BORDERS

BORDERS
Groupshow

July 8 – 11, 2025 at Union Of Artists Of Armenia And Artists' House, Yerevan, Armenia

The Armenian-Swedish artist Narek Aghajanyan, the Swedish artists Malin Arnedotter Bengtsson, Heidi Edström, Martin Ålund and the Armenian artists Gagik Charchyan, Karine Matsakyan, Gurgen Petrosyan, Guévørk Aivazian, Susan Amujanyan, Knarik Nersysian, Narek Hakobyan.

Borders are usually perceived as dividing lines. They separate spaces, identities, bodies, languages, and worlds. These lines – stretching between states, cultures, existence and non-existence, human and machine, life and death – have for centuries served as tools of control, clarification, and exclusion. However, since the 1990s, the global situation has been characterized as transitional, and today it is defined by uncertainty and turbulence – marked by clashes between economic, political, ethical, and religious systems. We now live in a reality where borders are made vulnerable on nearly every level. Art emerges within this complex environment – as both a response and a possible path forward. What can art do in conditions of border collapse or reconfiguration? How should we live in a world where stability no longer exists, and where borders can no longer be trusted as reliable guides? How can art practically help us withstand, comprehend, and reinterpret this reality? The “Borders” exhibition has been initiated by a group of artists from Armenia, Sweden, and France. Their works move through personal, political, and poetic realms, forming diverse – often contradictory – responses to the question of what it means to exist at the edge of a border or beyond it. These works were created under various circumstances – some during processes of isolation and enclosure, others through resistance, and still others via research, intuition, or imagination. What unites them is a sensitive response to what is unfolding. Here, art becomes not only a means of expression, but also a gesture of resistance – a proactive strategy against war, the market, and ideological pressures. The artists here reveal the border not as a barrier, but as an experience. The border becomes a space where one can listen, see, and feel. It does not only divide; it also unites – creating possibilities for communication, imagination, and transformation. The “Borders” exhibition is a polyphonic message about the importance of creative power, mutual understanding, and collective imagination, where different languages, media, and stories merge – shaping new perspectives, sensations, and connections. It poses questions that do not expect final answers, but instead invite participation – through comparison, doubt, and reinterpretation. “Borders” is also a philosophical invitation to reconsider the architecture of our thinking. The border becomes a place where the impossible is shaped by collective imagination. The works and approaches presented in the exhibition testify that only through shared cultural experience and coexistence can we come to understand ourselves – in the ever-changing conditions of identity. Collective reason is not given within unchanging boundaries – it must be created. And it is precisely here that art becomes a real tool of transformation – an invitation to imagine the new within uncertainty and incompleteness.

Gagik Charchyan

BORDERS
Workshop

June 15 – July 15, 2025 Arts School of Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educomplex, Yerevan, Armenia

The Concept of the Program

It often seems that the function of borders is to separate areas, to limit or exclude. It is perceived as a dividing line between states, cultures, existing or not existing, life and death, person and person, human and nature, human and machine, and so on. Since the 1990s, the global situation was characterized as transitional. Today, it is defined by uncertainty and turbulence, with clashes between economic, political, intellectual, and religious systems.

What role can art play in crisis situations? Can it remain relevant when border lines are at risk on almost every level? How can we, as artists and practitioners involved in the educational field, use our creativity and skills to bring about change in our current politically unstable situation?

The goal of the Borders educational and cultural project is to create a platform where a group of Armenian and Swedish artists, through artistic practices and informal, practical education, will have the opportunity to generate new ideas and perspectives, reflect on the cultural, geographical, and social boundaries existing between Sweden and Armenia, while engaging in parallel discussions on global contexts and local meanings. The concept of the project is the study of the understanding of boundaries, ambiguity, the contradictory perception of dividing lines and meeting places.

Only through shared cultural experience can we understand ourselves—our changing identities. Collective consciousness is not given to us within its unchanging boundaries; it is created through collective imagination and effort. This is where and how art can miraculously change the world, without claiming final completion. This art project invites us to view this barrier from different perspectives, encouraging us to pay attention to the fact that the boundary, as a process rather than a finished and rigid phenomenon, can also be a meeting point and intersection of different cultures, ideas, and identities — a platform for dialogue and interaction around differences and commonalities.

The Goal

The goal of the project is to:

Reintroduce and make the issue of the impact of boundaries on physical and socio-psychological levels a subject of research.
Create a platform for artistic collaboration between Sweden and Armenia, as well as for cultural and educational dialogue, through art and collaborative informal educational initiatives.
Overcome intercultural stereotypes and prejudices.
Create opportunities for mutual learning and inspiration.
Encourage artists, learners, students, and other members of the public to actively participate in this initiative.
Present boundaries as a space for growth and mutual understanding, rather than as an obstacle.
Represent border as a starting point for growth and mutual understanding, rather then as an obstacle.

Activities involved:

Exhibition: A collective exhibition of artworks created within the framework of the project: The exhibition will feature works that explore themes of boundaries, identity, interaction, and cultural exchange. The exhibition will be held in both Armenia and Sweden.
Lectures, Discussions and Workshops: A series of artistic discussions and debates involving artists, curators, and cultural figures from both countries, which will address the issue of the perception of borders in different contexts, their understanding, and contribute to the circulation of these ideas among the participants.
Catalog: The project will be concluded with the publication of the working process and exhibition catalog.

Contact: narek1980@gmail.com

With support of the Swedish Arts Grants Committee

With support by Helge Ax:son Johnsons Foundation

*Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educomplex is 35 years old. Professional Armenian artists work in the school. They collaborate with international organizations and individual artists. Adjacent to the school is a residence with 20 places as well as libraries, studios and workshops for sculpture, painting and graphics. They have annual art festivals with participating international artists. For example, the French art organization Menk. The residence has two activity platforms: in Yerevan and in Arates, Vayots Dzor.