TBILISI
Georgia
18.05.2024-21.07.2024

After the presentations at the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina in Serbia, the Goethe-Institut Athen in Greece and NiMAC in Cyprus, the exhibition is coming to its fifth station, Tbilisi Photography & Multimedia Museum (TPMM) in Tbilisi. The project has been expanded to include a new work by Georgian artist Nika Kutateladze – curated by Ana Gabelaia. Further local expansion of the exhibition is also planned: Adnan Softić and Johanna Diehl will for example develop new works in close cooperation with local actors.

Artists Vajiko Chachkhiani, Lana Čmajčanin, Henrike Naumann, Adnan Softić and Nika Kutateladze will also be present at the opening ceremony, where they will be available for a discussion of their works with the public, together with exhibition curator Sanja Kojić Mladenov and local curator Ana Gabelaia. There will also be a guided tour with the artists and curators on Sunday, May 19, 2024.

Nona Markaryan and Mari Kalabegashvili, fellows of the Slavs and Tatars’ international residency programme, will co-curate the Pickle Bar performances, to be presented in Tbilisi. Both the residency-mentorship programme and the Pickle Bar installation by the artists’ collective are part of the EVROVIZION project. The integration of the Pickle Bar installation into the exhibition creates an open space for local dialogues. Before each exhibition opens, a young local professional (an artist, curator and/or researcher) is invited to participate in the Pickle Bar mentorship programme in Berlin. For two months, they are integrated into the artists’ studio and mentored in their personal projects – some of which may eventually be presented as part of EVROVIZION. Slavs and Tatars and ifa selected the young Georgian curator and researcher Nona Markaryan and artist Mari Kalabegashvili as fellows of the 2023-2024 Pickle Bar residency-mentorship programme.

Following the exhibition in Tbilisi, a new issue of the EVROVIZION magazine will be published, thus enriching the “archive of the journey.” Co-edited by Ana Gabelaia, EVROVIZION.CROSSING TBILISI will be dedicated to the presentation of the ever-growing project in Tbilisi and its impact on the city’s cultural identity.

Over the centuries, Tbilisi has been conquered by the Persians, Ottomans and Russians, and each time it was integrated into the empire of its conquerors. From 1801 until 1918, Georgia was part of the Russian Empire, followed by a brief period of independence that came to an end when the Red Army invaded in 1921 and the country was annexed by the Soviet Union, of which it remained a part until Georgia declared independence in 1991. This 190-year period has had a major impact on the country. As a result of military conflict with Russia in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, two regions that are internationally recognised as part of Georgia – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – have become de facto states that are closely tied to Russia. However, a majority of the country – and the people of Tbilisi in particular – would like to join the European Union. Tbilisi is also the centre of cultural life in Georgia, with numerous museums, universities, cinemas and theatres. The varied cultural influences to which the country has been exposed are particularly evident in the city’s architecture, including the old town with its medieval street plan and building structure, as well as places of worship for various religions.

The Georgians not only have their own Caucasian language, but also their own alphabet, with 33 artfully curved letters whose origins can be traced back to the third century AD. This alphabet is not related to either the Latin or Cyrillic alphabets. Thanks to its language, the country has been able to maintain its identity despite being occupied on numerous occasions.

Cities of the travelling exhibition
Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2021), Novi Sad (Serbia, 2021–22), Athens (Greece, 2023), Nicosia (Cyprus, 2023-24), Tbilisi (Georgia, 2024), Chișinău (Republic of Moldova, 2025), Varna (Bulgaria, 2025), Brussels (Belgium, 2026), Kraków (Poland, 2027), Vilnius (Republic of Lithuania, 2027), Berlin (Germany, 2028).

Artists participating in the project EVROVIZION.CROSSING STORIES AND SPACES
Nevin Aladağ, Igor Bošnjak, Vajiko Chachkhiani, Lana Čmajčanin, Johanna Diehl, Petrit Halilaj, Ivana Ivković, Janine Jembere, Nurtane Karagil, Nika Kutateladze, Vladimir Miladinović, Henrike Naumann, Selma Selman, Emilija Škarnulytė, Slavs and Tatars, Adnan Softić, Kyriakos Theocharous, Maria Tsagkari

Artists participating in the exhibition in Tbilisi
Nevin Aladağ, Igor Bošnjak, Vajiko Chachkhiani, Lana Čmajčanin, Johanna Diehl, Petrit Halilaj, Ivana Ivković, Janine Jembere Nika Kutateladze, Vladimir Miladinović, Henrike Naumann, Selma Selman, Slavs and Tatars, Adnan Softić, Kyriakos Theocharous.

Curators
Sabina Klemm, Sanja Kojić Mladenov

Local curator
Ana Gabelaia

Local co-editor of the EVROVIZION.CROSSING TBILISI magazine
Ana Gabelaia

Fellows of the Pickle Bar residency
Nona Markaryan, Mari Kalabegashvili

Venue
Tbilisi Photography & Multimedia Museum (TPMM)
Stamba D Block, 14, M. Kostava St. Tbilisi 0108, Georgia

Duration
Saturday, May 18, 2024 – Sunday, July 21, 2024

Visiting days and hours
Monday–Friday: 12:00–19:00
Weekends: 14:00–20:00
Free entrance

Official website
https://evrovizion.ifa.de/en

More information
https://tpmm.ge/en/

Information on public events and guided tours will be announced soon.