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Notations '25
Études
A two-week interdisciplinary lab where a shared score becomes living material for new sound, media and performance works. visit the page
Notations is a two-week interdisciplinary laboratory held at the Armenian State Philharmonia. Built around Avet Terterian’s Third Symphony as a working score — digitized for the first time for this lab by Armenian National Music — it brings together composers, media artists, performers and researchers to reinterpret Armenian classical music through sound art, installation, performance and digital media. The symphony is treated as active material: something to dissect, translate, rearrange and recompose across disciplines. The lab develops and tests a method for structuring complex interaction between disciplines, cultures, languages and experience levels, defining shared working formats, daily rhythms and collective decision-making structures.
Instead of producing parallel projects, the lab builds a single evolving process where differences remain visible yet structurally linked. The process culminates in a two-day public showcase at the State Philharmonia presenting works developed during the lab — concerts, performances and installations conceived as independent formats that can travel, adapt to new spaces and be presented internationally. Participants consistently describe Notations as a safe and supportive environment that lowers the barrier to experimentation. The model is designed for replication and adaptation in other institutional and international contexts.
- 12 daysThree meals a day, lectures, workshops, rehearsals, studio time, a daily 15-minute rave, and very little sleep.
- 60 artistsFrom 9 countries, working across music, sound art, visual art, animation, video, and artificial intelligence.
- 22 curatorsClassical composers, jazz virtuosos, technical magicians, media artists, and interdisciplinary creators guiding the process through talks, workshops, and one-to-one dialogues.
- 37 ProjectsConcerts, performances, and installations initiated by curators, participants, and the hosq team — presented at the Notations Festival & Public Program.
Notations Festival & Public Program brings together 21 concerts, 36 installations and 7 performances, developed during a 12‑day laboratory with 60 artists and 22 curators. These works form a two‑day festival at the State Philharmonia of Armenia with 1000+ visitors, and a number of projects have already been exported and presented at international festivals, including platforms in Edinburgh.
Laboratory of symphony, interpretation,
and collective experiment
Everything begins with a single piece.
Avet Terteryan’s Symphony No. 3 — digitized for the first time especially for this laboratory by Armenian National Music — becomes an entry point, an invitation.
To look closer.
To listen deeply.
To rearrange.
To question.
To seek.
The focus is on what happens in between.
A score is sound and text, movement and light, architecture and mistake, silence and interaction.
We compose through touch, speech, gesture, movement, editing, rhythm, attention.
We create scores of existence in space and time.
Process over form.
Form over outcome.
Still, we care about everything that grows out of honest searching, of dialogue, of presence.
Fragile. Unexpected. Alive.
and collective experiment
Everything begins with a single piece.
Avet Terteryan’s Symphony No. 3 — digitized for the first time especially for this laboratory by Armenian National Music — becomes an entry point, an invitation.
To look closer.
To listen deeply.
To rearrange.
To question.
To seek.
The focus is on what happens in between.
A score is sound and text, movement and light, architecture and mistake, silence and interaction.
We compose through touch, speech, gesture, movement, editing, rhythm, attention.
We create scores of existence in space and time.
Process over form.
Form over outcome.
Still, we care about everything that grows out of honest searching, of dialogue, of presence.
Fragile. Unexpected. Alive.
Ten days in the lab — a time of friction.
Between participants. Between the piece and our experience. Between past and present.
A synthesis emerges — cross-genre, multi-format.
A chain reaction begins.
Notes, spaces, objects come alive.
People open to each other.
The audience enters a space of co-existence.
Becomes part of the dialogue.
A participant. A co-author. A witness.
The laboratory functions as an ecosystem.
Impulses emerge from within and from beyond.
Curators, experts, mediators, professionals hold balance within a flexible structure.
They take risks. They improvise.
To reach something greater than the sum of our potentials.
This is Notations.
Change is our result.
In the body. In perception. In relation.
Even if just for a moment.
Between participants. Between the piece and our experience. Between past and present.
A synthesis emerges — cross-genre, multi-format.
A chain reaction begins.
Notes, spaces, objects come alive.
People open to each other.
The audience enters a space of co-existence.
Becomes part of the dialogue.
A participant. A co-author. A witness.
The laboratory functions as an ecosystem.
Impulses emerge from within and from beyond.
Curators, experts, mediators, professionals hold balance within a flexible structure.
They take risks. They improvise.
To reach something greater than the sum of our potentials.
This is Notations.
Change is our result.
In the body. In perception. In relation.
Even if just for a moment.
Shhau
Shhau is an artist working across music production, sound design, and education, active in Yerevan’s contemporary music scene since 2012. His practice merges experimental electronic music, philosophy, and narrative-driven composition, while maintaining strong ties to the jazz community through ongoing collaborations. Over the past decade, he has produced and co-produced three full-length albums and worked with prominent rock and hip-hop artists as a producer, drum programmer, and mixing engineer. Alongside his artistic work, he teaches music production and sound design, and is a co-founder of Mansard, a multidisciplinary creative studio uniting music, visual art, and photography.
Vardan Harutyunyan
A Yerevan-born composer, pianist, and electro-acoustic artist working across contemporary composition, improvisation, and sound ecology. A graduate of the Yerevan State Conservatory, he founded SoundLab Gyumri and the Contemporary Sound Orchestra, and co-created the project *Soundpath*, presented at NPAK’s Alternative Festival. His research-driven practice explores resonance, overtones, and wave physics, linking sound with ecological and social systems.
Aram Hovhannisyan
Aram is a composer of contemporary music active on both local and international stages, collaborating with leading festivals, ensembles, and soloists. Since 2017, he has directed the Crossroads Festival and founded Ensemble Assonance in Yerevan, contributing to the development of Armenia’s contemporary music scene. Since 2018, he has been affiliated with the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, where he serves as Vice-Rector for Academic and International Affairs and teaches composition.
Dima Ustinov
Over the past 20 years, Dima has been active across multiple areas of the music field, including live performance with his own band, DJing, organizing parties and music festivals, music education and mentoring, as well as producing original tracks and remixes. Today, his practice centers around two main directions: performing live electroacoustic music for piano and synthesizers, and creating interactive, immersive musical experiences for audiences. He also serves as Music Dean of the online education platform Journey, contributing to the development of new approaches in contemporary music learning.
Seda Grigoryan
Seda is a cultural leader and media professional working at the intersection of storytelling, cultural policy, and advocacy. With an MA in Film Production from the University of West London, she was part of CivilNet from its founding and later became the first Head of the Creative Europe Desk in Armenia, supporting access to European cultural networks and funding. Today, she leads ASA – Advocacy Society for the Arts, focusing on building a sustainable ecosystem for artistic expression in Armenia. Alongside her institutional work, she develops experimental video and installation projects.
Tigran Toti
Music band’s Katuner Armenian Navy band Creator of Dialog project The head of Artsakh state jazz orchestra
Artyom Naghdyan
Artyom Naghdyan is a musician, sound specialist, and cultural producer, currently serving as CEO of the State Philharmonia of Armenia. He leads the technical direction of major events including Yerevan Jazz Fest, HighFest, and the Yerevan Book Festival. Trained in cello and sound design in Armenia, the United States, and at Warner Bros. in Los Angeles, he has worked across concerts, films, and large-scale festivals, integrating music, technology, and collaborative production. His approach centers on building meaningful connections between people, places, and ideas through thoughtfully produced cultural projects.
Andriesh Gandrabur
Composer, sound designer, and educator working at the intersection of sound art, media, and performance. Founder of the Sound Art and Sound Design program at HSE School of Design.
Hayk Karoyi
Hayk Karoyi is a musician and sound artist working between traditional instrumentation and experimental electronics. A graduate of the Yerevan State Conservatory, he co-founded the bands Room 118 and Goght, performing internationally across Asia and Europe. Since 2017, he has developed an electronic music practice presented at festivals including Terraforma, Signal, and Stihia. He also composes for film and interdisciplinary projects, and in 2024 co-founded the sound-based app Tanuma.
Andronik Khachiian
Artist and curator across bio art, performance, and sound. He has led interdisciplinary laboratories and curated exhibitions in Europe, Mexico, and Armenia.
Daria Sadovnikova
Daria is a multidisciplinary artist working with video, sound, installation, and set design. With a background in painting and film production design, she creates video artworks, soundscapes, and spatial projects that combine moving image, collage, and audio. Her practice focuses on building immersive environments that connect visual storytelling with sound.
Karina Malik
In 2015, she began her artistic career as an architect and model maker, but since 2019, she has shifted her focus to set design and work with materials and objects. Today, she works as an art director, creating a visual environment through installations and decorations of any scale and complexity.
Kai Khachatryan
A Yerevan-based sound artist and experimental musician working between underground culture and electro-acoustic research. Active in punk bands since 2002 and producing experimental music since 2010, his practice centers on field recordings and electromagnetic sounds captured with self-built devices. Focused on timbral transformation rather than structural change, he preserves the raw authenticity of street and acoustic environments. His work often draws on psychological themes, translating complex mental states into immersive sonic forms.
Misak Samokatian
Misak Samokatian is an artist, musician, and art director. He has been involved in the field of interactive, kinetic, and audio-visual installations since 2011. As an artist, he works with light, sound, video, space, and time.
Yura Boguslavsky
Yura is an animation director, animator, scriptwriter, producer, and educator, as well as the co-founder of the Invisible Friends creative team and Tsekh Animacii studio. A graduate of SHAR Animation School (2009–2011), he has been creating animation since the age of eight and teaching it since eighteen. Since 2010, he has led animation workshops internationally, working with participants across Russia, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, France, Italy, Serbia, Slovakia, Israel, and beyond. His practice combines artistic production with a strong commitment to education and the development of young animators.
Yuriy Avdeev
Yuriy is an artist working with objects, space, and installation at the intersection of art, engineering, and design. He began studying artistic material processing technology in 2010 and spent several years working across industries, gaining extensive experience in materials, equipment, advertising displays, props, and large-scale three-dimensional environments. From 2019 to 2022, he ran an independent workshop in Moscow focused on spatial design and artistic installations. Now based in Yerevan, he operates a small-scale production studio and is a member of the Gesamt set design team, developing scenography, installations, exhibition architecture, and experimental spatial solutions for cultural and commercial projects.
Gevorg Grigoryan / dob_
Gevorg is a multimedia artist and creative technologist working with music, audiovisual performance, digital installations, and theater production. Since 2012, he has developed and presented multimedia projects in Armenia and internationally, combining tools such as TouchDesigner, Blender, and Adobe Suite with strong project management and art direction. He is the founder of “di.” studio, focusing on immersive digital environments and technology-driven artistic experiences.
Petros Goroyan
Sound Engineer
Tigran Araqelyan
Tigran Arakelyan is an accomplished artist with over a decade of experience in animation and cinema. Graduating from "Hakob Kojoyan" art school in 2009 and later earning an Art Direction degree from "Yerevan State University of Theatre and Cinematography" in 2013, he began his career early. Co-founding OnOff Studio in 2018, Tigran has led the creation of artistic project and his detbute animated film is "ZAKO," where he explores innovative VR technologies to push creative boundaries.
