Under One Roof (2018–19)

What makes a space "queer" and another "Middle Eastern"? Do the people create the space as much as the space itself? These questions are raised in an oral history project documenting the relationship between two spaces held under one roof: Sayat-Nova, Chicago’s only Armenian restaurant, and Second Story, a gay bar that rests on the second floor above the restaurant. Since the 1970s, the two venues have shared a building between them, bringing forth questions about their relationship together within the structure. Culminating in a research publication-cum-food menu and a final performance intervention, Niko Shahbazian (MA Candidate, Middle Eastern Studies, UChicago) and Aram Atamian (MFA Candidate, Performance, SAIC) speculate on the collapse of the boundaries between a veiled ‘ethnic’ space, and an explicit ‘queer’ space, reimagining them as a single public place. Sayat-Nova, perhaps Armenia’s most celebrated musician and poet, and a symbol of nationalist pride, was also the original name of Sergei Parajanov’s 1969 film The Color of Pomegranates, an imagined biography of his life re-presented with densely coded queer imagery. The final performance plays on the multiple identity navigations that queer Armenians of the diaspora negotiate while attempting to preserve culture and explore iterations of queer Armenianness within and outside the mythic Armenian homeland.

➡ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/UCHICAGOARTSytSubscribe
About #UChicagoArts: Where scholars, students, artists and audiences converge, explore, and create at @UChicago. The arts are central to the mission of the University of Chicago. With a strong tradition of cross-disciplinary practices, intricately mixed with intellectual curiosity and creative energy, UChicago Arts fosters a bustling arts community on Chicago’s South Side.

#UChicagoArts on the Web:
Home: http://bit.ly/uchicagoarts
Facebook: http://bit.ly/UCHICAGOARTS-FB
Twitter: http://bit.ly/UCHICAGOARTS-TW
Instagram: http://bit.ly/UCHICAGOARTS-IG
University of Chicago on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/uchicagoarts

*** ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please email arts@uchicago.edu.

Видео Under One Roof (2018–19) канала uchicagoarts