VISUALIZATION OF THE ARMENIAN EPOS IN THE URBAN SPACE (BY EXAMPLE YERVAND KOCHAR)
In this article the principles of the Armenian epos visualization in urban space are analyzed. The material for the analysis is the work of the Armenian sculptor, People’s Artist of USSR Ervand Kochar. The thesis of this article is: Armenian epos is always in the field of the collective consciousness of Armenians and is visualized in the “high” art always reflexively and on a deep level – according to the “laws” of the art. The main methodological premise of understanding the material became semiotics and discourse analysis. The analysis of empirical material showed that the Kochar’s sculpture, dedicated to the epic hero David of Sasun, is a strong marker of the Armenian epos in the urban space and is many times multiplexed in the Soviet and post-Soviet period. In the historical perspective, analysis of the sculpture in the context of the epic has been interpreted in different ways at diverse times, and the “fate” of the statue and the artist Kochar became a prominent “sign” indicating the realities of the Soviet period and the post-Soviet Armenia.
Keywords: epic visualization, urban space, public space, collective memory, the Soviet and post-Soviet era, the epic, the Armenian epos, postfolklor, semiotic translation, interpretation of the epics, equestrian statue, sculpture
References:
Abrahamian 2003 – Abrahamian L. The fight with the monuments and memory in post-Soviet space (by example of Armenia) // Acta Slavica Iaponica. 2003. Vol. XX. P. 25–49. URL: http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/39418/1/ASI20_002.pdf In Russian.
Abrahamian 2010 – Abrahamian L. Yerevan: Memory and Forgetting in the Organisation of Space of a Post-Soviet City. Forum for Anthropology and Culture. 2010. No 12. P. 248–271. URL: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/files/pdf/012/12_abramyan.pdf In Russian.
Abrahamian, Melkumyan 2012 – Abrahamian L., Melkumyan G. “Compressed” texts of souvenirs and semiotics of the urban landscape. Critique and semiotics. 2012. Is. 16. P. 48–65. In Russian.
Abrahamian, Pikichyan 1987 – Abrahamian L., Pikichyan R. Notes on the ethnography of the modern city (by example of Yerevan). Ethnic groups in the cities of the European part of the USSR (the formation, settlement, culture change). Moscow, 1987. P. 136–146. In Russian.
Agasyan 2013 – Agasyan A. V. In the space of Yervand Kochar. Yerevan, 2013. In Russian.
Aglamazyan 2012 – Aglamazyan A. Analysis of the concept of “water” on the epic poem about David of Sasun and on Armenian phraseological units. Language, Society, Communication. 2012. No 1 (2). In Armenian.
Aravot 2006 – Who will take the place of Lenin? Aravot. 2006. December 5. URL: http://www.aravot.am/2006/12/05/325687/ In Armenian.
Arutyunyan 1989 – Arutyunyan A. N. Yerevan Metro. Guide. Yerevan, 1989. In Russian.
Azatyan 1989 – Azatyan V. Yerevan. Second edition. Yerevan, 1989. In Russian.
Bal’yan 2012 – Bal’yan K. Artur Tarkhanyan, Spartak Khachikyan, Grach’ya Pogosyan. Ekaterinburg, 2012. In Russian.
Belyi, Belaya-Barsegyan 1990 – Belyi V. N., Belaya-Barsegyan I. V. Armenia. Traveller’s Encyclopedia. Yerevan, 1990. In Russian.
Darieva 2012 – Darieva Ts. Poetics and Politics of the urban landscape. The Blue Mosque in Yerevan. Imagining the Landscape. Views from Armenia and Japan. Sapporo: Hokkaido University, 2013. P. 110–128. URL: http://www.valerytishkov.ru/engine/documents/document2086.pdf In Russian.
David of Sasun 1961 – David of Sasun. Yerevan, 1961. In Armenian.
David of Sasun 1979 – David of Sasun: Armenian heroic epic. Yerevan, 1979. In Russian.
Eco 2014 – Eco U. Inventing the Enemy. And other occasional writings. Translation into Russian. Moscow, 2014.
Episkoposyan 2011 – Episkoposyan Sh. Semiotic organization and transformation of urban space of Yerevan center. City, Migration, Markets: New Studies in Social Science from the South Caucasus. Tbilisi, 2011. URL: https://ge.boell.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2015/11/shushanik_yepiskoposyan.pdf In Russian.
Epremyan 2002 – Epremyan L. David, Vardan, Ervand (interview with H. Igityan). Novoye Vremya (New time). 2002. June 12. In Russian.
Gukasyan 2002 – Gukasyan V. Render to David the things that are David’s. Novoye Vremya (New time). 2002. May 8. In Russian.
Kazaryan 2012 – Kazaryan A. The unfinished building next to the statue of David of Sasun do not destroy and not build. Aravot. 2012. September 12. URL: http://www.aravot.am/2012/09/12/306090/ In Russian.
Khandjyan 2004 – Khandjyan A. Yerevan Monuments. Yerevan, 2004. In Armenian.
Mikaelyan 2002 a – Mikaelyan K. Center – for David. Novoye Vremya (New time). 2002. May 18. In Russian.
Mikaelyan 2002 b – Mikaelyan K. Who makes “knight’s move”? Novoye Vremya (New time). 2002. June 1. In Russian.
Mikaelyan 2002 с – Mikaelyan K. Other people’s dreams is the darkness. Novoye Vremya (New time). 2002. June 29. In Russian.
Novoye Vremya2002 – Once again about the monument (Editorial note). Novoye Vremya (New time). 2002. December 2. In Russian.
Shagoyan 2012 – Shagoyan G. “First” and “second” in Gyumri images: experience of semiotic analysis of urban text. Critique and semiotics. 2012. Is. 16. P. 17–47. In Russian.
Smbati, Davtyan 2014 – Smbati A., Davtyan A. Other monuments. Yerevan. 2014. No 9. URL: https://issuu.com/yerevanarmenian/docs/7-9._yerevan_armenian_n9_september_ In Russian.
Stepanyan, Simyan 2012 – Stepanyan A., Simyan T. Yerevan as semiotic text (experience of reconstruction the “beginning” and “end” of Mashtots Avenue). Critique and semiotics. 2012. Is. 16. P. 6–16. In Russian.
Sukiasyan, Galstyan 1975 – Sukiasyan A. M., Galstyan S. A. Armenian phraseological dictionary. Yerevan, 1975. In Russian.
Trever 1939 – Trever K. Water Antaeus of Armenian epos. Communist. Yerevan, 1939. September 16. In Russian.
Tsaturyan, Gnuni 2011 – Tsaturyan A., Gnuni S. The Last station. Yerevan. 2011. No 1. P. 52–59. In Russian.
Vermishyan and oth. 2015 – Vermishyan Kh. R., Balasanyan S. A., Grigoryan O. G., Keropyan S. N. Local selfness in Yerevan: structures of urban space. Yerevan, 2015. In Armenian.
Yerevan 2014 – Yerevan. 2014. No 9 (27). In Armenian.
Yerevantsi 2011 – Yerevantsi about Yerevan. Yerevan. 2011. No 1. URL: https://issuu.com/yerevanarmenian/docs/number1. In Armenian.
( 1.74 MB ) 
( 1.71 MB )
Issue: 3, 2016
Series of issue: Issue 3
Rubric: ARTICLES
Pages: 82 — 96
Downloads: 1149