Robert Poghosyan
Robert is an artist, musician, and researcher whose practice combines material experimentation with sound-based exploration. Drawing on years of hands-on experience with diverse materials, he develops installations and performances that translate conceptual ideas into tangible forms. His multidisciplinary approach allows him not only to realize his own artistic visions but also to collaborate closely with other artists, supporting the technical and creative realization of their projects. Through sound and spatial interventions, he has contributed to several collaborative artworks that bridge research and artistic production.
Shoghakat MLKÉ-Galstian
Arts manager, choreographer, actress - dancer and educator. As Creative Director of MIHR Contemporary Dance Theatre, she helped shape Armenia’s contemporary movement scene and its distinctive “Music of Movement” language.
Lusine MLKÉ-Galstian
Creative producer, musician, and songwriter. Co-founder of Tiezerk and Head of Events at Hrach’s Art Space.
Karen Vardanyan
Karen is a lighting designer, that has been working with this form for the past 20 years. His range of work includes concerts, dance performances, festivals, outdoor events, corporate events, film and video shoots, broadcasting events.
how Notations works
Notations unfolds over twelve days at the State Philharmonia. The Third Symphony by Avet Terterian functions as a shared score — a common reference point that different disciplines can enter from their own angle. Daily rhythms combine lectures, workshops, rehearsals, studio time and one‑to‑one dialogues with curators; participants move between composing, improvising, spatial work, media experiments and collective feedback. The method focuses on how to keep many practices interconnected: shared formats, common time structures and collective decision‑making create one evolving process instead of separate project lines. The final two days become a public festival where this process is opened to audiences through concerts, performances and installations.
what hosq provides and how we support the process
Curatorial frame and partnerships:
hosq convenes the curatorial team and co‑designs the laboratory with the State Philharmonia of Armenia and partners such as CYFEST, Yerevan State Conservatory and Armenian National Music. Together we set the thematic frame (Terterian’s Third Symphony), the selection process and the internal logic of the lab and showcase.
Infrastructure and technical ecosystem:
We work with the Philharmonia’s spaces and technical teams to provide rehearsal rooms, concert halls, multichannel setups and support for complex sound, light and media works, as well as access to digitised scores and archival material.
Facilitation and group work:
hosq facilitates the daily structure, feedback formats and coordination between disciplines, helping participants navigate from individual ideas to a shared process while keeping room for risk and experiment.
Care and logistics:
We handle scheduling, communication, basic hospitality and on‑site support, so that artists can focus on the work while still feeling held by the environment.
Continuation and touring:
Notations is designed with export in mind: selected works and formats are further developed and presented in Armenia and internationally, and the lab model itself can be adapted together with partner institutions.
hosq convenes the curatorial team and co‑designs the laboratory with the State Philharmonia of Armenia and partners such as CYFEST, Yerevan State Conservatory and Armenian National Music. Together we set the thematic frame (Terterian’s Third Symphony), the selection process and the internal logic of the lab and showcase.
Infrastructure and technical ecosystem:
We work with the Philharmonia’s spaces and technical teams to provide rehearsal rooms, concert halls, multichannel setups and support for complex sound, light and media works, as well as access to digitised scores and archival material.
Facilitation and group work:
hosq facilitates the daily structure, feedback formats and coordination between disciplines, helping participants navigate from individual ideas to a shared process while keeping room for risk and experiment.
Care and logistics:
We handle scheduling, communication, basic hospitality and on‑site support, so that artists can focus on the work while still feeling held by the environment.
Continuation and touring:
Notations is designed with export in mind: selected works and formats are further developed and presented in Armenia and internationally, and the lab model itself can be adapted together with partner institutions.
Études is a 3‑day laboratory leaning toward performance and installation, culminating in a collective public showcase. visit the page
Études is a 3‑day experimental lab for sound artists, choreographers and visual artists who work without a fixed script or pre‑produced piece. Over three intensive days, participants meet, form teams and build audio‑visual performances from scratch, using their own tools, bodies and environments as material. The lab focuses on the intersection of practices — from dance and theatre to sound art, light, video and interactive media — and treats the performance space as a living ecosystem rather than a static stage.
Here, process is more important than polish: Études creates conditions where “readiness” and “quality” step aside to make room for curiosity, risk and mutual learning. Framed by the theme “Traditions of the Future”, it invites participants to question hidden norms, rethink how we use memory, heritage and technology, and imagine futures not based on a pre‑existing world but created through shared practice. At the end of the lab, all works are woven into a single collective piece presented to the public and supported for further development and touring beyond the three‑day frame.
- 3 daysThe program combined workshops, research sessions, and rehearsals, encouraging interdisciplinary teams to test ideas in real time.
- 48 artistsFrom 8 countries, working across performance art, sound art, visual art, and video.
- 14 curatorsTheatrical directors, performance artists, sound artists, media artists, and interdisciplinary creators.
- 18 ProjectsPerformances, and installations initiated by curators, participants, and the hosq team — presented at the Études Showcase.
“For three days, I experienced what it means to be only an artist. In a region where art is often overlooked, that felt like a rare luxury."
export
“Antanélee” is a multidisciplinary performance born from the stories of its participants, created at Études Lab #1. Divided into four parts, it moves through themes of exile, environmental activism, social pressure, digitalization, and the female body as a space of struggle and resistance.
Together they merge into one word — Antanélee, meaning unbearable.
Participated:
Christina Danielyan, Eliza Baghdiyan, Eliza Olkinitskaya, Faina Makoeva, Giuseppe di Bisceglie, Inna Ghazaryan, Kai Khachatryan, Kseniia Gribiniuk, Lusine Mlke-Galstyan, Seda Grigoryan, curator Tsolak MLKE-Galstyan
Together they merge into one word — Antanélee, meaning unbearable.
Participated:
Christina Danielyan, Eliza Baghdiyan, Eliza Olkinitskaya, Faina Makoeva, Giuseppe di Bisceglie, Inna Ghazaryan, Kai Khachatryan, Kseniia Gribiniuk, Lusine Mlke-Galstyan, Seda Grigoryan, curator Tsolak MLKE-Galstyan
«Kap» / Chronofest, Yerevan / 2025
“Kap” (translated from Armenian as “connection”) is a performance that explores the boundaries of empathy.
The piece consists of two parts, each configuring the interaction between performers and audience in a different way.
In both parts, the performers do not use pre-written or memorized text as the material for stage action. All of the text in the performance—all the logos—is born in real time, within the space of the audience.
Responding to that text, the performers initiate a complex process of emotional and semantic exchange, in which it quickly becomes unclear—and ultimately irrelevant—who is the author and who is the spectator.
Thus emerges a shared space of action and empathy, which manifests each time differently and depends entirely on the composition of the participants.
Curators: Ilya Moschitsky, Alexander Plotnikov
Performers: Amirhossein Bazgir, Nasrin Shojaei, Pouya Jafari, Margarita Sargsyan
Visual: Basilio Utekhin
Music: Gayane Aslanyan, Nadya Xyxu
The piece consists of two parts, each configuring the interaction between performers and audience in a different way.
In both parts, the performers do not use pre-written or memorized text as the material for stage action. All of the text in the performance—all the logos—is born in real time, within the space of the audience.
Responding to that text, the performers initiate a complex process of emotional and semantic exchange, in which it quickly becomes unclear—and ultimately irrelevant—who is the author and who is the spectator.
Thus emerges a shared space of action and empathy, which manifests each time differently and depends entirely on the composition of the participants.
Curators: Ilya Moschitsky, Alexander Plotnikov
Performers: Amirhossein Bazgir, Nasrin Shojaei, Pouya Jafari, Margarita Sargsyan
Visual: Basilio Utekhin
Music: Gayane Aslanyan, Nadya Xyxu
Process over product
We prioritize process, attention and shared time over finished results. The lab is a space for trying, failing, repeating and re‑composing — not for delivering a polished “show”.
Collective authorship
Works are created through dialogue between artists, not through isolated genius. Decisions are negotiated; authorship is shared; the final piece is a weave of multiple voices rather than a single signature.
Experiment as ethics
Experimentation is not only a formal game but an ethical position. We test how to work together, how to listen, how to distribute care and responsibility inside a group and towards audiences and contexts.
Traditions of the future
We examine the invisible norms, habits and taboos that shape our daily lives and artistic decisions. We ask which of them must be left behind — and how to invent flexible, non‑dogmatic ethics for futures that do not yet exist.
Memory without paralysis
We work with memory, archives and cultural heritage without being trapped by them. We refuse both amnesia and fetishization of the past, searching instead for practices that keep sensitivity alive without producing paralysis or nostalgia.
We prioritize process, attention and shared time over finished results. The lab is a space for trying, failing, repeating and re‑composing — not for delivering a polished “show”.
Collective authorship
Works are created through dialogue between artists, not through isolated genius. Decisions are negotiated; authorship is shared; the final piece is a weave of multiple voices rather than a single signature.
Experiment as ethics
Experimentation is not only a formal game but an ethical position. We test how to work together, how to listen, how to distribute care and responsibility inside a group and towards audiences and contexts.
Traditions of the future
We examine the invisible norms, habits and taboos that shape our daily lives and artistic decisions. We ask which of them must be left behind — and how to invent flexible, non‑dogmatic ethics for futures that do not yet exist.
Memory without paralysis
We work with memory, archives and cultural heritage without being trapped by them. We refuse both amnesia and fetishization of the past, searching instead for practices that keep sensitivity alive without producing paralysis or nostalgia.
Beyond the pre‑existing world
Following Merab Mamardashvili’s idea of “stopping to think in terms of a pre‑existing world”, we treat the lab as a place to create worlds rather than simply represent them. Stage, space, bodies, sound and light become tools for world‑building.
Interdisciplinarity as necessity, not decor
Crossing disciplines is not a decorative gesture but a working condition. Choreographers, sound artists, performers and visual artists challenge each other’s methods and vocabularies, allowing unfamiliar tools to reconfigure their practice.
Care for context
Each edition of Études is embedded in a specific place and community. We recognize the social, political and ecological conditions around us and allow them to shape our questions, dramaturgies and working methods.
Access and hospitality
We strive to create an environment where participants with different backgrounds, experiences and abilities can work together. Hospitality, clear communication and shared rules are part of the artistic work, not something “on the side”.
Continuation beyond the lab
The final performance is not an endpoint but a starting point. Études supports the further development and touring of the collective work, allowing it to grow, transform and encounter new audiences and spaces.
Following Merab Mamardashvili’s idea of “stopping to think in terms of a pre‑existing world”, we treat the lab as a place to create worlds rather than simply represent them. Stage, space, bodies, sound and light become tools for world‑building.
Interdisciplinarity as necessity, not decor
Crossing disciplines is not a decorative gesture but a working condition. Choreographers, sound artists, performers and visual artists challenge each other’s methods and vocabularies, allowing unfamiliar tools to reconfigure their practice.
Care for context
Each edition of Études is embedded in a specific place and community. We recognize the social, political and ecological conditions around us and allow them to shape our questions, dramaturgies and working methods.
Access and hospitality
We strive to create an environment where participants with different backgrounds, experiences and abilities can work together. Hospitality, clear communication and shared rules are part of the artistic work, not something “on the side”.
