ARMENIAN ART HISTORY
at
the Yerevan State University,
Yerevan, Armenia
Established in April, 1996 UNESCO Chair of Armenian Art
History (UNESCO CAAH) at Yerevan State University (YSU) in
Yerevan, Republic of Armenia is responsible for newly organised
Art History Department, and intends to advance high education in
the field of art history in Armenia and through distance
education worldwide.
UNESCO CAAH is a research and educational center. It's
academic projects correspond to main projects of UNESCO
such as Silk Road Project and Culture and Art of the
Mediterranean area. The academic staff of UNESCO CAAH will
focus its attention on exploration of the interrelations of
Armenian Art with the arts of neighboring countries and peoples.
CAAH is supported by UNESCO and YSU and also by the Armenian
Community in USA. Recently UNESCO CAAH received from V. Der
Manuelian (from Boston) the donation for establishment of Arshag
Fetvajian Art Library. UNESCO CAAH had been supported also by
GETTY ART HISTORY INFORMATION PROGRAM which donated art software
and literature.
The fragmented educational system of YSU is in the process of
fundamental change, and although this process has received rare
governmental support, the major initiatives and solutions must be
advanced through private endeavors and resources if substantial
progress is to take place.
Because of the crisis of Soviet and East European economies
over this last decade, there is currently no effective means of
support for the maintenance of collaboration among the art
history educational centers of Armenia, Russia, East and West
European countries and USA.
CAAH of YSU intends to compensate those difficulties through
the use of modern telecom technologies based upon Internet.
UNESCO CAAH of YSU is unique in former Soviet
Union territory as its nucleus is formed by scholars and
graduates who received their professional education not only in
Armenia and Russia, but also France, Germany, England. In the
educational work of CAAH are involved also scholars of the Mashdots
Matenadaran (Institute of Old Manuscripts in Yerevan) and the Institute
of Fine Art of the National Academy of Armenia.
The patronage and network of UNESCO will
provide an international orientation to CAAH of YSU where the
language of instruction is Armenian, but guest lecturers will
teach also in English , French , German and Russian.
Head of Chair:
 |
Dr. Levon Chookaszian
| Address: |
36E Tigran Mets, Apt. 30, 375018 Yerevan,
ARMENIA |
| Phone: |
(3742) 566-540 |
| Fax: |
(818)956-0143 USA |
| E-mail |
garik@itgateway.com |
|
Other Members of Chair:
Garegin Chookaszian, Director of Digital Media
Program,
e-mail: garik@itgateway.com
-
To advance high education in the field of art history
in Armenia and through distance education
worldwide
-
Art heritage is the mirror of the world and its
memory. But that memory is fragile. Every day, fragments,
if not entire sections of the art heritage disappear
forever. To guard against collective amnesia, it must
remain our aim to preserve paintings, sculpture,
architecture, applied arts and also manuscripts and other
rare and valuable art material existing in any form,
whether written, audio-visual or electronic, and to
ensure their wider dissemination. For this reason, UNESCO
CAAH has launched a vast and ambitious programme entitled
"ARMENIAN DIGITAL ART PROJECT". The twofold
purpose of that programme is to safeguard and promote the
endangered world of Armenian Art heritage.
-
The scale and structure of the programme are such
that intellectual, technical and financial partnerships
will be required. In this programme, UNESCO CAAH intends
to act as a co-ordinator and catalyst. Strong and
long-term program partnership with different institutions
worldwide will give to UNESCO CAAH of YSU opportunity to
strengthen the research and educational work on the
international level.
-
UNESCO CAAH intends to solve above mentioned problems
transferring new information processing digital
technologies into the humanities
-
education of specialists in the humanities to use
advanced Software-assisted methods and art software as
well as WWW technologies
-
investigation, developing and adaptation of new
digital technologies for the needs of the humanities
-
delivering postgraduate and undergraduate courses on
art history. Software-assisted methods and art software
can be useful for the teaching of World Art History. The
future of electronic scholarship is impossible to imagine
without involving students in the computerized
environment.
-
delivering the special courses for the specialists:
- the basics of digital signal processing
- digital recording and editing
- multimedia presentation (e-books, distance
education courses based upon WWW)
-
providing specialists in the humanities with computer
resources for:
- digitization of audio-visual and textual materials
according to international standards
- recording of those materials on CD-ROM discs
- multimedia presentation (e-books, distance
education courses based upon WWW)
-
developing pilot projects, consultations
Silk Road Project
Armenian Art and the Mediterranian Culture
The Projects are part of research activity of postgraduate and
undergraduate students.
Organization of educational process in accordance with the
modern demands is impossible without the creation of networked
digital resources in the field of Armenian Art. One of the
goals of the UNESCO CAAH is to establish the digital resources of
Armenian Art and to provide the users with the most recent
information in that field via Internet.
Thousands of Armenian artworks are not published and studied
so they need to be described and converted to electronic form.
Armenian Digital Art project is also important from the point of
view of the electronically resourced future of learning.
The use of the electronically networked resources will make the
process of teaching and learning much more effective and
attractive.
UNESCO CAAH expects the financial assistance for Armenian
Digital Art project and also ''Electronic biographical dictionary
of Armenian Artists and architects.'' These are relatively large
scale, human intensive, cross-disciplinary, longitudinal projects
and will require considerable support over a number of years.
The CAAH plans to begin with documentation of resource sets
according to the standards of the Getty Art History
Information Program with whome it has established working
relations.
