Hope and the Sublime: The Art and Architecture of Nishan Kazazian

As Kazazian reiterated during a long studio visit, artists create for various reasons, including self-expression, communication, exploration, reflection, connection, beauty and social commentary. Their motivations stem from a deep inner compulsion to express themselves, share ideas, evoke emotions, and connect with others. Whether driven by personal experiences, societal issues or aesthetic pursuits, they contribute to the rich tapestry of human expression and understanding.

Said Kazazian: “I create because I feel a profound inner compulsion; it’s not something I can choose not to do. I perceive it as a duty, an imperative to record and communicate a purposeful message, a response to negativity — countering the negative forces in the world. This expression is rooted in the personal, social, psychological, and intellectual context of a particular time and place, encompassing both the past and present, as well as an imagined future.”

In transforming despair into triumph, Kazazian proposes a new paradigm for Armenian culture, one that finds echoes in the work of the curator Tamar Hovsepian, theorist Marc Nichanian and a new generation of forward-thinking cultural workers in both the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora.

In 2016, for example, a new Armenian Genocide Museum was erected in Byblos, Lebanon. Kazazian pointed out that the surviving orphans are represented as helpless and sad, “waiting like beggars for their next meal.”

A World Peace Magazine article on the museum described sufferings and sad songs, a dirge-like state all-too-familiar to the descendants of survivors. For Kazazian this type of despair propagates a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. He believes that representing survival as sadness plays into the hands of the perpetrators whose atrocities succeeded in inflicting pain on their victims. His alternative vision is meant to generate a positive message of hope instead of defeat.

Kazazian expounded, “In my rendition of an alternate museum exhibition, we see children at work and play who were taught about their culture and traditions so they could eventually fly off on their own and build a future for themselves and their global community.”

This vision concurs with his belief that artists and architects have a responsibility to generate uplifting and positive messages of hope: “This should be their ultimate goal — to bring light from darkness, and hope from where there previously was none.”

In many of his works Kazazian blends disparate elements into a cohesive whole to create a tapestry-like feel. Each piece weaves together diverse threads of storytelling and emotion and invites viewers to engage with rich layers of meaning and artistic expression. His plexiglass sculptures, for example, blend vivid colors with tender geometry to great effect. The resulting layers resonate with multiple meanings — history, archeology and society interweave temporally with various human emotions and conditions.

For Kazazian, “each layer embodies the shadows of passing time, reflecting the imprint of resilience in the face of adversity. Through these layers, I acknowledge the complex interplay between personal narratives and broader societal contexts.”

To make these and other artworks, Kazazian breaks the pieces apart and puts them back together again. This process of breaking down and rebuilding symbolizes the resilience of both the material and human worlds. These new beginnings also bring with them a sense of ludic fun and renewal, and embody the strength required to overcome challenges.

Or as Kazazian cleverly stated: “I embrace transformation by creating space for fresh starts and growth. I see this as a testament to the human spirit’s capacity to adapt and thrive amidst adversity, and to embrace change as a catalyst for reinvention and renewal.”

History and Healing

For someone with such bittersweet family story, history becomes an unavoidable theme, a meditation almost. In a series of large wood artworks, the veneer itself reflects the passage of time and history, or as Kazazian elegantly told me, it becomes a metaphor for carrying history: “By juxtaposing and reconfiguring layouts and arrangements, I contemplate the evolution of human interactions and personal psychological displacements, considering various conditions and circumstances.”

In Kazazian’s case, this history includes a childhood spent in the sophisticated streets of mid 20th-century Beirut, alive with cross-cultural influences. And behind that now-lost Beirut, the rupture of the Armenian Genocide survived along with his family. Yet through art, he transcends this rupture, as averred by noted British psychoanalyst William Badenhorst: “As a psychoanalyst, I have come across people whose unmourned losses trap them in a sort of mausoleum. This is emphatically not the case in Kazazian’s work, which like wood carries living connections to the past, and possibilities for a re-imagined present and future.”

It is in this imaginative aspect that Kazazian’s unrealized architectural projects come into play: a virtual alternative zoo lures in the viewer, while a futuristic round aquarium for Beirut’s waterfront juts out of the Corniche to become a living part of the Mediterranean landscape. In order to heal the past, Kazazian becomes a kind of architectural witchdoctor, incorporating significant historical and archaeological objects and replicas, to enrich the environment. This approach transcends boundaries, emphasizing the holistic fusion of space and human experience.

“My inspiration stems from Caucasian and Middle Eastern architecture, drawing on forms and spaces created by Mesopotamian, Sumerian, Akkadian, Sassanian and Zoroastrian senses and functions of space,” he said. In his self-initiated project, the Hydro Healing Center 2014 – Yerevan, Armenia, Kazazian advocates for Armenian architecture that expresses identity and cultural uniqueness, drawing from the nation’s rich historical and cultural heritage.

He emphasizes that Armenian architecture should incorporate influences from Caucasian and Middle Eastern traditions, rather than merely imitating contemporary trends. This project embodies Kazazian’s philosophy by using architectural and artistic transcendence to address collective trauma. The design harmonizes indoor and outdoor spaces through the integration of water features and carefully selected materials, creating transformative environments that evoke emotions of loss, discovery, jubilation and celebration.

Prioritizing physical, emotional and psychological well-being, the center seamlessly incorporates natural elements — such as light and connections to nature — to enhance healing and comfort. The inclusion of historical and archaeological objects, both authentic and replicated, further enriches the space, imbuing it with a sense of continuity and depth.

In another part of the world, the Metropolitan Museum’s 2022 show “Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art,” emphasized the role that art and the construction of a national art movement played in helping the then-bankrupt Danes heal from the disastrous results of the Napoleonic Wars, the bombardment of Copenhagen by the English and increasing German antagonism.

Art helped Denmark to develop the sociocultural and philosophical wherewithal to overcome these seemingly insurmountable obstacles and thrive as a modern state, now considered one of the most prosperous and happy in the world. How were the Danes both similar to yet different from their neighbors? Their art tells the story at a deep and otherwise unknowable level, much like Italy saw itself reflected through its Renaissance masters and France through its stunning Impressionist and then Cubist artists, or even later on New York through Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art.

Kazazian’s work seems to argue for the need of a similar artistic and cultural reawakening for the global Armenian community, especially after recent setbacks in Artsakh and elsewhere. His art involves remembering and memorializing the past in a vibrant, positive manner to envision a future of resilience, optimism, and boundless possibility. Serving as both a model to others, artists ensure that the trauma inflicted on humans never succeeds in defining our identity or our future. It’s a message well worth listening to from an artist and architect whose work is only now beginning to attain the full renown it deserves.

Follow Kazazian on Instagram: www.instagram.com/nishankazazian/

Learn more about Kazazian at: https://nishankazazian.com/