Yerevan to host Georgi Gurdjieff week on July 20-27

PanARMENIAN.Net - On July 20-27, Yerevan will host Gurdjieff week, organized by Narekatsi Cultural Union and Gurdjieff Center in Gyumri.



"Ani, Kars, Alexandropol" photo exhibition will open Gurdjieff week, featuring lecture entitled "Armenian Nature of Gurdjieff'', as well as Gurgieff's music performed by Gurgieff National Instruments Ensemble (art director: Levon Iskenyan) and pianist Lusine Grigoryan.



Georgi Gurdjieff (Born 1872, Alexandropol, Russian Empire — died Oct. 29, 1949, Neuilly, near Paris, France) is an Armenian mystic and philosopher. He apparently traveled in the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia as a young man. He taught in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and in 1919 he founded the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at Tiflis (now Tbilisi), Georgia. In 1922 he reestablished the institute at Fontainebleau, France, gathering a group of followers who lived communally, engaging in philosophical dialogue, ritual exercises, and dance. His basic assertion was that ordinary living was akin to sleep and that through spiritual discipline it was possible to achieve heightened levels of vitality and awareness. The Fontainebleau centre closed in 1933, but Gurdjieff continued to teach in Paris until his death.