Continuation beyond the lab
The final performance is not an endpoint but a starting point. Études supports the further development and touring of the collective work, allowing it to grow, transform and encounter new audiences and spaces.
Tsolak Mlke-Galstyan
Tsolak Mlke-Galstyan is an accomplished choreographer, director, and art manager with over two decades of experience in contemporary dance and performing arts in Armenia. As the co-founder and Art Director of Mihr Theatre, he has played a pivotal role in shaping the contemporary dance scene. Tsolak is also the curator of dance platforms and festivals, including the HIGH FEST International Performing Arts Festival. His works span choreography, stage direction, and art management, and he has led numerous educational and social-arts projects. Tsolak’s commitment to collaboration and cultural exchange has contributed to the growth of the contemporary dance landscape in Armenia and internationally, with engagements across Europe, the US, and the Middle East.
Ilya Moshchitsky
Ilya Moshchitsky is a director and founder of the independent theater company "Temporary Association Chronotope," with a diverse career in Armenia, Ukraine, and Russia. His works have been showcased at international festivals, including the Edinburgh Fringe, "NET" in Moscow, and "GogolFest" in Kyiv. Winner of the 2018 Breakthrough Award for "Best Director" and nominated for the 2022 Golden Mask Award, Moshchitsky's performances have been staged in cities like St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Berlin. In 2022, he relocated to Yerevan, where "Chronotope" continues to stage plays, festivals, and workshops in multiple languages.
Sergei Komarov / Lidiia Griaznova
Sergei Komarov and Lidiia Griaznova curate the sound art program at CYFEST and Cyland Audio Archive (CAA). Sergei Komarov is an engineer, sound artist, and curator. He co-founded the Kurvenschreiber band and works as a Max/MSP programmer for installations at CYLAND MediaArtLab. He has collaborated with Asymmetrique Answer and creates independent sound art. He currently lives and works in Yerevan, Armenia. Lidiia Griaznova is a curator and artist. She has been a managing editor and curator at CYLAND MediaArtLab since 2019 and holds an MA in Curatorial Studies from Bard College and St. Petersburg State University. Lidiia has curated exhibitions, book-based projects, and a special issue of Leonardo Journal. As an artist, she works with books as new media art. She currently lives and works in London, UK.
Dima Ustinov
Dima Ustinov is a composer, improviser, and electronic musician. He writes and performs music that can be described as ambient / neoclassical / minimalist. His personal music practice and research lies at the intersection of musical performance, meditative practices, and soundhealing. Big part of Dima's mission is to unite and elevate people through music. He has melted 20+ years of experience as a musician and 6 years as music coach into this project for public, teams and residences. It allows total beginners and experienced musicians to enjoy playing together instantly. Dima also works with 'augmented piano’- a combination of piano, complex FX chains and electronic instruments that can create lush and textural soundscapes.
Misak Samokatian
Misak Samokatian is an artist, musician and art-director. He has been involved in the field of interactive, kinetic and audio-visual installations since 2011. As an artist he works with light, sound, video, space and time. His works have been presented at True \ False Festival (USA), Burning Man Russia(RU), Synthspoium(RU, AM), Winzavod Centre for contemporary art(RU), Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art(RU), Proun Moscow(RU), Urvakan Festival(AM), Hay-Art Cultural Centre(AM), NPAK(AM)
Anton Schegolev
Anton Shchegolev aka ply tone is a musician, sound artist, sound designer, teacher, technostuff lover and sound enthusiast based in Yerevan, Armenia. His interests lie not only in analog gear and modular synth systems, acoustics and soundscapes but also in exploring the transhuman relationship between society and technology. Inspired by Scandinavian folk high schools’ educational practices, Anton has been implementing social approaches in his teaching for over seven years. As the founder of SEC (Sound Enthusiastic Community), he strongly believes that independence of thought raised by a never ending process of self-education and mutual support grounded in open reciprocity will help create unusual takes, serious fun processes, a collaboration over competition mindset and sustainable responsibility among sound creators and enthusiasts.
Alexander Plotnikov
Born in Moscow in 1995, Alexander Plotnikov studied film and theater before starting his career in 2019. His work—blending poetic and documentary styles—addresses post-memory and reparative aesthetics, as seen in his banned play “Aphasia,” which intertwined his Ukrainian grandfather’s tragic post-Chernobyl experience with Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” His productions, including “Lenin and the Children” and “Anna Karenina,” earned critical acclaim and multiple Golden Mask nominations. After the invasion of Ukraine, he remained in Moscow, creating five anti-war performances under censorship—works like “Hiroshima” and “The Red Book” became landmarks of opposition theater. Now in artistic exile in Armenia, he continues to explore modern theater, with his latest mono-play “Alpha Centauri” questioning Soviet triumph myths and the oppressive side of progress.
Vardges Sayadyan
Vardges Sayadyan is an accomplished professional in the live entertainment industry, with over two decades of experience spanning live sound and event production. His contributions to the live entertainment industry extend globally, where he has led technical teams for international festivals and events such as Burning Man, Urvakan , Sensor etc, while his educational initiatives have helped shape the next generation of professionals in local region.
Shoghakat Mlke-Galstyan
Shoghakat Mlke-Galstyan is an arts manager, choreographer, and educator with over nine years of international experience. As Creative Director of Mihr Theatre, she has significantly contributed to Armenia's contemporary dance scene, blending performance and strategy to push artistic boundaries. Shoghakat holds an MA in Arts Management from Yerevan State Institute of Theater and Cinematography and has conducted postgraduate research at Zurich University of Arts. Her projects span Armenia, Europe, and the US, focusing on cultural policy, social art, and community engagement. Recognized with the Golden Medal from the Armenian Ministry of Culture, she is dedicated to bridging cultural gaps and promoting arts education.
Andriesh Gandrabur
Andriesh Gandrabur is a Russian composer, sound designer, and educator specializing in sound art and sound design. He serves as the head of the "Sound Art and Sound Design" program at the Higher School of Economics' School of Design and teaches at the British Higher School of Design. Gandrabur has been involved in various artistic projects, including founding the DOS music production school and co-founding the music communications agency Main In Main. He has also contributed to theater productions, such as composing music and sound design for Marina Brusnikina's play "In Rings" at the "Praktika" Theater. In the film industry, his works include music for "Permafrost" (2023) and "Another Long Day" (2021). Previously, Gandrabur worked as a creative director at a major advertising agency and was actively involved in musical projects, including the band My Space Rocket and Dsh!Dsh!
Andronik Khachiian
Andronik Khachiian is an artist, curator, and art manager with a diverse educational background in design, advertising, acting, filmmaking, and contemporary art. He has curated exhibitions globally, managed creative labs, and organized festivals, with a focus on community engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration. Over the past decade, Andronik has led artistic residencies, fostering creative spaces for diverse audiences. His work spans visual arts, performance, and music, aiming to create immersive, socially engaged experiences. With his multi-disciplinary education and extensive experience, Andronik integrates creativity, experimentation, and emotional connection in his projects.
how Études works
Études unfolds as a three‑day intensive. On Day 1, participants gather, share their practices and map out possible points of connection. Through facilitated exercises, short improvisations and collective discussions, temporary groups form around shared interests rather than fixed project pitches. The theme “Traditions of the Future” is approached as a question, not a brief: it enters the room through the participants’ biographies, political realities and aesthetic choices.
On Day 2, groups rapidly prototype sketches and working scores. Short showings and feedback sessions structure the day: each team presents where they are, receives responses from peers and curators, and re‑enters the studio with new hypotheses. Methods from choreography, sound art, theatre and installation are mixed — from spatial walks and text scores to live coding, modular synthesis, video and light experiments.
Day 3 is dedicated to composing a shared performance. Instead of presenting separate pieces one after another, the lab focuses on building a common temporal and spatial structure in which different works coexist. Transitions, overlaps and frictions become dramaturgical tools. The day culminates in an open presentation for an invited audience, where the lab’s internal processes briefly become public.
On Day 2, groups rapidly prototype sketches and working scores. Short showings and feedback sessions structure the day: each team presents where they are, receives responses from peers and curators, and re‑enters the studio with new hypotheses. Methods from choreography, sound art, theatre and installation are mixed — from spatial walks and text scores to live coding, modular synthesis, video and light experiments.
Day 3 is dedicated to composing a shared performance. Instead of presenting separate pieces one after another, the lab focuses on building a common temporal and spatial structure in which different works coexist. Transitions, overlaps and frictions become dramaturgical tools. The day culminates in an open presentation for an invited audience, where the lab’s internal processes briefly become public.
what hosq provides and how we support the process
Curatorial frame and dramaturgy:
hosq convenes and supports the team of curators from choreography, sound art, theatre and visual practices (including SEC, CYFEST and partner institutions; см. также Études Lab #1). Together we design the thematic frame, selection process and the internal logic of the three days.
Infrastructure and technical ecosystem:
We provide rehearsal and performance spaces, basic equipment and materials (sound, light, projection, staging) and, where possible, accommodation and meals for participants. Additional technical riders are negotiated with the production team and partners.
Facilitation and group work:
hosq accompanies the group through daily meetings, check‑ins and feedback formats. We help structure time, mediate conflicts, and ensure that different levels of experience and disciplines can work together without hierarchy closing down experimentation.
Care logistics:
Beyond artistic questions, we take responsibility for the invisible labour that keeps the lab running: schedules, transport, communication with venues and partners, documentation, hospitality for participants coming from abroad.
Continuation and touring:
After the lab, hosq works with curators and artists to refine the collective piece and prepare it for further presentations. We coordinate with partner institutions to secure a grant, arrange future showings and support the long‑term life of the work beyond a single edition of the lab.
hosq convenes and supports the team of curators from choreography, sound art, theatre and visual practices (including SEC, CYFEST and partner institutions; см. также Études Lab #1). Together we design the thematic frame, selection process and the internal logic of the three days.
Infrastructure and technical ecosystem:
We provide rehearsal and performance spaces, basic equipment and materials (sound, light, projection, staging) and, where possible, accommodation and meals for participants. Additional technical riders are negotiated with the production team and partners.
Facilitation and group work:
hosq accompanies the group through daily meetings, check‑ins and feedback formats. We help structure time, mediate conflicts, and ensure that different levels of experience and disciplines can work together without hierarchy closing down experimentation.
Care logistics:
Beyond artistic questions, we take responsibility for the invisible labour that keeps the lab running: schedules, transport, communication with venues and partners, documentation, hospitality for participants coming from abroad.
Continuation and touring:
After the lab, hosq works with curators and artists to refine the collective piece and prepare it for further presentations. We coordinate with partner institutions to secure a grant, arrange future showings and support the long‑term life of the work beyond a single edition of the lab.
While planning the Notations Laboratory, Dima Ustinov and the hosq team explored how to build an environment where more than 60 creators could safely experiment and move beyond their usual trajectories.
In many artistic communities — including Armenia — a high bar often turns into internal pressure. Perfectionism becomes a filter: ideas are judged too early, and many never leave the sketch stage.
This document grows from that observation. It reflects an attempt to create something simple, yet uncommon: a space where unfinished, uncertain, and searching practices are welcome.
By combining internationally tested residency methods — such as Round Robin and collective jams — with formats that emerged within the lab itself, like the daily 10-minute rave before dinner, we focused on conditions rather than outcomes. A space where participants could first exist, listen, and connect.
