‘Landscapes of Memory’ Opens DT Glendale Library

By Nestor CASTIGLIONE

The Downtown Glendale Library this Friday, May 19 will be cutting the ribbon on ReflectSpace. Designed as a wing of the library that would host rotating exhibits on atrocities and crimes against humanity that have occurred during modern history, the RelfectSpace was closed for a period in order to renovate it.

Friday evening the ReflectSpace will open its doors once again, holding a reception for the inaugural exhibit in its restored guise: “Landscapes of Memory: Witnesses and Remnants of Genocide.” It follows an exhibit that the Brand Library hosted last year called “Armenia: An Open Wound.”

According to a press release, the ReflectSpace is “immersive in conception … a hybrid space that is both experiential and informative, employing art, technology and interactive media to reflect on the past and present of Glendale’s communal fabric and interrogate current-day global human rights issues.”

“Landscapes of Memory” will feature works by U.S. Consul Leslie A. Davis, Aram Jibalian, Ara Oshagan, Levon Parian and Vahagn Thomasian.

The press release about the exhibit continued “that it unfolds in three distinct but interconnected parts and reflects on the Armenian Genocide through the cross-disciplinary work of witnesses, survivors, and artists, across four generations.”

“The exhibition unfolds in three distinct but interconnected parts and reflects on the Armenian Genocide through the cross-disciplinary work of witnesses, survivors, and artists, across four generations.”

A large-scale installation – deemed an “interruption of public space” by its creators – promises to be the centerpiece of the exhibition. Wrought by Oshagan, Parian and Thomasian, the work will be the first of its kind in Glendale.

“This remarkable installation, coupled with the ReflectSpace exhibition, honors the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide and tells the personal stories of survivors – first-hand eyewitnesses to one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century,” said Cindy Cleary, director of Glendale’s Arts and Culture.

“Landscape of Memory” will be open to the public through June 25 at the Downtown Glendale Library. For more details on the exhibit, please go online to http://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/library-arts-culture/central-library-grand-re-opening-may-1-2017/reflectspace.

  Nestor CASTIGLIONE