Friday, March 3, 2006
Georgia Here We Come, Part I
3-24 March, 2006, Tbilisi
Organised by ERforS (Marjolijn Dijkman and Maarten Van den Eynde) and Expodium Utrecht in collaboration with GeoAIR
Responding to the call of new Georgian President Saakashvilli, ERforS and Expodium organized a site specific project. This call was for Georgians, who have studied and worked abroad, to return to Georgia and help to rebuild the country. ERforS respond to this call was to investigate how art could contribute to this quest for freedom and democracy. Should Georgia change something and if so what and how? What is freedom and what is democracy? For the project it was important to have an open view towards the situation and not have a fixed idea about Georgia at the moment. The interaction with artists and locals was important to understand more about Georgia and its future. With small interventions and works in the public sphere ERforS created changes and stimulated the use of committed art.
'We think the influence of our installations, projects and interventions will create small scale differences in the city. The interaction between the inhabitants and audience will hopefully create an interesting soil for committed art and the future developments of GeoAIR and other organizations in Tbilisi'. - says ERforS
Besides the individual projects the Dutch artists did series of the lectures at the Tbilisi state academy of arts. The themes for the lectures were based on the gaps of knowledge in the art academy, as defined by GeoAIR and teachers from the academy, and related to the artists practices. Lectures were held on the topics of: the artists role in the society, using the knowledge of traditional craftsmanship in contemporary design, cross disciplinary cooperation, curatorial practices and the artist as an one-man enterprise.
Participants:
Marika Asatiani, Daan van der Berg, Stefaan Dheedene, Marjolijn Dijkman, David Djindjikhachvili, Orgacom, Suze May Sho, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Eric von Robertson, Krzysztof Wegiel, Lado Darakhvelidze, Mamuka Samkharatze, Melano Sokhadze, Polina Rudchik, Luiza Laperadze, Bessa Kartlelishvili, Aleksandre Katsitadze, Giorgi Tabatadze.
For extended project documentation visit the link.
Project was supported by the Dutch Embassy in Georgia and the National Art Center in Tbilisi.
Georgia Here We Come, Part II, to Holland
21 August - 17 September, 2006, Utrecht
During the 'Georgia Here We Come' project in Georgia Expodium (Bart Witte and Maaike Gouwenberg) selected Georgian artists to go to Utrecht to react to the specific cultural context in Holland and develop a site-specific project in the Netherlands.
In the second part a group of 8 Georgian artists came to Holland to work and explore. Expodium in Utrecht, hosted the artists and offered a workspace and a program in which the group could gather useful information for the development of the art world in Tbilisi.
In order to create a network and gather information the group did various day-trips for which Dutch artists, architects, theater producers and others have made the program. Bureau Beyond Utrecht and the Graphic Atelier Utrecht contributed by offering their spaces as a temporary work- and live space. In the public workspace at Expodiums headquarters the group worked on a database, filling this with the gathered information, as well as on an exhibition with previous work and work made in Holland.
The final presentation took place on the 10th of September, during the start of the Utrecht cultural year.
In the second part a group of 8 Georgian artists came to Holland to work and explore. Expodium in Utrecht, hosted the artists and offered a workspace and a program in which the group could gather useful information for the development of the art world in Tbilisi.
In order to create a network and gather information the group did various day-trips for which Dutch artists, architects, theater producers and others have made the program. Bureau Beyond Utrecht and the Graphic Atelier Utrecht contributed by offering their spaces as a temporary work- and live space. In the public workspace at Expodiums headquarters the group worked on a database, filling this with the gathered information, as well as on an exhibition with previous work and work made in Holland.
The final presentation took place on the 10th of September, during the start of the Utrecht cultural year.
Participants:
Lado Darakhvelidze, Mamuka Samkharatze, Melano Sokhadze, Polina Rudchik, Luiza Laperadze, Bessa Kartlelishvili, Aleksandre Katsitadze, Giorgi Tabatadze
Lado Darakhvelidze, Mamuka Samkharatze, Melano Sokhadze, Polina Rudchik, Luiza Laperadze, Bessa Kartlelishvili, Aleksandre Katsitadze, Giorgi Tabatadze
Project was supported by:
Prins Bernhard Culturefund, The Centre for Visual Arts Rotterdam, European Cultural Foundation, NCDO, Open Society and Soros Network, Royal Embassy of The Netherlands
