Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Art & Culture in Yerevan | Padani

It's impossible to ignore the art and cultural events currently taking place in Armenia. It shouldn't be a surprise either, Armenians have long been known to play a strong role in art, architecture, film, dance, and music. There seems to be this inherent quality in the people to express their feelings of creativity regardless of the political, economic, and environmental pressures they face.

In the same week, I was able to attend Spartcus (the ballet organized by the Bolshoi Theater of Moscow), the Golden Apricot International Film Festival (presented by Atom Egoyan), and in two days will be able to hear the classical music of Bach and Komitas (performed by Sergey Khachatryan and the Nairi string quartet).

The Spartcus ballet was on par with other internationally recognized ballet companies. The sets were incredible, and the movements of the performers were beautiful. In the same respect it was the charming screening rooms of the Golden Apricot Film Festival which brought to life Atom Egoyan's film Exotica (one of my all time favorite films). It might have been close to 90 degrees F in the screening room, but none-the-less the crowd remained to watch the last of the credits roll. The same can be said of the Georgian film Street Days by director Levan Koghuashvili. The soviet era Moscow Cinema's blue hall provided the perfect atmosphere to watch a post-soviet Georgia tackle the loaded issues of drug abuse.

Scroll down to see some of the images of the city.



woman on cell phone //

kurdish herder //

entrance to the armenian metro //

truck near kurdish settlement //

water truck //

transport truck //

sasuntsi davit metro station //

herder and his cow //

deep in thought //

power lines near aragats mountain //

golden apricot international film festival posters hang outside of the national gallery screening room //

the clock tower of republic square //

men starring //

a truck going through an underpass in yerevan //

near the peak of mount aragats with an elevation near 3500 meters //

a young girl walking to the metro //

arches of sourp krikor lusavorich cathedral in yerevan, built to commemorate the 1700 year anniversary of christianity in armenia //

kids fill their buckets with water in preparation for the national watering day, where everyone has an equal chance of getting soaked //

the winding road to the peak of mount aragats //

coffee beans for sale in an underground bazaar //

soviet issue motorcycle with sidecar, looked like it was made by ural //

a sales woman takes a break, in an underground bazaar //

khor virap catherdal set against the backdrop of mount ararat located in historical armenia, land which was stolen from armenians during the genocide of 1915 //

street vendor taking a break //

cds and dvds for sale //

a cross located near the peak of mount aragats with an elevation of 4000 meters //

day in yerevan //

minibuses are a major source of transporation in armenia //

truck driver looking on as our car overtakes his //

police gather in the morning before being sent off to their posts for the day //

men exchanging money //

truck leaving garage //

police patrol the sasuntsi davit metro station //

kurdish herders //

current model mercedes near a soviet built car from the 1980s //

young boy with his shopping bags in the metro //

mannequin in search of hope //

garabage trucks picking up the morning trash //

arches of sourp krikor lusavorich cathedral in yerevan, built to commemorate the 1700 year anniversary of christianity in armenia //

gas pump attendant checking on the fuel //

building exit //

sattelite, electrical wires, and air conditioners, the most common architectural elements of yerevan //

chandeliers in the screening room of the national gallery for the golden apricot international film festival //

boy walking through the alley //

soviet era truck //

1 comment:

karine sogomonian said...
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