18/08/09
Got to Tbilisi on a marshrutka and went straight to a meeting with Sophia Tabatadze – a Dutch-educated Georgian artist living in Berlin. Sophia showed us around her house that is currently being extended by an extra floor to host GeoAIR – a residency programme for international curators, organisations and artists interested in making connections in the South Caucasus. Situated in central Tbilisi it will certainly be a great base for exploring the arts scene in the region.
We then met Nana Kirmelashvili for a coffee. Nana is a curator and one of initiators of Caucasus Biennale and chair of Association Art Caucasus. She told us about and her current projects including curating the Georgian exhibition for this year’s Prague biennale.
In the afternoon we visited Mamuka Japharidze‘s place in a village outside Tbilisi, with impressive views over the city. Mamuka and his British partner’s new house was also built with the purpose of hosting artists, but in a more informal way without a formal residency programme or institutional structure. Mamuka also showed us some his work.
We then got a lift to Kote Jacharidze’s flat where we spent the evening with him and his friend Kote Sulaberidze, looking at their work, watching Georgian video art and learning about the famous Georgian toasting traditions.
