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
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Issue: 3, 2016
Series of issue: Issue 3
Rubric: ARTICLES
Pages: 82 — 96
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