what do I do professionally…
My name is Vahan Misakyan; I'm an Armenian architect and a curator. My recent teaching position was at the University of Minnesota's School of Architecture as the Cass Gilbert Assistant Professor, where I taught design theory and studio courses. I am currently the principal at cloud bureau (.io), an independent design practice I founded in Armenia. Additionally, I conduct research on spatial matters using modalities like coding (surveillantcity.org) and critical, curatorial inquiries (x-commons.com).
what I believe in…
I believe that morality determines the capacity to know; for example, empathy is an opening for understanding the complexities of the world of human beings or the becoming of the human. I emphasize morality, not as a matter of immutable rules or categories of "transcendent" on good or bad, but as a matter of necessary scope, i.e., you need to be wholly truthful to be successful, because truth is knowledge that engages you as a subject.
In a broader context, various regressive forms of thinking are epistemophilic; for this reason, participation must take the form of valid knowledge production. This perspective shapes my interest in the “human” that's made operative for any spatial agenda. In brief, I'm interested in understanding and critiquing paradigmatic design questions.
what else…
"Always tell the truth in the form of a joke," as the Armenian proverb says, at the end of the day, what we do is not as important as how we do it, and it has to be with joy.
Also, I write and play piano music as a hobby, if you’re an artist, a choreographer or a director who’d like to collaborate, connect.