This summer 2016 the ICA commissioned a site-specific mural by Yerevan born artist, Samvel “Saga” Saghatelian entitled “ՍԵՐ is Electric”. The work is an elaboration on “LOVE is electric Է”, a graphic signboard the artist created in June 2015 at the time of the Electric Yerevan protest. Now, one year later, Yerevan has seen a second protest that, although not concerning electricity, was perhaps more “electric” in its intensity, mediatic coverage, and violence.
The mural and its original signboard are part of the artist’s “Political and Personal Protest Signs” series, which takes a playful formalistic approach to the contrasting forms of Latin and Armenian letters. His “protests” emphasize love (or its lack thereof), whether personal, societal, or governmental. The word “love” itself is a phonetic play on the Armenian term “լավ”, or “good”.