From there, new approaches, collaborations, and forms began to emerge naturally.
>> download file.pdf
In many artistic communities — including Armenia — a high bar often turns into internal pressure. Perfectionism becomes a filter: ideas are judged too early, and many never leave the sketch stage.
This document grows from that observation. It reflects an attempt to create something simple, yet uncommon: a space where unfinished, uncertain, and searching practices are welcome.
By combining internationally tested residency methods — such as Round Robin and collective jams — with formats that emerged within the lab itself, like the daily 10-minute rave before dinner, we focused on conditions rather than outcomes. A space where participants could first exist, listen, and connect.
From there, new approaches, collaborations, and forms began to emerge naturally.
>> download file.pdf
lectures
workshops
courses
Lectures are spaces of shared attention, bringing together artists, designers, musicians, and researchers with distinct voices. Each talk unfolds through context and dialogue, opening questions across art, sound, architecture, and technology.
Cosmic Perspective
Jan Świerkowski
Intersection of Creativity and Technology
Carla Diana
Sound as a Way of Thinking: Emotion, Structure, Atmosphere
Shahen Khandkaryan
Design Stories
Maria Cristina Didero
The Margins of Armenian Modern and Contemporary Art
Armen Yesayants
The Role of Project Thinking in the Creative Process
Aram Hovhannisyan
On Sound as Material
Robert Lippok
Artificial Intelligence in Music Composition
Lois Macdonald
Theatrical Music — Modern Ballet
Sergey Umroyan
Art Dreams For The New European Bauhaus
Roberto Paci Daló
Liliana Cavani’s Retrospective
Patrizia Fregonese de Filippo
The Margins of Armenian Modern and Contemporary Art: Part II
Armen Yesayants
1915. The Armenian Files & Conspiratio
Roberto Paci Daló
Armenian Lullabies: Women's song for the future
Lucia Kagramanyan
The Educational Mission
Lisa Shirinyan & Armen Yesayants
Women Artists in Armenian Art
Armen Yesayants
The Curatorial Orbit of Contemporary Art
Armen Yesayants
Music Marketing and Fashion Brands
Michael Leuffen
Is It Art or Not?
Armen Yesayants
Tresor x MOCT
Paul Cinske
Video documentation of each of the lectures
What connects atoms and black holes, art and science?
In this lecture, Jan Świerkowski — astronomer, artist, curator, and founder of Instytut B61 — explores how art can help humans perceive scientific phenomena that lie beyond the senses. Through metaphor, imagination, and cultural storytelling, he offers a new way of understanding the universe and our place within it.
Jan Świerkowski has been recognized as Poland’s Science Popularizer of the Year and has presented work at EXPO 2020, Science Centre Singapore, and Sónar Barcelona. Forbes has described his projects as “euphoric and mind-bending.”
Date: 13.03.2025
Location: Common Ground, Yerevan, Armenia
In this lecture, Jan Świerkowski — astronomer, artist, curator, and founder of Instytut B61 — explores how art can help humans perceive scientific phenomena that lie beyond the senses. Through metaphor, imagination, and cultural storytelling, he offers a new way of understanding the universe and our place within it.
Jan Świerkowski has been recognized as Poland’s Science Popularizer of the Year and has presented work at EXPO 2020, Science Centre Singapore, and Sónar Barcelona. Forbes has described his projects as “euphoric and mind-bending.”
Date: 13.03.2025
Location: Common Ground, Yerevan, Armenia
What connects emerging technology with empathy, design with storytelling?
In this lecture, Carla Diana — designer, author, and researcher — explores how objects of the near future can become companions: responsive, expressive, and deeply human.
With a background in product design, robotics, and speculative futures, she shows how thoughtful design can shape our interactions with technology — not just functionally, but emotionally.
Carla Diana’s work bridges disciplines and industries. She has collaborated with leading tech labs and design schools, and her book My Robot Gets Me has been recognized as a roadmap for the future of smart design.
Date: 12.03.2025
Location: Common Ground, Yerevan, Armenia
In this lecture, Carla Diana — designer, author, and researcher — explores how objects of the near future can become companions: responsive, expressive, and deeply human.
With a background in product design, robotics, and speculative futures, she shows how thoughtful design can shape our interactions with technology — not just functionally, but emotionally.
Carla Diana’s work bridges disciplines and industries. She has collaborated with leading tech labs and design schools, and her book My Robot Gets Me has been recognized as a roadmap for the future of smart design.
Date: 12.03.2025
Location: Common Ground, Yerevan, Armenia
In this talk, Shahen will share his personal approach to sound design — from conceptual thinking and emotional intent to the practical tools and methods he uses. Drawing from his own creative process, he will explore how sound can function as a narrative language in film, games, and live performance, balancing experimentation with structure, atmosphere, and emotion.
Shahen is a Yerevan-based music producer and composer, recognized as one of the most thoughtful emerging voices in the field of sound design. He began his musical journey at the age of 10, playing drums, later diving into electronic music and sonic experimentation. His deep interest in the emotional and structural power of sound led him to study musicology and composition at the Yerevan State Conservatory. He has also led music programs at the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies and conducted workshops for young creators.
Recorded on 21.05.2025
Location: Komitas Yerevan State Conservatory
Shahen is a Yerevan-based music producer and composer, recognized as one of the most thoughtful emerging voices in the field of sound design. He began his musical journey at the age of 10, playing drums, later diving into electronic music and sonic experimentation. His deep interest in the emotional and structural power of sound led him to study musicology and composition at the Yerevan State Conservatory. He has also led music programs at the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies and conducted workshops for young creators.
Recorded on 21.05.2025
Location: Komitas Yerevan State Conservatory
In this talk, Maria Cristina will share the stories, people, and ideas behind some of the most engaging design projects she has curated — from museum exhibitions and public installations to collaborations with today’s most forward-thinking designers and brands. Guided by her motto “Design is about people, not about chairs,” she’ll speak about how empathy, curiosity, and storytelling shape her curatorial approach.
With a background in philosophy and literature, Maria Cristina was the Curatorial Director of Design Miami in 2022 and collaborated with institutions such as Design Museum Holon and the National Building Museum, as well as brands including Vitra, Fendi, and Louis Vuitton. Until last year, she also served as the design editor for Wallpaper magazine. She is the co-founder of perfettooo, together with Mr. Lawrence — a platform dedicated to collectible contemporary design.
Date: 28.05.2025
Location: Common Ground
With a background in philosophy and literature, Maria Cristina was the Curatorial Director of Design Miami in 2022 and collaborated with institutions such as Design Museum Holon and the National Building Museum, as well as brands including Vitra, Fendi, and Louis Vuitton. Until last year, she also served as the design editor for Wallpaper magazine. She is the co-founder of perfettooo, together with Mr. Lawrence — a platform dedicated to collectible contemporary design.
Date: 28.05.2025
Location: Common Ground
In this talk, Aram Hovhannisyan share how project thinking — the ability to frame an idea, stay with it, and shape its form over time — can become a powerful artistic tool. Through personal reflections and practical insights, Aram will explore how structure doesn’t limit expression but creates space for it.
Date: 17.05.2025
Location: The State of Philharmonia of Armenia
Date: 17.05.2025
Location: The State of Philharmonia of Armenia
In this lecture, Robert Lippok offers insight into his artistic approach to sound as both a sculptural and architectural element. Drawing from his diverse body of work—from electroacoustic installations and live performances to spatial compositions—Lippok explores how sound can define, disrupt, and reimagine environments. He reflects on processes of field recording, resonance, and the transformation of ambient noise into structured musical material. Through a series of examples, he reveals how his practice balances intuition and precision, and how the ephemeral qualities of sound become tools for constructing perceptual spaces. The talk invites listeners into the interstitial zones between music, architecture, and the sonic fabric of everyday life.
Date: 12.06.2025
Location: WOODS
Date: 12.06.2025
Location: WOODS
In this lecture, multidisciplinary artist and musician Lois Macdonald — known for her work with Manchester group PINS, art punk project Grave Goods, and as a lecturer in Music and Sound Design at SODA, MMU — will explore the evolving role of AI and algorithmic systems in contemporary music composition.
Lois will introduce key tools and techniques used by composers and sound artists around the world, and share insights from her ongoing project ‘PATIENCE,’ which investigates the human voice, new technologies, and extended human expression.
The lecture will also address questions of authorship, aesthetics, and the changing nature of creative labor, as well as how generative AI is reshaping the cultural and economic landscape of the music industry.
Date: 19.07.2025
Location: The State Philharmonia of Armenia
Lois will introduce key tools and techniques used by composers and sound artists around the world, and share insights from her ongoing project ‘PATIENCE,’ which investigates the human voice, new technologies, and extended human expression.
The lecture will also address questions of authorship, aesthetics, and the changing nature of creative labor, as well as how generative AI is reshaping the cultural and economic landscape of the music industry.
Date: 19.07.2025
Location: The State Philharmonia of Armenia
In this lecture, Armen Yesayants will focus on narratives at the margins of Armenian modern and contemporary art history. Armen will discuss artists and movements of the 20th and 21st centuries that have remained outside broader public circulation, highlighting figures both unknown internationally and those whose reception in Armenia has been narrowly framed.
Date: 23.09.2025
Location: Nikolay Nikoghosyan Foundation
Date: 23.09.2025
Location: Nikolay Nikoghosyan Foundation
The first lecture — “The Margins of Armenian Modern and Contemporary Art” — unfolded into such a wide and fascinating discussion that we decided to divide it into two parts.
After tracing the story up to the 1980s, this second part picks up from there, diving into the shifting landscape of the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods.
It’s also a chance to hear more about a major exhibition of Armenian art recently opened in the United States, co-curated by Armen himself.
After tracing the story up to the 1980s, this second part picks up from there, diving into the shifting landscape of the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods.
It’s also a chance to hear more about a major exhibition of Armenian art recently opened in the United States, co-curated by Armen himself.
Links to pages of the lectures
Workshops are working situations shaped by experimentation and exchange, led by practitioners with singular approaches. They create space to test ideas, develop tools, and engage with materials and methods together.
The Other Sounds: Transforming Folk Recordings into Digital Instruments
Davit Sukiasyan
Audible Spaces
Sebastian Frisch
Workshop with Nicolás Jaar
Collaboration with Urvakan
Space Academy
Three-Day Hybrid Seminar & Workshop on Sound as Spatial Phenomenon
Impulse / Response as an Artistic Tool
Mauro Zannoli (Part of NOPA Festival)
Murmurating Proximities
Giada Dalla Bontà (Part of NOPA Festival)
Links to pages of the workshops
How can we create sounds that feel both timeless and futuristic?
This workshop, organized by hosq & Cyberfolk with Davit Sukiasyan explores exactly that — turning folk recordings into new digital instruments through synthesis, sampling, and imagination.
Davit will guide us through a live creation process using a unique sound library of Armenian woodwinds, percussion, and cello — showing how raw recordings can become fully playable, expressive digital instruments.
Date: 26.07.2025
Location: The State Philharmonia of Armenia
This workshop, organized by hosq & Cyberfolk with Davit Sukiasyan explores exactly that — turning folk recordings into new digital instruments through synthesis, sampling, and imagination.
