State Needs: A Project For Yerevan, Armenia, ©2010
At the corner of Teryan and Northern Avenue, a Soviet era building has the air of festivity adorning its façade. Flags and banners sway from wrought iron balconies in the early summer breeze. Approaching the structure, a more sobering intent of the proclamations becomes clear. SOS is printed in large block letters. In this circumstance, SOS translates to SAVE OUR BUILDING. The residents are joined in solidarity, bravely united in opposition to the insatiable greed of the oligarchs.
At the beginning of the new millennium, the Armenian government established a mandate of “State Needs” as its principle guide for urban development in the central hub of downtown Yerevan (to be called Northern Avenue). For the thousands of residents to be effected by the government’s imminent domain plans, the exact nature of what the state needed was never discussed with them. Within the historical neighborhoods desperately in need of infrastructure improvements, the populace welcomed change. Genuine “State Needs” such as civil society principles of progressive urban development that addressed community, education, health and the preservation of history were never brought into the dialogue. Serious discrepancies soon emerged in regards to fair and adequate compensation for homes and property. Through the manipulation of legislative procedures and control of the independent judiciary, the government and developers established the Project Implementation Office. Their intimidating policies resulted in: ridiculously undervalued compensation packages, threats of violence towards families/individuals that refused the offers, and unwarranted evictions.
Basically, this was a government sponsored slash and burn policy of deportation and forced migration. These same malevolent government policies toward private property are now being imposed upon residents in several neighborhoods. For the historic community of Kond, for the SOS building off Northern Avenue and for the few remaining families living in the shadow of vacant opulence along Arami St., the situation is, well, overwhelming.
With this public intervention our collaborative team hoped to reignite a constructive public dialogue that addresses the relationship between genuine “State Needs” and a civil society. The use of the Monopoly logo as a framework for our visual identity was developed as a politically relevant and recognizable graphic symbol. The Armenian language text translates directly to St. Needs. On the evening of June 17th we gathered along Northern Avenue across from the SOS building to distribute flyers and discuss the ongoing dilemma of “State Needs” with the masses that parade along the boulevard. The banner soon became a familiar urban icon, soliciting knowing smiles, the shaking of heads, and unfortunately, a certain pessimistic reality in regards to saving what little is left of historic Yerevan.
Project Sponsored by CEC Artslink & Colombik Studios and the International Artist in Residence “Art Commune” Art & Culture Studies Laboratory, Yerevan, Armenia. Special thanks to Susanna Gyulamiryan, Director of ACSL, Vahe Budumyan for his creative wit and patience and Vardan Geravetyan, Leader of the SOS Building Coalition photographs ©2010 Roger Colombik & Jerolyn Bahm-Colombik. St. Needs logo © 2010 Vahe Budumyan, Jerolyn Bahm-Colombik, Roger Colombik. Video image of Robert Kocharian from the film Victims of State Needs by Karen Adamyan