The head of UNESCO CAAH, Dr. Levon Chookaszian and Technical
Director of Digital Media Program of UNESCO CAAH Garegin
Chookaszian have long experience in this field. They are the
initiators of The Virtual Museum of Armenian Art (multimedia
software series, begun 1991). They have demonstrated it during
different lectures in various universities and libraries since
1992 (including MIT 1992, 1993, the symposium ''Topics on Persian
Art and History'', organized in January of 1993 at UCLA, Pasadena
Public Library etc.).
Dr. L. Chookaszian and other Armenian Art experts who are
involved in the work of CAAH organized a large archive of the
biographies of Armenian artists and architects. This archive
materials were used for the joint work with Saur Allgemeines
Kunstlerlexikon (Munchen-Leipzig), which is the world's greatest
biographical encyclopedia of artists. Dr. L. Chookaszian is the
initiator of the collaboration with this encyclopedia, also one
of the authors and editor of all articles that are written in
Armenia since 1990 about Armenian artists, architects and
published in 5th-12th volumes of German directory.
Biographies of hundreds of Armenian architects and artists of
many centuries are neither studied not published yet and their
works are scattered on the territories, museums, and libraries of
different countries. The creation of the digital dictionary of
the biographies of these artists and architects will give an
access to the resources of Armenian Art and will be the source of
learning. This electronic dictionary will be the essential part
of the distant educational program of UNESCO CAAH.
CAAH will focus its attention on distance education and will
expect the help of sponsors to gain access to e-mail and the
Internet for organization of the electronic lectures and
international symposiums on Armenian Art and its relations with
the arts of other countries and nations.
Sponsorship is important for further evolution of higher
education in the field of art history in Armenia due to using
distant education possibilities. Software-assisted methods and
art-software can be useful for teaching of World Art history. The
future of electronic scholarship is impossible to imagine
without involving students in the computerized environment.
Current knowledge in the area of World Art history is still quite
inadequate in Armenia, so significant funding is needed to learn
more about teaching and learning using digital technologies.
On-line International conferance on Internet devoted to
the 100th anniversary of Sirarpi Der Nersessian in September 1996
The papers presented in this conferance will
concern the interests of Sirarpi Der Nersessian , her life and
scholarly heritage. There will also be papers on digital
revolution and medieval studies.
The conferance will involve topics on Armenian
and Byzantine art history, artistic exchanges and dialogues of
the peoples of the Mediterranean, Armenian and Byzantine history.
We hope that this unique web site would become
the first, but not only, permanent virtual meeting territory for
the Armenologists and Medievalists from all over the world, thus
creating an authority on the Net in these fields.
This event will provide us the opportunity to
promote the Armenian Art and historical heritage over the
Internet, including introduction and presentation of several Web
related projects initiated by the Yerevan UNESCO Chair.
This is a difficult task without more fully
integration into the international academic community. UNESCO
CAAH is interested in cooperation with the other educational and
research centers.
UNESCO sponsorship will give to CAAH the opportunity to
increase and innovate its electronic potential, and involve more
scholars and technical staff in this project. The support of
other involved parties will help UNESCO CAAH to strengthen the
educational process at Art History Department of YSU.
UNESCO CAAH is interested in advices and
suggestions of the experts for developing joint initiatives
between the best art history programs in the region of former
Soviet Union, Europe and worldwide.
Economic situation of the last decade on territory of former
Soviet Union and former Socialist countries is no more effective
for the maintenance of collaboration between art history
educational centers of Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia,
Romania, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and etc.
Funding awarded by sponsors to UNESCO CAAH will be used for
joint symposia and research projects with the scholars of these
countries. The international symposiums and seminars will be
organised by UNESCO CAAH and they will concern the problems of
cultural dialogues between different peoples.
Support of sponsors to UNESCO CAAH will bring together a
group of international experts and involve them in the teaching
process at Art History Department of YSU.
Part of the funding will be used for long distance lecturers'
fees, travel expenses and running costs. Financial assistance
will be important also for advanced students, faculty and
non-academic staff exchanges. Scholarship grants awarded to Art
History Department students may be used by CAAH to continue young
people schooling and for the intensive study of English.
CAAH expects funding for running costs for a full 20 computer
classroom at Art History Department of YSU. Support will be
essential for the students' access to art projects on Internet
and World Wide Web and establishment of art software library at
UNESCO CAAH which will be innovative and exceptional in the
region ( GETTY ART HISTORY Information Program software already
has been donated).
Sponsors can provide assistance to UNESCO CAAH for printing
of textbooks on Armenian and World Art, as during past decades
the art historians and art critics of Armenia were not encouraged
to produce such literature.
The goal of UNESCO CAAH is to coordinate the work done in all
educational and research centers, museums and libraries of
Armenia.
With the patronage and support of UNESCO, YSU, GETTY ART
HISTORY INFORMATION PROGRAM and private donors, CAAH and Art
History Department at YSU can help to revive the educational,
cultural and intellectual life in Yerevan and entire Armenia.
CHAIR
Registration Form
On-line International conferance on Internet
devoted to the 100th anniversary of Sirarpi Der Nersessian in
September 1996
Please fill in the registration form and return it by e-mail
to garik@itgateway.com
or by normal mail to:
Deadline for Registration: 1 AUGUST 1996
Copyright © 1996 INTERNET TELEPRESENCE, Inc.
For more information, please contact info@itgateway.com
Updated: JUNE 16, 1996