Davit will guide us through a live creation process using a unique sound library of Armenian woodwinds, percussion, and cello — showing how raw recordings can become fully playable, expressive digital instruments.
Date: 26.07.2025
Location: The State Philharmonia of Armenia
Video documentation of each of the workshops
Art & Science Exhibition in School
Art & Science Exhibition in Schools is a practical model for implementing project-based learning in schools through interdisciplinary art and science projects and a public exhibition. More info
Art & Science Exhibition in Schools is a practical model for implementing project-based learning in schools through interdisciplinary art and science projects and a public exhibition.
Together with schools, we formed a team of teacher-curators, announced an internal Open Call, held a series of master classes by representatives of creative industries, and accompanied students (aged 10–16) from the idea and research stage to the exhibition and public presentation.
The finale was an exhibition with discussions, jury deliberations, and educational grants awarded to the best projects. At the same time, we scouted for talent, selecting the most motivated students and inviting them to join the hosq ecosystem (laboratories, residencies, educational tracks).
Together with schools, we formed a team of teacher-curators, announced an internal Open Call, held a series of master classes by representatives of creative industries, and accompanied students (aged 10–16) from the idea and research stage to the exhibition and public presentation.
The finale was an exhibition with discussions, jury deliberations, and educational grants awarded to the best projects. At the same time, we scouted for talent, selecting the most motivated students and inviting them to join the hosq ecosystem (laboratories, residencies, educational tracks).
Art & Science Exhibition in Schools
Yerevan №57 School
Art & Science Exhibition in Schools
Charentsavan №4 School
Proposed Circumstances
A two-month, intensive course in Yerevan: contemporary theatre and performance through sustained group practice, ending in a collective public showing. More info
Participants work intensively with the same group throughout the course: rehearsal, performance and acting practice, writing, lectures, screenings, and dialogue — treating practice as research and co-creation. The course is built as process-first and research-first work in dialogue between people and space. The arc moves toward a collective performative project shaped from the group’s material.
education
projects
media
Lectures are spaces of shared attention, bringing together artists, designers, musicians, and researchers with distinct voices. Each talk unfolds through context and dialogue, opening questions across art, sound, architecture, and technology.
Cosmic Perspective
Jan Świerkowski
Intersection of Creativity and Technology
Carla Diana
Sound as a Way of Thinking: Emotion, Structure, Atmosphere
Shahen Khandkaryan
Design Stories
Maria Cristina Didero
The Margins of Armenian Modern and Contemporary Art
Armen Yesayants ("Modern and Contemporary Art: Armenia in Global Context" series)
The Role of Project Thinking in the Creative Process
Aram Hovhannisyan
On Sound as Material
Robert Lippok
Artificial Intelligence in Music Composition
Lois Macdonald
Theatrical Music — Modern Ballet
Sergey Umroyan
Art Dreams For The New European Bauhaus
Roberto Paci Daló
Liliana Cavani’s Retrospective
Patrizia Fregonese de Filippo
The Margins of Armenian Modern and Contemporary Art: Part II
Armen Yesayants ("Modern and Contemporary Art: Armenia in Global Context" series)
1915. The Armenian Files & Conspiratio
Roberto Paci Daló
Armenian Lullabies: Women's song for the future
Lucia Kagramanyan
The Educational Mission
Lisa Shirinyan & Armen Yesayants ("Modern and Contemporary Art: Armenia in Global Context" series)
Women Artists in Armenian Art
Armen Yesayants ("Modern and Contemporary Art: Armenia in Global Context" series)
The Curatorial Orbit of Contemporary Art
Armen Yesayants ("Modern and Contemporary Art: Armenia in Global Context" series)
Music Marketing and Fashion Brands
Michael Leuffen
Is It Art or Not?
Armen Yesayants ("Modern and Contemporary Art: Armenia in Global Context" series)
Video documentation of each of the lectures
What connects atoms and black holes, art and science?
In this lecture, Jan Świerkowski — astronomer, artist, curator, and founder of Instytut B61 — explores how art can help humans perceive scientific phenomena that lie beyond the senses. Through metaphor, imagination, and cultural storytelling, he offers a new way of understanding the universe and our place within it.
Jan Świerkowski has been recognized as Poland’s Science Popularizer of the Year and has presented work at EXPO 2020, Science Centre Singapore, and Sónar Barcelona. Forbes has described his projects as “euphoric and mind-bending.”
Date: 13.03.2025
Location: Common Ground, Yerevan, Armenia
In this lecture, Jan Świerkowski — astronomer, artist, curator, and founder of Instytut B61 — explores how art can help humans perceive scientific phenomena that lie beyond the senses. Through metaphor, imagination, and cultural storytelling, he offers a new way of understanding the universe and our place within it.
Jan Świerkowski has been recognized as Poland’s Science Popularizer of the Year and has presented work at EXPO 2020, Science Centre Singapore, and Sónar Barcelona. Forbes has described his projects as “euphoric and mind-bending.”
Date: 13.03.2025
Location: Common Ground, Yerevan, Armenia
What connects emerging technology with empathy, design with storytelling?
In this lecture, Carla Diana — designer, author, and researcher — explores how objects of the near future can become companions: responsive, expressive, and deeply human.
With a background in product design, robotics, and speculative futures, she shows how thoughtful design can shape our interactions with technology — not just functionally, but emotionally.
Carla Diana’s work bridges disciplines and industries. She has collaborated with leading tech labs and design schools, and her book My Robot Gets Me has been recognized as a roadmap for the future of smart design.
Date: 12.03.2025
Location: Common Ground, Yerevan, Armenia
In this lecture, Carla Diana — designer, author, and researcher — explores how objects of the near future can become companions: responsive, expressive, and deeply human.
With a background in product design, robotics, and speculative futures, she shows how thoughtful design can shape our interactions with technology — not just functionally, but emotionally.
Carla Diana’s work bridges disciplines and industries. She has collaborated with leading tech labs and design schools, and her book My Robot Gets Me has been recognized as a roadmap for the future of smart design.
Date: 12.03.2025
Location: Common Ground, Yerevan, Armenia
In this talk, Shahen will share his personal approach to sound design — from conceptual thinking and emotional intent to the practical tools and methods he uses. Drawing from his own creative process, he will explore how sound can function as a narrative language in film, games, and live performance, balancing experimentation with structure, atmosphere, and emotion.
Shahen is a Yerevan-based music producer and composer, recognized as one of the most thoughtful emerging voices in the field of sound design. He began his musical journey at the age of 10, playing drums, later diving into electronic music and sonic experimentation. His deep interest in the emotional and structural power of sound led him to study musicology and composition at the Yerevan State Conservatory. He has also led music programs at the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies and conducted workshops for young creators.
Recorded on 21.05.2025
Location: Komitas Yerevan State Conservatory
Shahen is a Yerevan-based music producer and composer, recognized as one of the most thoughtful emerging voices in the field of sound design. He began his musical journey at the age of 10, playing drums, later diving into electronic music and sonic experimentation. His deep interest in the emotional and structural power of sound led him to study musicology and composition at the Yerevan State Conservatory. He has also led music programs at the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies and conducted workshops for young creators.
Recorded on 21.05.2025
Location: Komitas Yerevan State Conservatory
In this talk, Maria Cristina will share the stories, people, and ideas behind some of the most engaging design projects she has curated — from museum exhibitions and public installations to collaborations with today’s most forward-thinking designers and brands. Guided by her motto “Design is about people, not about chairs,” she’ll speak about how empathy, curiosity, and storytelling shape her curatorial approach.
With a background in philosophy and literature, Maria Cristina was the Curatorial Director of Design Miami in 2022 and collaborated with institutions such as Design Museum Holon and the National Building Museum, as well as brands including Vitra, Fendi, and Louis Vuitton. Until last year, she also served as the design editor for Wallpaper magazine. She is the co-founder of perfettooo, together with Mr. Lawrence — a platform dedicated to collectible contemporary design.
Date: 28.05.2025
Location: Common Ground
With a background in philosophy and literature, Maria Cristina was the Curatorial Director of Design Miami in 2022 and collaborated with institutions such as Design Museum Holon and the National Building Museum, as well as brands including Vitra, Fendi, and Louis Vuitton. Until last year, she also served as the design editor for Wallpaper magazine. She is the co-founder of perfettooo, together with Mr. Lawrence — a platform dedicated to collectible contemporary design.
Date: 28.05.2025
Location: Common Ground
In this talk, Aram Hovhannisyan share how project thinking — the ability to frame an idea, stay with it, and shape its form over time — can become a powerful artistic tool. Through personal reflections and practical insights, Aram will explore how structure doesn’t limit expression but creates space for it.
Date: 17.05.2025
Location: The State of Philharmonia of Armenia
Date: 17.05.2025
Location: The State of Philharmonia of Armenia
In this lecture, Robert Lippok offers insight into his artistic approach to sound as both a sculptural and architectural element. Drawing from his diverse body of work—from electroacoustic installations and live performances to spatial compositions—Lippok explores how sound can define, disrupt, and reimagine environments. He reflects on processes of field recording, resonance, and the transformation of ambient noise into structured musical material. Through a series of examples, he reveals how his practice balances intuition and precision, and how the ephemeral qualities of sound become tools for constructing perceptual spaces. The talk invites listeners into the interstitial zones between music, architecture, and the sonic fabric of everyday life.
Date: 12.06.2025
Location: WOODS
Date: 12.06.2025
Location: WOODS
In this lecture, multidisciplinary artist and musician Lois Macdonald — known for her work with Manchester group PINS, art punk project Grave Goods, and as a lecturer in Music and Sound Design at SODA, MMU — will explore the evolving role of AI and algorithmic systems in contemporary music composition.
Lois will introduce key tools and techniques used by composers and sound artists around the world, and share insights from her ongoing project ‘PATIENCE,’ which investigates the human voice, new technologies, and extended human expression.
The lecture will also address questions of authorship, aesthetics, and the changing nature of creative labor, as well as how generative AI is reshaping the cultural and economic landscape of the music industry.
Date: 19.07.2025
Location: The State Philharmonia of Armenia
Lois will introduce key tools and techniques used by composers and sound artists around the world, and share insights from her ongoing project ‘PATIENCE,’ which investigates the human voice, new technologies, and extended human expression.
The lecture will also address questions of authorship, aesthetics, and the changing nature of creative labor, as well as how generative AI is reshaping the cultural and economic landscape of the music industry.
Date: 19.07.2025
Location: The State Philharmonia of Armenia
In this lecture, Armen Yesayants will focus on narratives at the margins of Armenian modern and contemporary art history. Armen will discuss artists and movements of the 20th and 21st centuries that have remained outside broader public circulation, highlighting figures both unknown internationally and those whose reception in Armenia has been narrowly framed.
Date: 23.09.2025
Location: Nikolay Nikoghosyan Foundation
Date: 23.09.2025
Location: Nikolay Nikoghosyan Foundation
The first lecture — “The Margins of Armenian Modern and Contemporary Art” — unfolded into such a wide and fascinating discussion that we decided to divide it into two parts.
After tracing the story up to the 1980s, this second part picks up from there, diving into the shifting landscape of the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods.
