“IT SEEMS LIKE THAT” – ANDRO WEKUA
On September 17, Andro Wekua’s solo show “It seems like that” was opened in Sprüth Magers, Berlin. This time, Wekua is presented among the “Berlin Art-week” shows, which is probably one of the most important events held in the city. Wekua, who is well-known for his complex expositions, displays here only five paintings. Nevertheless, their […]
GAGOSHA STARTED GARDENING AND SOON WILL BRING THIS COUNTRY TO BLOOM
Gagosha – Georgian street artist Giorgi Gagoshidze was born in 1986. He works in different media: poetry, visual poetry, drawing, media art, etc. He studied computer science at Tbilisi University, and graduated with an MA in Technology Administration from Tallinn University of Technology. Gagoshidze is the author of and participant in numerous projects. His fields […]
DIGITAL NATIVES
Over the past 30 years, the internet has reshaped and rearranged our communal understanding of the environment in the most diverse ways. This all-encompassing influence spans from labor to commodity, from everyday conversation to political negotiations, from the reproduction of meaning to simulated wars and catastrophes. When virtuality governs our everyday life, our main concern […]
NIKORTSMINDA CHURCH OF ST. NICOLAS
The Church of St. Nicholas stands on a small elevation in the village of Nikortsminda (Racha region). According to the inscription on the west façade, it was built in the latter years (1010-1014) of the reign of King Bagrat III (975–1014). The Church is preserved in almost original condition, though traces of the restoration that […]
GEORGIAN BALLET NOWADAYS
It is now the 18th season that prima ballerina Nino Ananiashvili has been head of the ballet troupe of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre. In 2004, when she arrived in Tbilisi to take up the position, Nino Ananiashvili was still an active dancer with a full schedule of world tours. Immediately upon her arrival, […]
THE REPRESSED GEORGIAN AVANT-GARDE
In the 1920s, the way the scenography system functioned was determined by new “aesthetic discoveries”. The immediate connection between stage design and the processes taking place in the realm of fine arts contributed to the introduction of avant-garde experiments focusing on cubist, cubofuturistic, and constructivist means of expression and their implementation in theatre. In a […]
WALL PAINTINGS OF THE TAO-KLARJETI CHURCHES
The Tao-Klarjeti region, which is located in what is now north-eastern Turkey, used to be one of the most prominent political and cultural centers of medieval Georgia, especially in the 9th –13th cc. The activities of St. Grigol Khandzteli (759-861) and his disciples in founding monasteries all over this area brought about flourishing and advancement in all […]
DMANISI
The village of Dmanisi lies some 85 kilometers south-west of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. In the Middle Ages, Dmanisi was one of the most prominent cities and an important stop on the Silk Road. The area has therefore long intrigued archaeologists, who have been excavating the crumbling ruins of a medieval citadel there since the […]
TBILISI – “FANTASTIC CITY”
The cultural life experienced in Tbilisi during the 1910-20s was one of the most important periods in Georgian art. Such a “sober” cultural life should be explained, in the first place, by the political situation in the country during that epoch – namely the country’s short-lived independence and active contact with Europe. In 1918-1921, the […]
“WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY?”
Alexandre Koberidze’s film “What do we see when we look at the sky?” was among the top favorites in the press after its Berlinale premiere this year. The film received critical acclaim with particular praise for the director’s refined cinematic style and ability to capture everyday moments with spirituality and a poetic touch. Cinematographer Faraz […]
WALL PAINTINGS OF THE CHURCH OF THE VIRGIN AT NEKRESI MONASTERY
Nekresi Monastery, which is one of the oldest monasteries in Georgia, is located in Kakheti, Eastern Georgia. The site chosen for the monastery is extremely picturesque: it was erected on top of a hill, on the site of an ancient settlement, and boasts magnificent panoramic views overlooking the vast Alazani valley and the Caucasus Mountains. […]
HIDDEN TRACES OF GEORGIAN MODERNISM IN ALEKSANDRE TSIMAKURIDZE’S LANDSCAPE
Aleksandre Tsimakuridze is recognized as one of the chief supporters of the landscape genre in 20th century Georgian realistic easel painting. Notwithstanding the significant contributions of figures such as David Kakabadze and Elene Akhvlediani, who established landscape painting both as a genre and as a thematic focus in Georgian art, it can be asserted that […]
WRITER’S HOUSE IN TBILISI
The house number thirteen on Machabeli Street in Tbilisi is distinguished both for its history and architecture. It belonged to the famous Georgian brandy producer David Sarajishvili, known not only for his prosperous entrepreneurship, but also for his charitable activity. By the twentieth century, David Sarajishvili owned several buildings in Tbilisi, but he decided to […]
IAKOB NIKOLADZE: FOUNDER OF MODERN GEORGIAN SCULPTURE
The history of contemporary Georgian sculpture has its roots in the period around the turn of the 20th century, when Georgia began to reconnect with European cultural milieu after centuries of having been forcibly pulled away from it. It was at that time that pioneer Georgian sculptor Iakob Nikoladze (1876-1951) made his first appearance […]
AT WHAT PRICE? SHOW BY LUCA LAZAR
Today, after years of creative pursuits and discoveries, shows, installations, interviews, articles, and… more shows across Germany, he lives in New York. It all began in Georgia, in the 1980s. Luka Lasareishvili, representing the second most important wave in the history of Georgian abstract art, is now one of the most renowned contemporary Georgian […]
ZURA APKHAZI: MAPPING THE COSMOS
You might begin to familiarize yourself with Zura Apkhazi’s artwork at a show somewhere, but you are bound to have questions, which may only be answered by visiting his studio. As you view his pieces, characterized by customary elegance of exposition, at a gallery, their distinctive brutality, large format and accentuated textures will certainly remind […]
THE INVISIBLE THREAD
“What does the artist do? He draws connections. He ties the invisible threads between things. He dives into history, be it the history of mankind, the geological history of the Earth or the beginning and end of the manifest cosmos.” Anselm Kiefer Despite the fact that artworks are created in an artist’s studio, […]
