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24/11/2023

ERTATSMINDA

ERTATSMINDA - The architecture of Ertatsminda Church dates from the mid-thirteenth century. It is built of large carefully hewn blocks of yellow sandstone. The building has an inscribed-cross plan, with its dome resting on the corners of the apse wall projections to the east and two piers to the west. Pendentives serve to transition from the square central bay to the circular base of the dome. The Church of St. Eustace stands in the middle of the village of Ertatsminda, within a large courtyard that is encircled by a stone wall. The toponym Ertatsminda derives from Estatetsminda, which in Georgian means St. Eustace. The exterior of the church is richly decorated. All four façades feature framed double windows with large crosses between them, all of which are adorned with stone-carved ornaments.

24/11/2023

GLIMPSE IN GALLERY - EKATERINE TOTLADZE

#Glimpseingallery - Ekaterine Totladze (2001) is a student, who won ATINATI’S award. “WHITE NOISE” is the title of her first personal exhibition. The talented artist dedicated four months to crafting the captivating series, “WHITE NOISE” exclusively for this show. Ekaterine Totladze’s new series focuses on the observation of an individual, elevating the subject to an object of scrutiny. A separate wall in the show is dedicated to displaying the artist’s early work. This particular canvas played a pivotal role in determining the contestant’s fate and garnered unanimous approval from the jury. Consequently, the wall housing this significant piece carries a metaphorical load, symbolizing the journey from the victory to the realization of the solo exhibition. The ATINATI Foundation instituted a prize for students at A. Kutateladze Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. Fourth-year fine arts students had the opportunity to enter the open competition by registering within a month. Through a selection process conducted behind closed doors, a panel comprising both local and international jury members identified the top six students. The contestants presented their artworks to a diverse audience in the exhibition hall of the Academy of Arts. Among them, Ekaterine Totladze emerged as the winner. Following the award conditions, the artist received a prize of €5,000. This occasion is marked by the hosting of her personal exhibition at the ATINATI Culture Center.

24/11/2023

EUROPALIA 2023

EUROPALIA 2023 - This autumn, Europalia dedicates an arts festival to Georgia! The starting point for this edition is the country’s fascinating culture and the art scene of its bustling capital, Tbilisi, alongside that of lesser-known cities and regions. Starting 4 October 2023, visitors can enjoy a rich programme of exhibitions, performances, concerts, film, dance and theatre productions and literature across Belgium. Europalia, as a major international art festival, was founded in 1969, initially the goal of the festival was to bring the art and culture of European countries to Belgium, the heart of Europe. Europalia is an immensely important festival from a cultural point of view, as it promotes intercultural and intergenerational exchanges, as well as research, reflection and creativity. Festival is held once every two years to celebrate the cultural heritage of one of the invited countries. The festival’s opening exhibition was, The Avant-Garde in Georgia (1900-1936) at Bozar (Brussels). In the 1910s and 1920s, an artistic scene blossomed in Georgia, centered on taverns and cafes opened and decorated by artists from different backgrounds. These artists blended Georgian traditions with elements from the East and West in a unique art that fell into oblivion due to the repression and censorship of the Soviet regime. The exhibition brings together paintings, drawings, film, photography, poetry and costume and theater designs from this artistic laboratory and gives a voice to these artists, many of whom were persecuted during the Soviet era. Duration of the exhibition: 04.10.2023 – 14.01.2024 Music credits: Anthem of the European Union, Revaz Lagidze “Kuri ugde Sakartvelos” Host of the exhibition: BOZAR, Brussels