It’s also a chance to hear more about a major exhibition of Armenian art recently opened in the United States, co-curated by Armen himself.
After tracing the story up to the 1980s, this second part picks up from there, diving into the shifting landscape of the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods.
It’s also a chance to hear more about a major exhibition of Armenian art recently opened in the United States, co-curated by Armen himself.
Links to pages of the lectures
Workshops are working situations shaped by experimentation and exchange, led by practitioners with singular approaches. They create space to test ideas, develop tools, and engage with materials and methods together.
The Other Sounds: Transforming Folk Recordings into Digital Instruments
Davit Sukiasyan
Audible Spaces
Sebastian Frisch
Workshop with Nicolás Jaar
Collaboration with Urvakan
Space Academy
Three-Day Hybrid Seminar & Workshop on Sound as Spatial Phenomenon
Impulse / Response as an Artistic Tool
Mauro Zannoli (Part of NOPA Festival)
Murmurating Proximities
Giada Dalla Bontà (Part of NOPA Festival)
Video documentation of each of the workshops
How can we create sounds that feel both timeless and futuristic?
This workshop, organized by hosq & Cyberfolk with Davit Sukiasyan explores exactly that — turning folk recordings into new digital instruments through synthesis, sampling, and imagination.
Davit will guide us through a live creation process using a unique sound library of Armenian woodwinds, percussion, and cello — showing how raw recordings can become fully playable, expressive digital instruments.
Date: 26.07.2025
Location: The State Philharmonia of Armenia
This workshop, organized by hosq & Cyberfolk with Davit Sukiasyan explores exactly that — turning folk recordings into new digital instruments through synthesis, sampling, and imagination.
Davit will guide us through a live creation process using a unique sound library of Armenian woodwinds, percussion, and cello — showing how raw recordings can become fully playable, expressive digital instruments.
Date: 26.07.2025
Location: The State Philharmonia of Armenia
Links to pages of the workshops
SoundCrit
Feedback session for music producers, music makers, and songwriters.
Listeners provide feedback before knowing the author. All comments must be specific, generous, and honest. Only at the end does the author reveal themselves and add reflections. Read more
SoundCrit rethinks artistic feedback through listening.
SoundCrit is open to music producers, music makers, and songwriters who want to develop their artistic ear and receive constructive, fair feedback on their work. Instead of analyzing a work as a product or performance, the team of professionals will explore how we perceive it: how sound shapes time, space, and imagination.
The SoundCrit practice draws on the ideas of Salomé Voegelin, a leading thinker in sound studies. As she argues: "Listening is an invisible engagement; it produces knowledge not by seeing what is there, but by sensing what could be." Every listener constructs a temporary world through sound. We translate this idea into method.
——
Participants:
Serge Elkony
Sound engineer, Elkony Production
Shahen Khandkaryan (Shhau)
Music producer, composer
Hayk Makiyan
Journalist, Hetq
Armen Manassian
Musician, Armenia State Philharmonia
——
State Philharmonia of Armenia, Shushiki Hall, 2025
SoundCrit is open to music producers, music makers, and songwriters who want to develop their artistic ear and receive constructive, fair feedback on their work. Instead of analyzing a work as a product or performance, the team of professionals will explore how we perceive it: how sound shapes time, space, and imagination.
The SoundCrit practice draws on the ideas of Salomé Voegelin, a leading thinker in sound studies. As she argues: "Listening is an invisible engagement; it produces knowledge not by seeing what is there, but by sensing what could be." Every listener constructs a temporary world through sound. We translate this idea into method.
——
Participants:
Serge Elkony
Sound engineer, Elkony Production
Shahen Khandkaryan (Shhau)
Music producer, composer
Hayk Makiyan
Journalist, Hetq
Armen Manassian
Musician, Armenia State Philharmonia
——
State Philharmonia of Armenia, Shushiki Hall, 2025
Media ... Coming soon!
BYOB
Jam Discipline
Tanits Toon
Bring Your Own Bimmer
BYOB: for one night, the winter garden of the Gabriel Sundukyan National Academic Theatre was transformed into a massive digital canvas.
Over 40 artists, VJs, and media creators came together to create a unified space of light and sound. It was an exploration of projection art boundaries, a collective experiment, and a powerful statement from the local community. Read more
For one night, the winter garden of the Gabriel Sundukyan National Academic Theatre was transformed into a massive digital canvas. Over 40 artists, VJs, and media creators came together to create a unified space of light and sound. It was an exploration of projection art boundaries, a collective experiment, and a powerful statement from the local community.
Visual Artists: Alfred Arakelyan, Andrei Tokarev, Andrey Rylov, Anna Kalenchyan, Anush Gurgenyan, Arek Keshishian, Arem Avetisyan, Artyom Grigoryan, Asmik Sargsian, Av Nersisyan, Danya Dvinskih, Davit Petrosyan, di.ii, Erik Melikyan, Garush Melkonyan, Gena Agajanyan, Hakob Machkalyan, Hayko Koryun, human.obj, Joseph Zakarian, Kirill Kukushkin, Konstantin Bondarev,Liza Viktorova, Marianna Abovian, Marina Lavrinenkova, Melo Sofo, Misak Samokatian,Nina Rasiuk, Olexander, PIXELEMKA & FUTURILI, Sasha Deyeva, Tigran Grigoryan, Torfeh, ulja lavrén, Vahan Stepanyan, yakyakyak, Yevamuradyan, young47
Audio-Visual Performance: otar, sec_core
Showcase by Gortsaran.fm: Creepyoldman, éléktra, margenrot, Yavrents
Technical Support: CYLAND, MediaArtLab & TAYLOR AND CO.
Location: Gabriel Sundukyan National Academic Theatre
Date: 07.11.2025
Visual Artists: Alfred Arakelyan, Andrei Tokarev, Andrey Rylov, Anna Kalenchyan, Anush Gurgenyan, Arek Keshishian, Arem Avetisyan, Artyom Grigoryan, Asmik Sargsian, Av Nersisyan, Danya Dvinskih, Davit Petrosyan, di.ii, Erik Melikyan, Garush Melkonyan, Gena Agajanyan, Hakob Machkalyan, Hayko Koryun, human.obj, Joseph Zakarian, Kirill Kukushkin, Konstantin Bondarev,Liza Viktorova, Marianna Abovian, Marina Lavrinenkova, Melo Sofo, Misak Samokatian,Nina Rasiuk, Olexander, PIXELEMKA & FUTURILI, Sasha Deyeva, Tigran Grigoryan, Torfeh, ulja lavrén, Vahan Stepanyan, yakyakyak, Yevamuradyan, young47
Audio-Visual Performance: otar, sec_core
Showcase by Gortsaran.fm: Creepyoldman, éléktra, margenrot, Yavrents
Technical Support: CYLAND, MediaArtLab & TAYLOR AND CO.
Location: Gabriel Sundukyan National Academic Theatre
Date: 07.11.2025
Jam Discipline
One-night community event where different artistic disciplines meet to communicate and create.
Jam Discipline — a platform for audiovisual experimentation where artists connected sound, light, code, and moving images into live, temporary systems. Read more
Jam Discipline — a platform for audiovisual experimentation where artists connected sound, light, code, and moving images into live, temporary systems.
Over the course of five hours, participants used their own tools, linking through MIDI, OSC, DMX, and CV/Gate, and engaging with a shared setup of multichannel sound, projection surfaces, and lighting systems. The session unfolded as a continuous exchange of signals, shaping an evolving audiovisual composition.
Instrumentalists, sound artists, music producers, and visual media artists are invited to join an open creative session guided by curators from hosq and the State Philharmonia.
——
Curators:
Instrumentalists:
Hamlet Grigoryan
Visuals:
Karen Vardanyan
Misak Samokatian
Gevorg Grigoryan
Music Production:
Andriesh Gandrabur
Shahen Khandkaryan
——
The State Philharmonia of Armenia (2 Abovyan St.), 2025
Over the course of five hours, participants used their own tools, linking through MIDI, OSC, DMX, and CV/Gate, and engaging with a shared setup of multichannel sound, projection surfaces, and lighting systems. The session unfolded as a continuous exchange of signals, shaping an evolving audiovisual composition.
Instrumentalists, sound artists, music producers, and visual media artists are invited to join an open creative session guided by curators from hosq and the State Philharmonia.
——
Curators:
Instrumentalists:
Hamlet Grigoryan
Visuals:
Karen Vardanyan
Misak Samokatian
Gevorg Grigoryan
Music Production:
Andriesh Gandrabur
Shahen Khandkaryan
——
The State Philharmonia of Armenia (2 Abovyan St.), 2025
Tanits Toon
New Year Eve where the State Philharmonia of Armenia transforms into a House of Realities
Inspired by the Armenian tradition of moving from house to house, the building becomes a galaxy of temporary worlds. For one night, the roles of guest and host blur as different teams craft unique environments, rituals, and rhythms within the historic halls. Read more
Tanits Toon is a one-night constellation of parallel worlds inside the State Philharmonia of Armenia — a House of Realities where different creative groups turn foyers, corridors, and halls into their own temporary homes. Each house has its own rhythm, ethics, and aesthetics, inviting guests into distinct atmospheres rather than a single, central “show”.
Throughout the evening, visitors move freely between these houses, shifting from deep listening rooms to kitchen-like gatherings, from ritual spaces to dance floors. Roles of guest and host constantly blur: you can arrive to “watch” and find yourself co-creating performances, games, small rituals, and conversations that shape the night in real time, before everyone merges into a collective jam and a shared rave.
For artists and communities, Tanits Toon is both a laboratory and a meeting point: it supports new collaborations, tests experimental formats, and connects practitioners across sound, performance, text, space, and technology. The traces of this night — relationships, projects, and emerging practices — extend beyond the Philharmonia, feeding into the wider hosq ecosystem and future labs.
Throughout the evening, visitors move freely between these houses, shifting from deep listening rooms to kitchen-like gatherings, from ritual spaces to dance floors. Roles of guest and host constantly blur: you can arrive to “watch” and find yourself co-creating performances, games, small rituals, and conversations that shape the night in real time, before everyone merges into a collective jam and a shared rave.
For artists and communities, Tanits Toon is both a laboratory and a meeting point: it supports new collaborations, tests experimental formats, and connects practitioners across sound, performance, text, space, and technology. The traces of this night — relationships, projects, and emerging practices — extend beyond the Philharmonia, feeding into the wider hosq ecosystem and future labs.
You are reading this letter because we already see you as part of our community – even if you don’t always see it that way yourself. Over the past year we’ve shared projects, miracles and long night talks, and it became clear: this is no longer a “series of events”, but a living organism made of friendships, collaborations and shared plans. This New Year we don’t just want to celebrate a date in the calendar – we want to celebrate life in all its messy, diverse, contradictory forms.
On the night of December 26, the Arno Babajanyan Philharmonic becomes a House of Houses: one big home filled with many temporary realities. Instead of one “proper” New Year show there will be multiple houses-realities, each with its own rhythm, ethics, sound, light, food and ways of being together. There is no main stage and no secondary genres here – every house is equal, every style is valid, every honest attempt to build a world is welcomed.
