Urvakan is coming back on September 23–25 to Dilijan, Armenia.
Spanning three days, the program welcomes new perspectives on regionalism and decoloniality, synthesis, programming and sonic activism, all explored through the prism of live shows, labs and discussions. The offering is vast yet focused on core concepts — reconceiving and transcending genres from contemporary, electronic and electroacoustic music to folk, noise, militant dub, underground rap and everything in-between.
“A specter is always a revenant.”
Originally catalyzed by research into the modernist architecture of some of Yerevan’s “haunted” spaces, Urvakan (an Armenian word for “ghost” or “spirit”) once used this metaphor to examine the experiential domain of music festivals and explore this well-known format from a range of angles, including issues of cultural heritage and sustainability. Urvakan 2022 addresses even more vital, contemporary subjects. Since the last edition of the festival the world continues to live through the COVID pandemic, migration crises, unfolding climate catastrophes and brutal wars that have bled into the daily routine of our lives and inevitably affected our perspectives.
The war in Artsakh, the war in Ukraine and the other wars that still continue in different parts of the world vary in their contexts and backstories. Yet, common patterns can be discerned in most of them—these are the relics of centuries of imperialism and colonial histories. While condemning the leaders of the countries who justify their wars with hypocritical lies about killing in the name of peace, we equally oppose the indifference and dehumanizing logic with which these conflicts are met. We’re working, through participation and profound comprehension, to imagine the possible ways out of these impasses.
With this year’s edition of the Urvakan festival, our goal is to deploy a public platform that addresses issues of imperialism and post-colonialism in the regions of the South Caucasus, Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. We are eager to expand our vision beyond the region, to tell the stories of countries such as Greece, Ethiopia and Northern African nations. The diverse array of artists that will be represented at the festival whose practices are deeply rooted into decolonial and/or social activism will result in a series of critical research labs, workshops and roundtables to be accompanied by a selection of post-festival publications in the form of the Urvakan Reader. Last but not least, we're also going to integrate charity events into the program of the festival.
The first edition of Urvakan took place in Yerevan. Today, while its creative infrastructure is becoming stronger every day, the other regions of Armenia are still developing and are in need of greater attention and economic support. Choosing the city of Dilijan as the host for Urvakan 2022, the festival not only honors one of the country’s most historical, picturesque and pleasant regions, but also aims to decentralize our work.
The second wave of artist announcements and more details are coming soon.
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