Sarko: "C'est Finit"

*Poster in Paris, France

"Building the [Soviet] Revolution"... sort of... in London

(Never built) Tatlin’s Tower was re-created to mark "Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935" exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

[...] Its official title was Monument to the Third International (the revolutionary congress of that name had taken place in 1919) and it was intended to mark the Soviet revolution in Petrograd (St Petersburg) in much the same way that the Eiffel Tower was built to commemorate the French Revolution in Paris – a century after the event. Tatlin’s Tower would have stretched right across the River Neva.

This monument was intended as a conference and administration hub, as well as a propaganda broadcast centre and all-purpose symbol for international revolution. Talking of revolution, buildings slung within its armature would have rotated at different speeds (a year, a month, a day) making it not only a huge metaphor but also the world’s largest perpetual calendar.

Never built, Tatlin’s Tower passed into mythology. It has been a potent symbol for both the Left and for those artists and architects influenced by Russian Constructivism: Richard Rogers RA, Zaha Hadid RA and Anish Kapoor RA all acknowledge it. [...]

These "building the revolution" posters can be seen all over London.

Paris: poster - Aznavour

Paris: Presse

Yerevan Diaries: the use of AM letter "Չ"

*Lovers' park

Yerevan Diaries: no poster Opera

Have to admit. I missed the view of Opera area surrounded by posters & ads of performances and so on. They were good and bad, tasteful and tasteless. But they were part of the 'deal', and fitted the area perfectly. Without them, the only 'filling' for Opera area (& Liberty sq) is provided by cafes. And it looks empty to me.

Keep Yerevan clean of hate garbage - social ad by ArmComedy

This is so good that has to be posted on both of my blogs.
...

FYI mayor of Yerevan and residents. Respects to ArmComedy.



Relevant posts from my archive:

Homophobic posters in Yerevan, Armenia 

Council of Europe issues non inclusive anti-discrimination report on Armenia amid rise in intolerance towards minorities 

Spotted: Arshile Gorky poster at deprivation division line in London

Deptford Bridge train station in South-East London. This station is like a separation line between Greenwich area with its traditional or new developments and a very deprived Deptford area. Make one step towards Deptford, and you could literally feel the deprivation and you could immediately sense that you entered not the safest part of London, to put it mildly.

The fact that they didn’t change the advert poster for a year-old Tate Modern exhibit of Arshile Gorky, may indicate that the advertisers are not exactly interested in promoting their services or whatever in the area. On the other hand, the very fact that art poster appeared there, even if a year ago, could be a hopeful sign that one day things could change for better. With the help of Arshile Gorky... :)

PINK Armenia and activists: "Prejudice and discrimination made us silent today" - Day of Silence 2011

15 April 2011 - Day of Silence

"We apologize, but we won’t be available for the world on April 15: we will not respond to emails, phone calls, we will not have any activities and will not provide any direct service. On April 15, we will keep silence for..."

*source: PINK Armenia

More details - Unzipped: Gay Armenia

Relevant reading: Call to Armenian media. Do the right thing. Write about the Day of Silence - 15 April 2011. Raise your voice against bullying and harassment of LGBT youth

P.S. Ida Kar - Armenian "bohemian photographer" at National Portrait Gallery in London

As I mentioned before - YES! Armenian “bohemian photographer who made history” Ida Kar restrospective at the National Portrait Gallery in London - this seemed to be a must see exhibit in London, and it was. Here are few pics I made at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The exhibition is on until 19 June 2011. Don't miss!

*"Return to Armenia": her works for The Tatler magazine after she visited Armenia for the first time since childhood. On this picture, you may also see the caricature of Ida Kar, with Armenian inscriptions, by local Yerevan artist S. Stepanian, 1957 (also below - as a fridge magnet I bought from the National Portrait Gallery shop).

Few more posters from the exhibit.

And this is perhaps her most provocative work on display at the exhibit: 'Mother and Child' (Hanja Kochansky with her daugther Katya Cobham (née Bebb)).

*© National Portrait Gallery, London - Ida Kar, 22 August 1974

Related on Unzipped: Gay Armenia - Ida Kar - Armenian "bohemian photographer"- fashionista

Armenia: violence against women (posters, part 1)

For part 2 - see Unzipped: Gay Armenia

Look at these posters. Difficult, I know. Chilling, I know. ...But do not turn away. Let’s face up these real life stories of violence against women still happening in our society.

These posters will be translated into Armenian, and used throughout the country as part of the campaign by Women’s Resource Centre to stop violence against women.