We are inspired by the Armenian New Year tradition of moving from house to house, where today you are a guest and tomorrow you are a host. We bring this logic into the Philharmonic. Each team becomes the host of a temporary home; guests move between them, choosing their own route through the night. Roles are fluid: you can enter as a visitor and suddenly find yourself co-creating a ritual, a conversation, a dance, a moment of silence or a shared decision.
Our manifesto is simple:
If you recognise yourself in these lines, this night is for you. Bring your worlds, your doubts, your practices, your friends, your strange ideas that never fit into “normal” New Year formats. For one night, let’s turn the Philharmonic into a multiverse of homes – and see what kind of future can be born when many realities learn to live together under one roof.
On the night of December 26, the Arno Babajanyan Philharmonic becomes a House of Houses: one big home filled with many temporary realities. Instead of one “proper” New Year show there will be multiple houses-realities, each with its own rhythm, ethics, sound, light, food and ways of being together. There is no main stage and no secondary genres here – every house is equal, every style is valid, every honest attempt to build a world is welcomed.
We are inspired by the Armenian New Year tradition of moving from house to house, where today you are a guest and tomorrow you are a host. We bring this logic into the Philharmonic. Each team becomes the host of a temporary home; guests move between them, choosing their own route through the night. Roles are fluid: you can enter as a visitor and suddenly find yourself co-creating a ritual, a conversation, a dance, a moment of silence or a shared decision.
Our manifesto is simple:
- Many worlds, one house. We gather different microcultures under one roof – club and kitchen, deep listening and noisy celebration, folk and electronics, rituals and games – without forcing them into one “right” format.
- No main stage. There is no single center of attention and no correct taste. Each house is a complete universe with its own rules, language and tempo.
- From spectators to co‑authors. Guests are not an audience to be entertained, but participants who shape what happens: through choices, gestures, responses, small actions and presence.
- Care as infrastructure. We practice non‑violence, non‑discrimination and respectful communication. We take care of each other, the building, the equipment and the night itself. Safety, consent and responsibility are part of the design, not an afterthought.
- Limited resources, unlimited imagination. The main medium is not technology or budget, but attention, friendship, curiosity and trust. We treat constraints as a playground for invention, not as a barrier.
- Temporary, but not shallow. Each house lives only a few hours, but can leave traces: new connections, ideas, rituals, projects that continue elsewhere, beyond the Philharmonic.
- Life in its diversity. We are here to celebrate difference, not to smooth it out. Friction, contrast and surprise are welcome, as long as they are held with mutual respect and care.
If you recognise yourself in these lines, this night is for you. Bring your worlds, your doubts, your practices, your friends, your strange ideas that never fit into “normal” New Year formats. For one night, let’s turn the Philharmonic into a multiverse of homes – and see what kind of future can be born when many realities learn to live together under one roof.
- 1 dayOne shared night where the Philharmonia becomes a living House of Realities.
- 21 housesFoyers, corridors and halls transformed into 21 distinct temporary homes and micro-worlds.
- 65 artistsMusicians, performers, illustrators, designers and technologists co-creating the houses together.
- 300+ visitorsGuests moving freely between worlds, shifting from spectators to co-authors of the night.
ASA Forum
I. Re-Thinking Art Management: Explorative Dialogue Between Institutions and Independents.
Our discussion with ASA on the future of Armenia’s creative ecosystem. We explored sustainable models, essential skills for emerging creatives, and how to build better bridges between institutions and independents.
In collaboration with ASA forum, hosq brings together leading cultural professionals to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing art management in Armenia. The conversation is part of hosq’s ongoing research on how institutions, independent initiatives, and educational programmes are adapting to changing artistic, social, and economic conditions and what gaps, obstacles, and needs remain.
——
Panelists:
Asara Nalbandyan
Rector at the Yerevan State Theatre and Film Institute
Anna Gargarian
Cultural Strategist at the State Academy of Fine Arts Curator, Independent Curator
Armen Yesayants
Director of Exhibitions at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts
Rudik Ter-Galstyan
Founder and CEO of Factory Production
Sergey Umroyan
Co-Founder and A&R Director of Amara Music Publishing and Distribution Company
Moderator
Shoghakat MLKE-Galstian, Cultural Expert, Founder & Director of the MIHR Theatre
——
Where: State Philharmonia of Armenia
When: November 15
Time: Forum starts at 11:00, Panel 16:30 to 17:50
Participation was free with registration
——
Panelists:
Asara Nalbandyan
Rector at the Yerevan State Theatre and Film Institute
Anna Gargarian
Cultural Strategist at the State Academy of Fine Arts Curator, Independent Curator
Armen Yesayants
Director of Exhibitions at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts
Rudik Ter-Galstyan
Founder and CEO of Factory Production
Sergey Umroyan
Co-Founder and A&R Director of Amara Music Publishing and Distribution Company
Moderator
Shoghakat MLKE-Galstian, Cultural Expert, Founder & Director of the MIHR Theatre
——
Where: State Philharmonia of Armenia
When: November 15
Time: Forum starts at 11:00, Panel 16:30 to 17:50
Participation was free with registration
II. SoundCrit: a feedback session for music producers, music makers, and songwriters.
Listeners provide feedback before knowing the author. All comments must be specific, generous, and honest. Only at the end does the author reveal themselves and add reflections. Read more
SoundCrit rethinks artistic feedback through listening.
SoundCrit is open to music producers, music makers, and songwriters who want to develop their artistic ear and receive constructive, fair feedback on their work. Instead of analyzing a work as a product or performance, the team of professionals will explore how we perceive it: how sound shapes time, space, and imagination.
The SoundCrit practice draws on the ideas of Salomé Voegelin, a leading thinker in sound studies. As she argues: "Listening is an invisible engagement; it produces knowledge not by seeing what is there, but by sensing what could be." Every listener constructs a temporary world through sound. We translate this idea into method.
——
Participants:
Serge Elkony
Sound engineer, Elkony Production
Shahen Khandkaryan (Shhau)
Music producer, composer
Hayk Makiyan
Journalist, Hetq
Armen Manassian
Musician, Armenia State Philharmonia
——
State Philharmonia of Armenia, Shushiki Hall, 2025
SoundCrit is open to music producers, music makers, and songwriters who want to develop their artistic ear and receive constructive, fair feedback on their work. Instead of analyzing a work as a product or performance, the team of professionals will explore how we perceive it: how sound shapes time, space, and imagination.
The SoundCrit practice draws on the ideas of Salomé Voegelin, a leading thinker in sound studies. As she argues: "Listening is an invisible engagement; it produces knowledge not by seeing what is there, but by sensing what could be." Every listener constructs a temporary world through sound. We translate this idea into method.
——
Participants:
Serge Elkony
Sound engineer, Elkony Production
Shahen Khandkaryan (Shhau)
Music producer, composer
Hayk Makiyan
Journalist, Hetq
Armen Manassian
Musician, Armenia State Philharmonia
——
State Philharmonia of Armenia, Shushiki Hall, 2025
Nope Festival
2025: Educational program. Read more
The educational program with NOPA Festival brings together workshops and lectures exploring sound, listening, and spatial perception.
I. Space Academy: Three-Day Hybrid Seminar & Workshop on Sound as Spatial Phenomenon
• Listening Sessions
• Field Recordings
• Collective Performance Strategies
Can we navigate the world through sound? What are the possibilities of sound as a mode to discover new forms of reality? The Space Academy Workshop explores sound as a way of orientation and a form of collective knowledge. Participants will listen, record, experiment, and discuss how sound opens alternative worlds and new ways of engaging with spatial dynamics. This is not a music production course, but a practice of deep listening, field recording, collective performance, and critical reflection.
The workshop is available through an open call. Participants will be selected based on applications.
Please make sure you can show up at all three days of the workshop, because the program consists of several stages which are strongly connected, each one leading into the next.
The workshop will be held in English.
Where: TBA for chosen
When: September 29, 30 / October 1
Language: English
Hosts
Jan St. Werner is a founding member of the pioneering band Mouse on Mars and the mind behind the experimental label Fiepblatter Catalogue. His practice moves between music, sound art and research, questioning how listening can create new forms of perception. He has taught at MIT’s Program in Art, Culture and Technology and was Professor for Interactive Art and Dynamic Acoustic Research in Nuremberg and Munich.
Michael Akstaller works across sound art, architecture and science. His research explores spatial perception through directed sound sources, as well as the interplay between hydrodynamics, morphology and acoustic phenomena. Trained in fine arts, design and engineering, he combines technical precision with creative experimentation. Together with Jan St. Werner, he initiated the Class for Dynamic Acoustic Research in Nuremberg, today an independent collective dedicated to sonic practices.
• Field Recordings
• Collective Performance Strategies
Can we navigate the world through sound? What are the possibilities of sound as a mode to discover new forms of reality? The Space Academy Workshop explores sound as a way of orientation and a form of collective knowledge. Participants will listen, record, experiment, and discuss how sound opens alternative worlds and new ways of engaging with spatial dynamics. This is not a music production course, but a practice of deep listening, field recording, collective performance, and critical reflection.
The workshop is available through an open call. Participants will be selected based on applications.
Please make sure you can show up at all three days of the workshop, because the program consists of several stages which are strongly connected, each one leading into the next.
The workshop will be held in English.
Where: TBA for chosen
When: September 29, 30 / October 1
Language: English
Hosts
Jan St. Werner is a founding member of the pioneering band Mouse on Mars and the mind behind the experimental label Fiepblatter Catalogue. His practice moves between music, sound art and research, questioning how listening can create new forms of perception. He has taught at MIT’s Program in Art, Culture and Technology and was Professor for Interactive Art and Dynamic Acoustic Research in Nuremberg and Munich.
Michael Akstaller works across sound art, architecture and science. His research explores spatial perception through directed sound sources, as well as the interplay between hydrodynamics, morphology and acoustic phenomena. Trained in fine arts, design and engineering, he combines technical precision with creative experimentation. Together with Jan St. Werner, he initiated the Class for Dynamic Acoustic Research in Nuremberg, today an independent collective dedicated to sonic practices.
II. Impulse / Response as an Artistic Tool: Every space or object holds hidden resonances, a unique sonic fingerprint that can be captured through an impulse response (IR): a short sound that sets the space into vibration across the sonic spectrum.
In this workshop, we will use these recordings not to measure, but to play: turning the resonance of a room, an object, or a surface into rhythm, texture, and atmosphere. We will listen, record, and transform impulse responses into new sonic forms, exploring how places themselves can shape sound and spark imagination.
When: October 6, 18:00
Where: Library for Architecture (Tumanyan street 2nd lane, 5th building, Yerevan)
Language: English
The workshop will be held in English. No prior experience is needed.
Host
Mauro Zannoli is a Buenos Aires-born and Brussels-based composer, sound and media artist whose artistic endeavours span a broad spectrum of mediums, such as immersive audiovisual installations, performances, and music compositions. Using custom software, multi-channel sound systems, lights, video, and scientific notions, he creates technological environments that immerse viewers in a multidimensional sensory experience intended to bring them closer to a deeper understanding of the complex systems around us and our place in the world.
When: October 6, 18:00
Where: Library for Architecture (Tumanyan street 2nd lane, 5th building, Yerevan)
Language: English
The workshop will be held in English. No prior experience is needed.
