2025 UP IN THE AIR 
ARAGATS: OBSERVATIONS OF A MOUNTAIN
Location
Hilla Laufer x Mooradian Studio
Responding to the nomadic theme of the Line Festival, Aragats: Observations of a Mountain brings Mount Aragats to the city through a public exhibition installed at the outdoor space under the galleries of the HayArt Centre in Yerevan. The installation features projections of scientific readings, images and interviews curated by spatial researcher Hilla Laufer, paired with a metal sculpture designed by architects Mooradian Studio, fabricated in collaboration with artist Manvel Matevosyan. The installation opens up questions of situated knowledge,
infrastructure, visibility, and heritage within the evolving territories of Mount Aragats.

Mount Aragats is home to significant scientific research stations, including the Aragats Cosmic Ray Research Station, the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory, and the ROT-54 Radio Optical Observatory at Orgov. These sites observe the energy dynamics of our planet by monitoring light – cosmic rays, X-rays, gamma rays and radio waves – and its interaction with materials.

Hilla Laufer curates a series of video installations: Spectra (2025) includes interviews with scientists, exploring how we observe interactions of material and matter through different electromagnetic spectra; Aragats (2025) records the scientific sites and entities distributed across the landscape of Mount Aragats; Hysteresis: Operative images shape materiality (2025) exhibits a series of animations using spectroscopy
including remote sensing, Earth observation and ground deformation imaging.

In the age of the Anthropocene—a period defined by humanity's profound impact on the Earth—these technologies are necessary to understand the movement and dynamics of our environment. These images are not passive, but rather operative. They actively mediate decision making, which shapes our spaces.

Mooradian Studio’s sculptural contribution, Ray (2025), is a 7.6-metre-high pylon fabricated from welded rebar, stainless-steel rods and mirror-polished steel plates. Drawing on the improvised methods of local metalworkers and the monumental scale of Armenia’s scientific infrastructure, the piece reflects the studio’s ongoing interest in using found and repurposed materials. By foregrounding the role of maintenance, repair and informal craft know-how, Ray situates architecture within a broader ecology of resourcefulness and resilience. Mounted on the ceiling is a field of mirrored boxes that house the installation’s video projectors, echoing the sensory equipment that populates the Aragats Cosmic Ray Station.

In the context of an Armenian landscape that is transforming at pace, Aragats: Observations of a Mountain foregrounds the entanglement of scientific technologies and natural landscape, and the role of architecture and art in mediating those encounters.