24/11/2023

GLIMPSE IN GALLERY - NINA KINTSURASHVILI

#Glimpseingallery - Nina Kintsurashvili (1992) is a Georgian artist. Nina Kintsurashvili’s first solo show - MUTE THINGS consist of recent paintings and an installation with works on paper. Kintsurashvili analytical but, at the same time, intuitive approach towards abstract painting probes the complexities of the medium itself. Her inquiry into the form manifests in diverse imagery and a range of painterly techniques. She works on her canvas separately, each having a particular internal logic and choreography. For Kintsurashvili the diverse approach and inquiry into specific formal questions make an artist a collector of various tools. For her, color, line, materiality of paint, the speed of a brushstroke, humor, the deceptive nature of human memory, and even the concept of time become tools applied to her process of image-making. Nina’s works have been exhibited in Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography (Mestia, Georgia), LC Queisser (Tbilisi, Georgia), E.A. Shared Space (Tbilisi, Georgia), Arco Madrid (Madrid, Spain), PS1 Iowa City, Levitt Gallery UofI (Iowa City, US), Ortega y Gasset Projects (NY,US), Everywoman Biennial (London, UK), Ekru Projects (Kansas City, US).

24/11/2023

GLIMPSE IN GALLERY - TAMAZ VARVARIDZE

#Glimpseingallery - Tamaz Varvaridze (1945) is a Georgian artist. Representative of the 1970s, adhered to the principles of aesthetic-conceptualism. He is distinguished with unique style and credited as the founder of the contemporary Georgian school of graphics. He has played a pivotal role in educating numerous generations of graphic designers and holds the prestigious title of Emeritus Professor at the Tbilisi State Academy of Art. During the Soviet times, the artist mostly created works alien to the ideological context of the Soviet totalitarian era. His artistic pursuit is characterized by the aesthetic organization of composition. Despite the autonomy of individual elements, the artist builds the system united through abstract interconnections and with the utmost economy of compositional elements, creates an internal system that determines the trajectory of contemplation on an abstract and generalized plane. Host of the exhibition: Dimitri Shevardnadze national gallery

24/11/2023

NIKO PIROSMANI at the Fondation Beyeler

Niko Pirosmani (1862-1918) at the Fondation Beyeler. As a highlight of the year, the Fondation Beyeler devotes an exhibition to the legendary Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani, as much an enigmatic free spirit as an influential precursor of modern art. Almost fanatically admired by art lovers and celebrated as a national treasure in his home country, Pirosmani is yet to be discovered by a wider Western European audience. Bringing together around 50 key works, the exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler is the most comprehensive international show ever devoted to Pirosmani. While Pirosmani’s art radiates spirituality, it also documents and bears testimony to a country at the intersection of the West and the East, and a city, Tbilisi, at the time celebrated as a “Paris of the East”. Renowned contemporary artists Thea Djordjadze and Andro Wekua have been invited to offer their own contributions to the presentation of Pirosmani’s works in Basel. The exhibition is organized by the Fondation Beyeler and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark. It is a cooperation with the Georgian National Museum and the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia, with friendly support of the Infinitart Foundation. Pirosmani’s exhibition will be on show until 28 th January 2024. Music credits: Lili Gegelia “Gamodi”; Shavnabada “Mravaljamier”

24/11/2023

SERGEI PARAJANOV [English Version]

Sergei Parajanov (სერგო ფარაჯანოვი, 1924 - 1990) is considered as one of the 20th century’s greatest masters of cinema. His free cinematic forms, expressive power and originality of visual compositions still continue to impress filmmakers today. Learn more about artist with ATINATI’s latest video.

24/11/2023

GLIMPSE IN GALLERY - LEILA SHELIA

#Glimpseingallery - Leila Shelia’s (ლეილა შელია, b. 1953) solo exhibition is open at ATINATI’S Cultural Center. Leila Shelia is one of the foremost Georgian female abstractionist artists of the 20th century. The exhibition is to a certain extent a retrospective of abstract works executed by the artist over the course of 43 years. The works on display cover every stage of Leila Shelia’s creative period – from the 1980s to the present day. As the artist points out, having been originally inspired by her years spent in Abkhazia, she has been drawing ever since she was a young child. Nature itself possessed an infinite, generalized shape, and through her observations of the forest, the sea, plants and celestial bodies, she began thinking in an abstract way, and this new corporeality and subjectivity were subsequently reflected through her paintings. In Leila Sheila’s artworks, scratches, hieroglyphs, rectangular-framed paintings, and brightly colored spots are all brought together to form a complete harmony. Certain works from ATINATI’S private collection will also be on display at the exhibition. Leila Shelia is an outstanding artist whose works form part of significant collections both locally and worldwide. Leila Shelia’s exhibition will be on show at ATANATI’S Culture Center until November 3, 2023.

