Exploring Soviet Modernism in Gyumri and Metsamor
2014-12-08
News
On Saturday and Sunday, 13 Tumo students travelled to Gyumri as part of Katarina Roters' six week architectural photography workshop. The Tumo students were joined by 8 teenagers from Gyumri who also took part in the weekend activities.
On the anniversary of the 1988 earthquake, the workshop participants explored and photographed Gyumri's Soviet modern architecture, paying special attention to the use of ornamentation. They photographed the textile factory, residential buildings, transport stations, statues, abandoned buildings and homes in the Mush district of Gyumri. A highlight of the trip was visiting and shooting a barber shop built in 1941 which hasn't changed since the Soviet era. The group also visited the town of Metsamor, built in 1969 as a self contained urban unit to house employees of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant.
During the last week of the workshop, students will be working on digital post-production under the guidance of local architects and urban designers. Their efforts will culminate in a weeklong public exhibition of their work starting on December 13th.
Katharina Roters first visited and became enamored with Armenia on a two week trip during her studies at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf. She later came back for close to a year to photograph and document Soviet modern architecture. She has since earned her doctorate at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest. She decided to return to Armenia for six weeks to share her knowledge and experience with students at Tumo.