On November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Women’s Resource Center in Yerevan will mobilize community members and other NGOs to protest gender violence. The events planned for November 25th will mark the beginning of 16 days of activism to end violence against women and girls, which will include an exhibition and film screening at Kino Moscow in December. This will be the fourth year that the Women’s Resource Center has joined countries around the world in organizing events on November 25th to raise awareness about the issue of gender violence.

*posters by zArt - Araz Artinian

Poster in Yerevan: "Free youth activist"

More on this case - here.

*picture - via Onnik Krikorian Twitpic

Parajanov, Charents and Hrant Dink on… Dashnak posters in Yerevan. Have they (Dashnaks) lost their mind?

Tert.am reports about posters in Yerevan by ‘opposition’ turned ‘former’ ruling coalition member nationalist ARF Dashnaktsutyun party. They say that these posters have nothing to do with the upcoming mayoral elections in Yerevan, but rather a reflection of party’s position in relation to Armenia - Turkey rapprochement, with typical Dashnak-style slogans.

That’s not the bizarre bit. Dashnak posters are illustrated by famous Armenian faces from the field of arts, literature, sport etc. Guess who they posted there?

If some choices, like the actor Sos Sargsyan, raise no doubts, photos of the composer Tigran Mansuryan and chess player Levon Aronyan are misleading. Mansuryan never been known to be fan of Dashnaks, and chess player Levon Aronyan, when contacted by Tert.am, expressed his displeasure of using his photo without his permission or prior knowledge. Tert.am tried to find out – unsuccessfully! - from the party itself, whether they obtained the consent of the people depicted on the posters, or whether those very people support(ed) Dashnaktsutyun ideology?

The most hilarious examples are not the above ones. Among others on Dashnak posters are… Parajanov, Charents, Hrant Dink… (!!)

Parajanov who belongs not only to Armenian culture, but also Georgian, Ukrainian, and reflected Azerbaijani culture in his works too. Not quite the nationalist figure Dashnaks would like to portrait. In fact, as far from it, as one can get...

Charents who was in a complete opposite to Dashnaks camp, and who infamously wrote anti-Dashnak poems…

Hrant Dink who was a champion of Armenia-Turkey reconciliation…

Is this the way Dashnaks trying to re-assert their newly declared ‘opposition party’ credentials? Based on lies? As Tert.am rightly points out, this is a totally failed attempt by the party, to put it mildly.

*poster - via Tert.am

Poster in Goris, Armenia

It’s been more than a year since the last presidential election in Armenia, but you may still spot this poster in Goris.


*photo - by M.B.

Armenian human rights activist Lilit Poghosyan is chosen as the face for the EU anti-discrimination poster

*This poster has been produced as part of the EU-wide “For Diversity. Against Discrimination” information campaign.

For details - Unzipped: Gay Armenia

Pro-government youth in ‘anti-smoking campaign'… Well, kind of…

When in Yerevan, I came across with this march (on 12 September 2008) by pro-government youth group Miasin [‘Together’]. As far as I learned, they are a product of pro-government MIAK party.

It seems to me they desperately try ‘playing cool’, to take up the initiative from other, more pro-opposition or independent youth groups currently on the horizon (making headlines from time to time, with certainly more creative actions - e.g., here, here and here). Fine. But...

Miasin’s march was poorly organised. They were walking along Opera and nearby areas shouting “Don’t smoke!” There was nothing creative in posters they held or the ways this supposedly ‘anti-smoking campaign’ is being carried on. In fact, they looked more like posters from a Soviet time anti-smoking campaigns, which no one was paying attention to. It looked more like an action to tick off before their sponsors that they do something than anything else.

Funnily enough, at least some of the most active girls marching ‘don’t smoke’ are pretty heavy smokers themselves…

Verdict: Not cool.

P.S. Apparently, they march pretty regularly. Below is Onnik Krikorian’s photo made on 5 September, a week before.

Armenian police: fighting... posters

Police in Yerevan used force on Monday to remove anti-government posters and other agitation material from the scene of a non-stop sit-in launched by the Armenian opposition nearly two months ago.

They said that they were acting so to protect “rights of property owners”. What a noble cause, one may think. One may be wrong.

As I commented on The Armenian Observer Blog:

• unless democracy is restored in Armenia,
• unless freedom of assembly is restored in Armenia,
• unless freedom of expression and media fully restored in Armenia,

all talks by the authorities about “infringing rights of owners” in this and similar cases would be viewed as merely an excuse (a lame excuse!) for oppressing further dissent and a sign of intolerance.

*photos - Aravot daily

Vintage (Soviet) election posters

For people’s happiness!

Workers and peasants,
One and all - to elections!

Under the red banner,
Along with men,
We bring on fear to bourgeoisie!

*posters via davno.ru