The project Tbilisi InSights was originally conceptualized for the Georgian Pavilion at the 14th Architecture Biennale in Venice and then has been selected by the International-Georgian Committee. The jury decision however was afterwards not taken into account by the Georgian Ministry of Culture, Tbilisi InSights was not commissioned and the Georgian participation at the 14th Architecture Biennale in Venice was canceled [See Tbilisi InSights' statement regarding the process].

THEN TBILISI INSIGHTS WENT TBILISI!

Tbilisi InSights aims to outline a non-linear, personal perspective on the transformations of daily life in Modern Georgia. Architecture, when not explored as a merely functional assemblage of speechless elements which compose inhabited spaces, incorporates life, therefore Tbilisi InSights considers, as the very foundation of architecture, people. People who need places to live and work, who build and envision, who inhabit and change the given and future architectural structure. Hence the project presents glimpses into personal, unintentional archives of those living within Tbilisi's architecture, a collection of various media and different forms, yet extending this insight into the past to imaginary concepts and critical alternatives of living within the modern city today.

The individual tends to be set in an inadequate dichotomy of private and public spaces which we are made to believe are for the people's good, yet state structures as well as those created by private enterprises disrupt not only the understandings of dichotomous space, but even more so interactions within. These are phenomena to be observed in building tendencies throughout the city as well as in funding opportunities and decision making for artistic and architectural projects, generating a process shaped by local but also Western financing connected to their respective agendas only, leaving the city with blanks when it comes to a common envisioning of its future.

The exhibition opened on October 9, 2014 at Gallery Nectar in Tbilisi and was on view until October 30, 2014.

Tbilisi InSights Collective also invited to a discussion on 'Public, Private, Other Spaces?' with Nini Palavandishvili (curator, GeoAIR), Lali Pertenava (art researcher/critic), Ruska Mirzikashvili (architect, Urban Reactor/Docomomo Georgia) purporting the parameters of Tbilisi InSights' concept as starting points for our conversation.

With the positive funding news from Arts Collaboratory beginning of November 2014, Tbilisi InSights continued their work focusing on both a publication and a collaboration with AJZ collective in Yerevan.

Tbilisi InSights was presented in Yerevan in spring 2015 [22.3.-5.4.2015] and collaborated with AJZ collective – Yerevan, elaborating through discussion on both parallel and diverging momenta.

The collective worked on a city [un]archived publication together with Onomatopee in Eindhoven, additionally inviting other contributors as to tackle the core issues of the project in a multifacted compendium.

Contributions by: Tbilisi InSights collective members – Tamuna Chabashvili, Data Chigholashvili, Gvantsa Nikolaishvili (together with Nana Kalandadze as Tbilisi Moare) and Katharina Stadler; additional contributions by Lado Darakhvelidze, Nini Palavandishvili, Giorgi Tabatadze and Sophia Tabatadze. Graphic design by Bardhi Haliti.

Tbilisi InSights - city [un]archived publication launch and exhibition opening of collected personal archive in and about Tbilisi took place at Onomatopee on October 29, followed by the discursive program during October 30-31 at Onomatopee in Eindhoven. The exhibition continued until November 22, 2015.

Afterwards the project joined TALES, TILES and TAILS from GEORGIA event including the opening of photo exhibition of Soviet period mosaics, talks and display of various new publications on November 1 at Tante Nino space in Rotterdam. It was followed by a performative presentation of city [un]archived publication on November 2 in the framework of the special edition of Khachapuri Kino Club at the same space.

The publication was also presented in Amsterdam on November 4 in the format of a spontaneous meeting in the public space.

Afterwards, Tbilisi presentation of city [un]archived took place on November 13, 2015 at Campus Studio.

The project was conceptualized and initiated by the Tbilisi InSights collective after deciding to proceed with an adapted version of the proposed project for the Georgian Pavilion for the 14th Architecture Biennale in Venice.

Collective members: Public Space with a Roof artist Tamuna Chabashvili, anthropologist Data Chigholashvili, architect and Tbilisi Moare researcher Gvantsa Nikolaishvili and artist and Concept and Theory-Tbilisi founder Katharina Stadler.

Contact: tbilisi_insights@yahoo.com
Website: http://tbilisiinsights.wordpress.com/ 

Tbilisi InSights collective members were additionally supported: Data Chigholashvili for his individual travel to the Netherlands by Prince Claus Fund, Gvantsa Nikolaishvili for her individual travel to the Netherlands by ECF STEP Beyond Travel Grant and Katharina Stadler's individual work 'amidst a random group' by Bundeskanzleramt Österreich.

The project is implemented by Tbilisi InSights collective, GeoAIR and Concept and Theory-Tbilisi, with the support of Arts Collaboratory and DOEN Foundation.