In his latest video, The Nation, the Belgian artist Pieter Geenen reflects on the inconstency of identity. Who are you if you live in a country that doesn’t exist? Geenen focuses on the isolated people of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in the Southern Caucasus.
Officially the area is part of Azerbaijan but is de facto an independent state. During the era of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh was an ethnic Armenian autonomous province within the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1991, on the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh declared itself independent. The international community didn’t actually recognize this country and thus for many years it has been the subject of an unsolved and yet long-forgotten conflict.
Since the 1994 cease fire the people from the region have been living in a vacuum. How do they feel about national identity in a country that doesn’t exist? And how is their identity determined by their attachment to their country?
His new video ‘T’he Nation’ is part of Geenen’s current research on (national) identity in relation to memory and country.
In the autumn of 2015, Argos will present a solo show by Pieter Geenen.
Subtitles in English
English/Armenian/Karabakh dialect spoken
2014, 50min.
16:9, colour, stereo, HD
Camera: Pieter Geenen Geluid: Pieter Geenen, David Astsaturyan, Hayk Navasardyan Editing: Pieter Geenen Colour grading: Charbon Studio Met de steun van: Vlaamse Gemeenschap, SMartBe
In collaboration with: ARGOS
