Mkrtich Tonoyan, is an Armenian artist, member of Artists’ Union of Armenia (since 2005), co-founder and current president of the “Akos” Cultural NGO (2002), initiator and founder of the ACOSS (Art Centre of Social Studies) Artist-in-Residence program (2006) and co-founder of the ACSL NGO’s Artists-in-Residence program "Art Commune" (2008) and was director of the program during 2008-2009.
1996-2002 He attended State Academy of Art of Armenia. Tonoyan turned to contemporary art as a space of possibility to address crisis and change in all its dimensions: personal, political, ideological and social. He has presented projects at numerous national and international art events, regularly having lectures on his work, Akos’s activites and Armenian contemporary art.
As president of the AKOS Cultural NGO Tonoyan collaborates with organizations internationally to develop cultural exchange opportunities, and locally to develop socially engaged project in the peripheries of Armenia. In 2010, Tonoyan was awarded a mobility grant from the Euro Cultural Foundation to research models of artist residencies in the UK, and in 2011 he was awarded professional development funding from the Open Society Foundation to research artist residencies management practice in the USA.

Date	2014.02.02 - 2014.02.28
Place	AIR-A