Interview of Up’Gyumri’s founders by Bubble Art

Interview made for Bubble Art on the sidelines of the 2021 international solidarity festival.

You can find it on the Bubble Art website

Gyumri is an Armenian city, in the south of the Caucasus, close to the Turkish border. It is located in an earthquake zone. In 1988, an earthquake devastated a large part of the city, which has remained frozen in time until today. Reconstruction is difficult and industrial activities have stopped for more than 30 years.

Hugo Daguillon and Thomas Tronville, both graduates of the Lyon School of Architecture, have found a way, by implementing alternative urban development methods with their association: Up’Gyumri. They are at the origin of a project to create a laboratory for the reuse of construction materials in Armenia, responding to economic and ecological issues. For the implementation of the project, they had to solicit international actors and in particular Armenians. In this interview, Hugo Daguillon and Thomas Tronville will also warn us about the problems linked to overconsumption in our current society.

Interview conducted by Pierre-Alain Gourion
Shooting and editing Inès Gast
Sound recording and mixing Benoît David