ARTLABYEREVAN is a collective composed by Hovhannes Margaryan, Vardan Jaloyan, Artur Petrosyan, Ara Petrosyan, and Olya Azatyan.
Seasonal Matriarchy
Seasonal Matriarchy is a research work realized by means of the arts. Addressing changes in gender roles and, especially, labour roles in a village caused by migration. The gender basis in migration is the role of men in ‘making money’. When the season of labour migration starts, women comprise the majority of the adult population for its duration. They fulfil functions usually carried out by men in family and in agriculture. The seasonal matriarchy starts. In these circumstances, women show tremendous diligence, management and creativity. However, there exists a paradox of remote or transnational patriarchy created as a result of modern technology. The head of the family controls the family remotely. Transnational families are formed when migrants secure two families, one in their homeland and one in the country they work. ARTLABYEREVAN's project concentrates on these gender effects of migration.
The goal of ARTLABYEREVAN is to continue activist art practice, support activist groups, organize seminars and discussions about political contemporary art, participate in the social and political movement, innovative social and cultural initiatives, develop strategies with political- social groups to find an escape from the current situation. They aim to combine political and art research, to explore and discover the hidden mechanisms that contribute to the formation of authoritarian, exploitative and corrupt systems. In art practice, this group is oriented towards relational and participatory aesthetics denying the illusive function of art. ARTLABYEREVAN and its members have been successfully exhibited in the realm of political and activist art.
Politicizing toasts exhibition in Northampton, 2015
ARTLABYEREVAN
World Riot at Politicizing toasts exhibition in Northampton, 2015