Vartan Avakian

Biography

Vartan Avakian is an artist working with video, photography, and sculpture. He was born in 1977 in Byblos, Lebanon. Avakian lives and works between Berlin and Beirut. His work interprets data as stains and scratches — fossilized inscriptions of memory. Through various media, he explores history, materiality, and erasure, treating memory as an act of excavation. By transforming these traces into new artifacts, he invites viewers to see objects as portals into past and future imaginaries, waiting to be uncovered, deciphered, and perceived. His work has been exhibited widely, including Home Works 9, Lebanon (2023); Triennial of Photography, Germany (2022); MuCEM, France (2019); MAXXI, Italy (2019); Beirut Art Center, Lebanon (2016); Sharjah Biennial X, UAE (2012). Avakian is a board member of the Arab Image Foundation. 

Treasure Maps for Haunting Landscapes

Treasure Maps for Haunting Landscapes examines myths of treasure maps in Turkey, resurfacing amid economic instability. These maps, rumored to lead to hidden Armenian gold buried during the genocide, symbolize both economic desperation and historical denial. The project reimagines these maps as portals into confronting erased histories and unacknowledged traumas.

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