Host
Mauro Zannoli is a Buenos Aires-born and Brussels-based composer, sound and media artist whose artistic endeavours span a broad spectrum of mediums, such as immersive audiovisual installations, performances, and music compositions. Using custom software, multi-channel sound systems, lights, video, and scientific notions, he creates technological environments that immerse viewers in a multidimensional sensory experience intended to bring them closer to a deeper understanding of the complex systems around us and our place in the world.
III. Murmurating Proximities: How do our ears shape the way we think and connect with the others? This workshop engages with ideas and practices exploring diverse listening approaches at different levels.
Through ativities inspired by deep listening principles, metacognitive techniques, and performance practices, participants will discover new ways to notice the connections that surround us.
The session will continue with Murmurating Proximities, an exploration of listening through sound, touch, movement, and space. Together we will create sounds and gestures that invite us to tune into each other and our environment, turning listening into a shared experience and a collective strategy. The workshop will be held in English.
When: October 8, 16:00-20:00
Where: Library for Architecture (Tumanyan street 2nd lane, 5th building, Yerevan)
Language: English
Number of spots: 15
Host
Giada Dalla Bontà is an Italian researcher, curator, and writer working at the intersections of sound, art, and politics. She develops lectures, participatory projects, and editorial work, presented in contexts ranging from academic (FU Berlin) to artistic and cultural institutions (HKW, AdK, CTM). She is a PhD fellow at the Sound Studies Lab and co-founder of the Listening Biennale V.e.
The session will continue with Murmurating Proximities, an exploration of listening through sound, touch, movement, and space. Together we will create sounds and gestures that invite us to tune into each other and our environment, turning listening into a shared experience and a collective strategy. The workshop will be held in English.
When: October 8, 16:00-20:00
Where: Library for Architecture (Tumanyan street 2nd lane, 5th building, Yerevan)
Language: English
Number of spots: 15
Host
Giada Dalla Bontà is an Italian researcher, curator, and writer working at the intersections of sound, art, and politics. She develops lectures, participatory projects, and editorial work, presented in contexts ranging from academic (FU Berlin) to artistic and cultural institutions (HKW, AdK, CTM). She is a PhD fellow at the Sound Studies Lab and co-founder of the Listening Biennale V.e.
IV. Armenian Lullabies: Women's song for the future. The performative lecture by Lucia Kagramanyan explores the Armenian lullaby as both cultural archive and contemporary feminist practice.
Building upon her earlier project Her Voice: Behind Armenian Lullabies, premiered at Framer Framed in Amsterdam in 2024, it continues an ongoing investigation into anonymous women’s authorship and the relevance of lullabies today. Focusing on songs transmitted by Armenian women across regions of Western and Eastern Armenia and within diaspora communities, the project examines the lullaby as a site of cultural resilience, intergenerational memory, and intimate resistance. Incorporating archival recordings and new fieldwork, it highlights these seemingly fragile songs as resilient carriers of survival, maternal care, and linguistic preservation, while also imagining cultural futures through the act of singing. Alongside her artistic work, Lucia is active as a curator engaging with sound, archives, and contemporary practices in Armenia and beyond.
When: October 8, 20:00
Where: Library for Architecture (Tumanyan street 2nd lane, 5th building, Yerevan)
Language: English
Host
Lucia Kagramanyan is a cultural researcher, curator, and radio host whose work explores the histories and afterlives of sound in Armenia. She runs a program on NTS radio dedicated to rediscovering lost recordings from the Republic Radio archives, spanning classical, opera, folk, and pop. Through broadcasting and curatorial practice, she connects archival listening with contemporary cultural contexts.
When: October 8, 20:00
Where: Library for Architecture (Tumanyan street 2nd lane, 5th building, Yerevan)
Language: English
Host
Lucia Kagramanyan is a cultural researcher, curator, and radio host whose work explores the histories and afterlives of sound in Armenia. She runs a program on NTS radio dedicated to rediscovering lost recordings from the Republic Radio archives, spanning classical, opera, folk, and pop. Through broadcasting and curatorial practice, she connects archival listening with contemporary cultural contexts.
Chronofest
I. How International Festivals Are Transforming Theatre. Public Talk with Marina Davydova and Artur Ghukasyan
How does the international festival circuit reshape theatre as we know it? In this public conversation, renowned theatre critic, playwright, director, and curator Marina Davydova, and actor, producer, and director of the HighFest International Performing Arts Festival Artur Ghukasyan will explore the powerful influence of festivals on contemporary theatre.
They will discuss what makes festivals in Europe essential today, which emerging voices are worth watching, and how international festivals shape not only the artistic landscape but also the cultural dynamics of the countries where they take place.
This event is part of the Chronofest Festival
Date: 8 June 13:00
Location: Common Ground
They will discuss what makes festivals in Europe essential today, which emerging voices are worth watching, and how international festivals shape not only the artistic landscape but also the cultural dynamics of the countries where they take place.
This event is part of the Chronofest Festival
Date: 8 June 13:00
Location: Common Ground
II. What’s the Point of It All?
A Public Discussion
A Public Discussion
A Public Discussion on the Role of Performing Arts Today
In the discussion “What’s the Point of It All?”, participants from various countries and cultural backgrounds will share how they currently understand the purpose and role of the performing arts. Does it serve a social mission? If so, what does that entail? How does the landscape of independent art shift depending on political, economic, and cultural contexts?
We’ll explore the tension between an artist’s inner drive and external demands — from audiences and institutions. We’ll talk about disappointment and hope, about responsibility, meaning, and the absence of it.
Where: Rambalkoshe, 9, Hovsep Arghutian Street, Yerevan
When: June 5
Time: 12:00
In the discussion “What’s the Point of It All?”, participants from various countries and cultural backgrounds will share how they currently understand the purpose and role of the performing arts. Does it serve a social mission? If so, what does that entail? How does the landscape of independent art shift depending on political, economic, and cultural contexts?
We’ll explore the tension between an artist’s inner drive and external demands — from audiences and institutions. We’ll talk about disappointment and hope, about responsibility, meaning, and the absence of it.
Where: Rambalkoshe, 9, Hovsep Arghutian Street, Yerevan
When: June 5
Time: 12:00
III. «Kap» Performance
“Kap” (translated from Armenian as “connection”) is a performance that explores the boundaries of empathy.
The piece consists of two parts, each configuring the interaction between performers and audience in a different way.
In both parts, the performers do not use pre-written or memorized text as the material for stage action. All of the text in the performance—all the logos—is born in real time, within the space of the audience.
Responding to that text, the performers initiate a complex process of emotional and semantic exchange, in which it quickly becomes unclear—and ultimately irrelevant—who is the author and who is the spectator.
Thus emerges a shared space of action and empathy, which manifests each time differently and depends entirely on the composition of the participants.
Curators: Ilya Moschitsky, Alexander Plotnikov
Performers: Amirhossein Bazgir, Nasrin Shojaei, Pouya Jafari, Margarita Sargsyan
Visual: Basilio Utekhin
Music: Gayane Aslanyan, Nadya Xyxu
The piece consists of two parts, each configuring the interaction between performers and audience in a different way.
In both parts, the performers do not use pre-written or memorized text as the material for stage action. All of the text in the performance—all the logos—is born in real time, within the space of the audience.
Responding to that text, the performers initiate a complex process of emotional and semantic exchange, in which it quickly becomes unclear—and ultimately irrelevant—who is the author and who is the spectator.
Thus emerges a shared space of action and empathy, which manifests each time differently and depends entirely on the composition of the participants.
Curators: Ilya Moschitsky, Alexander Plotnikov
Performers: Amirhossein Bazgir, Nasrin Shojaei, Pouya Jafari, Margarita Sargsyan
Visual: Basilio Utekhin
Music: Gayane Aslanyan, Nadya Xyxu
Yerevan Music Week
Dark Jazz Concert by Mard Mutantar
Mard Mutantar unfolded as a ritual in sound — a research-driven project born at Notations Lab #1, where improvisation turned into sacrament.
Dark Jazz Concert
Concert by Mard Mutantar
At Yerevan Music Week @yerevanmusicweek, Mard Mutantar unfolded as a ritual in sound — a research-driven project born at Notations Lab #1, where improvisation turned into sacrament. The performance traced beauty in solitude and nostalgia, finding light by embracing shadow.
On stage, voices, instruments & visuals from distant worlds came together:
Lerk — voice
Tigran Suchyan (Toti) — trumpet
Abgar Alaverdyan — bass
Hamlet Grigoryan — drums
Andriesh Gandrabur — guitar
Hovhannes Hovhannisyan — cello
Nikola Chen — Electronica
Vardan Harutyunyan VHS — keyboards
Mileta Ghazanchyan — Synths
Lusine MLKE-Galstyan — Flute, voice
Gevorg Grigoryan — Visuals
Concert by Mard Mutantar
At Yerevan Music Week @yerevanmusicweek, Mard Mutantar unfolded as a ritual in sound — a research-driven project born at Notations Lab #1, where improvisation turned into sacrament. The performance traced beauty in solitude and nostalgia, finding light by embracing shadow.
On stage, voices, instruments & visuals from distant worlds came together:
Lerk — voice
Tigran Suchyan (Toti) — trumpet
Abgar Alaverdyan — bass
Hamlet Grigoryan — drums
Andriesh Gandrabur — guitar
Hovhannes Hovhannisyan — cello
Nikola Chen — Electronica
Vardan Harutyunyan VHS — keyboards
Mileta Ghazanchyan — Synths
Lusine MLKE-Galstyan — Flute, voice
Gevorg Grigoryan — Visuals
Coming soon
While planning the Notations Laboratory, Dima Ustinov and the hosq team explored how to build an environment where more than 60 creators could safely experiment and move beyond their usual trajectories.
In many artistic communities — including Armenia — a high bar often turns into internal pressure. Perfectionism becomes a filter: ideas are judged too early, and many never leave the sketch stage.
This document grows from that observation. It reflects an attempt to create something simple, yet uncommon: a space where unfinished, uncertain, and searching practices are welcome.
By combining internationally tested residency methods — such as Round Robin and collective jams — with formats that emerged within the lab itself, like the daily 10-minute rave before dinner, we focused on conditions rather than outcomes. A space where participants could first exist, listen, and connect.
From there, new approaches, collaborations, and forms began to emerge naturally.
>> download file.pdf
In many artistic communities — including Armenia — a high bar often turns into internal pressure. Perfectionism becomes a filter: ideas are judged too early, and many never leave the sketch stage.
This document grows from that observation. It reflects an attempt to create something simple, yet uncommon: a space where unfinished, uncertain, and searching practices are welcome.
By combining internationally tested residency methods — such as Round Robin and collective jams — with formats that emerged within the lab itself, like the daily 10-minute rave before dinner, we focused on conditions rather than outcomes. A space where participants could first exist, listen, and connect.
From there, new approaches, collaborations, and forms began to emerge naturally.
>> download file.pdf
Coming soon
community
This hosq Community Mapping is a living, interactive tool — a dynamic map of artists, curators, and collaborators engaged in the hosq ecosystem. You can explore practitioners across diverse disciplines, skill sets, and instruments, and discover unexpected connections between them.
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