62 In the heart of the embassy district in Brussels is the fully restored Art Deco building, Villa Empain. Jean and Albert Boghossian are determined to make it an artistic meeting point for East and West. Myrna Ayad caught up the brothers, who hail from a family of jewellers, during their participation in the Basel World fair. A FAmily legAcy: ThE BoghossIAn’s VIllA EmpAIn 63 64 A t 11:41 on the morning of 7 December 1988, a cata- strophic earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale destroyed spitak in Armenia, killing over 25,000 people and damaging the neighbouring cities of gyumri and Vanadzor. poor infrastructure and the sub-zero temperatures didn’t help, and foreign aid workers were subsequently sent into the former soviet state to help the relief effort. Two leba- nese brothers of Armenian origin, who hail from a dynasty of jewellers, made their first trip to their homeland soon after the disaster. Around the same time, the dean of a prominent Armenian school in philadelphia, UsA, packed her bags and headed to Armenia as a volunteer. Jean and Albert Boghossian had been championing philanthropic activities in lebanon, syria and Armenia for a number of years, often collaborating with sister Arousiag on projects that in- cluded dormitories, summer camps and orphanages. “she really was my initial inspiration,” says Al- bert, “and imagine, she left the comforts of her life in the UsA and lived in -20 degrees Celsius in the earthquake zone in a small dilapidated soviet concrete house.” Already economically desolate, the former Communist state was in a shambles following the earthquake, but it was the plight of the children in the slums that shook the brothers. “looking at them, I thought ‘this can’t be possible’,” says Jean shaking his head. “It was the children’s eyes that motivated all this,” adds Albert. ‘This’ became the Boghossian Foundation – an establishment set up by Jean and Albert and their father, Robert, in 1992 for the provision of social, educational, medical, artistic and cultural projects in Armenia and lebanon. “What began as humanitarian help was one of many catalysts for the crea- tion of the Foundation,” says Albert. The foremost catalyst was in fact an innate sensibility that has been passed down over four generations of Boghossians. For over 100 years, the Boghossian family have not only been reputed jewellers, but have also been generous donors to a number of causes and institutions. The family patriarch, ohannes Boghossian senior, was “a platform, a shining aura” who, aside from establishing the family jewellery business, also initiated a number of charitable enterprises, among them a children’s medical centre in Beirut that was destroyed during the war in lebanon. Increasing conflicts led the family to flee to geneva and Brussels, from where Jean and Albert have furthered their grandfather’s legacy, taking the family business to greater, international dimensions. “he fostered a sense of unity among us,” says Albert of his grandfather, “he was all about generosity, not in monetary terms, but in spirit.” Opening spread: Villa Empain exterior. © georgesdekinder.com Inset; Albert and Jean Boghossian. Courtesy the Boghossians. ART pATRon “Art is the only language where you don’t fight and it’s universal.” - Jean Boghossian art patron The RooTs of iT All the impetus for establishing a headquarters for the Boghossian Foundation came in 2001, when Jean was in Lisbon and visited the Cal- ouste Gulbenkian Foundation ( Canvas 4.5) with which the Boghossians had collaborated on for charitable projects in Beirut. “I saw their property and thought, ‘we never insisted on [physically] structuring our foundation’,” says Jean, “we had to globalise our actions and consolidate this into a major centre.” In doing so, the brothers would pursue their humanitarian endeavours, but de- velop their activities in greater, wider form, or as Jean put it, “spread the light, venture into new areas.” Discussions with intellectuals, curators, ac- ademics and others followed, and they quickly decided that the centre should be a hub for “art dialogue from East and West”. While the brothers’ appreciation of art devel- oped upon their arrival in Europe, its roots stem from their childhood, when robert assigned a drawing teacher to instruct the boys daily. “My father believed that a good jeweller must draw, especially as customers will then realise that they are in the right hands,” says Jean. that decision, in turn, became yet another aspect perpetuated in the upbringing of the brothers’ children. about 22 years ago, Jean bought his son roberto an easel, paints and brushes for Christmas, but the same evening, “I took them for myself!” laughs Jean, who is now an accomplished artist and is represented by a gallery in Brussels. albert, on the other hand, is a Contemporary art aficionado and his orientation to this genre is largely due to its “challenging nature”. through his attendance at exhibitions, fairs and auctions, albert’s “eye has been trained” enough, he believes, to have “evolved with art”. together, the brothers have collected orientalist art and have helped build orientalist art collections for others. “art is a uni- versal language, it’s part of education, it’s where people communicate and creation is necessary for innovation,” says Jean. as part of their research for a building that would embody their ambitious philanthropic as- pirations, Jean toured some of the world’s major cultural cities, visiting some 150 small museums until they stumbled on the Villa Empain, an aban- doned art Deco building in the embassy district of Brussels. “We hope to act as a cultural embassy between East and West,” says Jean. the Boghos- sians bought the building in 2006 and after resto- ration work was recently completed, Villa Empain opened its doors to the public on 21 april with Path of Elegance Between East and West, showcas- ing objects on loan from private and public insti- tutions including Hermès, Cartier, Louis Vuitton and galleries Emmanuel perrotin and thaddeus ropac. pieces by artist anish Kapoor and fashion designers Issey Miyake and rabih Kayrouz are dis- played alongside jewels, paintings, sculptures and other items. CulTuRAl Vision “If you consider the word ‘orient’, it is a direc- tion,” says Jean, “when you are ‘oriented’, it means you’re in the right direction, but when you are ‘disoriented’, you’re lost. What we want to do is not just link East and West, but highlight the more intricate ties within the two.” Interestingly, this is a concept explored by some of today’s Middle Eastern Contemporary curators; among them Jack persekian, Director of the Sharjah Bi- ennial, who recently curated DisOrientation: The Rise and Fall of Arab Cities . the show, the first ex- hibition on abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island district, tackled themes such as division, destruction, harmony and unanimity, which were explored by a number of the region’s leading Contempo- rary artists. plans for Villa Empain are many, and include artist residency programmes, conferences, de- bates and exhibitions. But at the very core of all of its cultural practices is the determination for art to prevail over politics, religion, stereotyping, racism and any other notions that breed conflict. “art is the only language where you don’t fight,” says Jean, “and it’s universal.” the brothers are very keen on forging ties with renowned pub- lic institutions, all in the name of promoting the unifying theme of art for posterity. and central to this notion is the adage, ‘charity begins at home’. “I always believed that our family should be united beyond us through a flame that can further our vision and that Villa Empain will bring this aim higher and the family closer,” says Jean. Having witnessed the wars in Lebanon, “where a neighbour can shoot at his neigh- bour and a brother can shoot at his brother”, the Boghossians have learnt that while the East needs to bridge its gaps with the West, it also needs to heal the rifts within itself. “turkey and armenia, Jews and arabs, Muslims and Chris- tians and even north and South Korea,” says albert, “the idea is to stretch the boundaries, as we believe in the Silk route and its magical trail through centuries.” Jean suddenly turns to albert and says, “by the way, Sweden just recognised the armenian genocide and perhaps we should do something about that.” He then turns to me and says, “this is something every armenian has in their heart and the only way to heal this wound is recognition, because after all, you can’t erase the past.” With such ambitious plans for Vil- la Empain, hopefully, the future looks bright. Villa Empain’s premiere exhibition Path of Elegance Between East and West runs from 21 April-21 October. For more information visit www.villaempain.com