Ruben van Klaveren: What made you play with the communist slogan?

Kamila Szejnoch: It was the place which suggested me the slogan. When I came to Yerevan, the most striking object for me was the Cascade. It made me scared: the scale and the esthetics. Strange mix of Soviet monumental architecture with something oriental, so it brought me associations with structures built in early despotic civilizations, like in Egypt or Mesopotamia for example. The Cascade was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union in Armenia, and the original slogan “Working men of all countries, unite!” coming from Communist Manifesto, was actually the foundation document for the Soviet Union. I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to update this slogan. The times have changed but the place is the same: I imagined huge banners hanging there in Soviet times…

RvK: Now there is a big constructions site, a museum of contemporary art is being built on top of it, isn’t it?

KS: Yes, the Canfesjian Museum of contemporary art. I saw the visualization of the project – it will have absolutely cosmic shapes! On the terrace there is a foundation board and something even about “a new era” and “the resurrection of the Armenian people”. I found it amazing how art is used to redefine this Soviet structure, to build a new layer of reality.

RvK: So, you made more or less the same with the slogan?

KS: Exactly, in fact art nowadays has become a political tool. Industry and working men aren’t important any more. This is the culture and art which took over the initiative of promoting changes. Besides, I don’t know if there is something more international than art now: International artists, international art fairs, exhibitions, artists in residence, international workshops…
RvK: …which we have taken part in…

KS: …and could produce the banner collectively!