The results of the international research project Dilijan Arts Observatory, which was completed in the city of Dilijan this September, will be presented in European galleries. The project is delivered with support of Adibekyan Family Foundation for Advancement.
In November 2017 the Dilijan Arts Observatory project will be presented in the leading European contemporary art gallery Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin and in summer 2018 – in Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
The first Dilijan Arts Observatory project aimed at forming new educational models in arts and household practices culminated in a two-day cultural program of special events, speeches and expositions on September 10-11. The closing ceremony of Dilijan Arts Observatory was visited by hundreds of guests from Armenia and abroad, including artists, designers, historians of culture and environmentalists. The project was planned and carried out by curator Clementine Deliss who led 38 artists from around the world in studying the culture of Dilijan and surrounding villages during three weeks.
The project co-initiated by family foundations of social entrepreneurs Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend as well as of philanthropist Gagik Adibekyan sets as its primary goal the development of new approaches to art education. At the same time Dilijan Arts Observatory, like all other projects of Adibekyan Family Foundation for Advancement, RVVZ and IDeA is called to facilitate an all-round socioeconomic development of the city and to increase the involvement of local dwellers.
The Observatory participants prepared several shows devised as some sort of essays where they presented the results of their three-week creative and scholarly research. During the “cultural weekend” they were joined by Dilijan residents, foreign curators and numerous representatives of local and international media, who arrived in Dilijan.
Said Eleonora Adibekyan, co-founder of Adibekyan Family Foundation for Advancement: “We’d like to thank all participants of the Diijan Arts Observatory project – artists, experts of culture and sociologists – for the research work done. Studying the history and traditions of Dilijan was the first step in the process of looking for a new national-cultural identity of the city denizens and Armenia at large.”
Said co-founder of the IDeA Foundation Veronika Zonabend: “Together with our partners we try to attract people with a pro-active attitude to Dilijan – those who are willing to make their creative and intellectual contribution to the development of the city and region. Our goal is creating a self-stimulating environment to which each participant contributes, thus creating it. I appreciate the leadership of Clementine Deliss who helped Dilijan Arts Observatory create new art education models and engineered a synergy of the international community and local population.
The Dilijan Arts Observatory project was delivered with support of philanthropists Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend – co-founders of the United World College Dilijan, charity foundations RVVZ and IDeA and co-founders of the Dilijan Development Foundation (DDJ) as well as the other DDF co-founder Gagil Adibekyan who is also the founder of Adibekyan Family Foundation for Advancement and founding partner of United World College Dilijan.