In autumn 2024, HealthXCross and Ca’ Foscari University hosted Canadian designer Serina Tarkhanian as a visiting doctoral researcher from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, with support from Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa.
During her residency in Venice, she developed Healing Earths, a project initiated in collaboration with Corinne Aivazian, exploring the antimicrobial properties of Armenian bole and its cultural, historical, and mythical significance.
Working with Ca’ Foscari’s Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Tarkhanian combined laboratory research with design inquiry and dialogue on Indigenous medicine and Western science.
Her residency concluded with a public presentation on December 4, 2024, at Palazzetto Tito, highlighting a practice that bridges science, design, and cultural heritage.

Through first-hand testimonies, this film traces Armenia’s passage from Soviet collapse to fragile independence. Memories of sudden freedom sit alongside stories of scarcity, environmental damage, and survival in the aftermath of earthquake and political upheaval. Everyday objects—chewing gum, electricity, firewood, a red bandana—become markers of historical rupture. Together, these voices form an intimate record of resilience, loss, and the long shadows left by collapse.

Maison Salvadore was established to support international contemporary artists by offering dedicated time, space, and facilities to plan, reflect, and create new work. Rooted in research, learning, and hands-on making, it fosters an open environment where experimentation, play, and artistic exchange are central to the creative process.

This film is a personal and collective journey through the Armenian genocide, diaspora, and the fractured inheritance of a people severed from their land. Moving through the ruins of Ani and across borders both physical and ancestral, it weaves memory, myth, and landscape into an act of remembrance. The land speaks where history has been silenced, carrying stories of loss, survival, and resilience across generations. It is an ode to a homeland that no longer exists, and to the nomadic legacy of those who continue to carry it within their bodies.

Maison Salvadore is driven by a commitment to supporting international contemporary artists, offering the time, space, and resources needed to research, reflect, and produce new work. Grounded in a spirit of making, the project encourages experimentation, learning, and play, creating an environment where artistic practice and shared exploration can develop naturally.

Maison Salvadore is a place where cooking, living, and making are brought back to the essentials of artist retreats. Centred around shared meals, daily rituals, and time spent together, it creates space for artists to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with the fundamentals of creative life. Through simple acts of living and making, the retreat supports focused practice, exchange, and a grounded, communal approach to art.