Kapplow, Farrah Karapetian, Nat Roe and Susan Katz. From April 27 – May 13, our group immersed ourselves in the art, culture, nature, people and ideas of Armenia.
Flux presented a panel discussion at ICA Yerevan, which coincided with an opening of video art by Garush Melkonyan. Performance artist Nze Bikoro included Fluxers Kaylon Hayward and Heather Kapplow in a performance at the scrappy DIY space :DDD Kunst House as part of the week-long Festival of Blue Zeniths.
We were grateful to many artists and institutions who opened their doors to meet and share ideas with us. The Cultural and Social Narratives Lab outlined their erudite and timely publications on politics and culture. New gallery Aha Collective taught us about the pioneering work of Herman Vahramian. 4Plus shared documentary photography projects on the impacts of recent military conflicts and the HIV crisis. The Fem Library shared their reading room which disseminates feminist and queer knowledge. Contemporary artists whose studios we visited included Ara Petrosyan, Mary Moon‘s print studio in a sprawling former Clock Factory. Fluxers also visited performances and exhibitions at HayArts, the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, and the artist-led bar-cafe-performance space Varpet.
Sites of cultural heritage, history and nature that we visited included The Cascades, The Orgov Radio-Optical Telescope, The National Gallery, The Armenian Genocide Museum, Lake Sevan Writers House, Museum of the Matenadran, Aram Khachaturian’s ballet “Spartacus” at The Opera, the Martiros Saryan House-Museum, the Parajanov Museum, Noratus Cemetary, and numerous churches in the Armenian countryside.
This exchange was part of Flux’s broader “A New Future” series, which aims to combat xenophobia and conflict through creative international exchanges. We are grateful for the support of the Trust for Mutual Understanding for making this project possible.