24/11/2023

WORKS FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

#Glimpseingallery - Ushangi Khumarashvili’s (1948 - 2023) exhibition “WORKS FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS” . Ushangi Khumarashvili was born in Telavi. He began working at the Telavi Drama Theater. Studied at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts’ Faculty of Fine Arts. Since the 1970s, he has regularly participated in various exhibitions and international biennials. Ushangi Khumarashvili has never developed ideological images. He primarily creates oil paintings, upholding the traditions of the classic avantgarde. These are abstract depictions of locations, individuals, directions, days of the week, or just colors. Host of the exhibition: Licht Gallery Curated by Alexander Florensky

24/11/2023

BADRI LOMSIANIDZE

Artist in focus • Badri lomsianidze (ბადრი ლომსიანიძე, Kutaisi, Georgia, 1961) is a Georgian artist. After graduating from Kutaísi School of Fine Arts and then Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, Badri Lomsianidze continued his career in Spain. He is a multidisciplinary artist who studied fine arts, namely textile design. The flexibility and elasticity of fabrics allow their natural integration into the artist’s canvases and installations, acquiring a significant physical density, full of meaning. Visual and sensory pleasure is a prerequisite for the artist who develops towards more harmonious working forms and materials: a combination of transparencies, a softer color palette and, above all, the visible presence of fabrics, light and delicate. The use of such heterogeneous resources contributes to the creation of a work characterized by its versatility and technique, in addition to its distinctive and recognizable character. “Metamorphosis” is Badri Lomsianidze’s first solo show held at Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery, which is being held in Georgia for the first time. Artists works are preserved in the museums and various collections worldwide: Modern Art Museum, Oklahoma, USA; Zimmerli Art Museum, New Jersey, USA; AC Foundation; Salamanca Museum; National Museum of Engraving of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art of Madrid; Madrid’s community; McKinsey Collection, Christies London, Springer Publishing, Pilar Citoler Collection

24/11/2023

SAPARA MONASTERY

The monastery in Sapara has existed since the 10th century. The single-nave church of the Dormition of the Virgin belongs to this period. From the second half of the 13th century, Sapara became the residence and burial place of the Jakeli: the Rulers (Atabags) of Samtskhe (a historical region of south-western Georgia). Sapara Monastery is located ten kilometers from the city of Akhaltsikhe, quite remote from the settlement.

25/09/2023

Georgian Manuscripts in the British Library

Georgian Manuscripts in the British Library. Two illuminated manuscripts are a significant addition to the British Library’s Georgian collections. They can be presented alongside Georgian medieval manuscripts, and they will assist in the promotion of the country’s cultural heritage and contribute to Georgia’s academic and research development. ‘Life of the King of Kings – Tamar’ recounts the life of Queen Tamar the Great (1160-1213). It is believed that the author of the work was Basili Ezosmodzghvari, a contemporary historian of the Queen. Created by Giorgi Sisauri, this illustrated manuscript consists of 86 pages. Five of its miniatures with gold ink. Among them are portraits of Queen Tamar and her historian. At the end of the manuscript, according to the Georgian tradition, the miniaturist depicted himself. ‘Life of the King of Kings – David’ tells the life of the Georgian king, David IV Aghmashenebeli (1089-1125). It was written by an unknown historian in the twelfth century. The manuscript presented to the British Library consists of 116 pages and was created by Otar Megrelidze. In the illustrations the fragments from the historical sources such as the fresco of King David IV can be noticed. The beginning of each chapter is decorated with floral ornaments and figures of birds of paradise (peacocks, pheasants, doves). The image of King David is depicted on page 91 of the manuscript.

05/09/2023

TAMAR NADIRADZE

Artist in focus • Tamar Nadiradze (1991) is a visual artist who lives and works in Tbilisi. From 2014 to 2016, Tamar Nadiradze worked at the Art Book Center. She was a resident artist at KAIR art residency as a book illustrator (Kosice, Slovakia). The major focus of the artist’s work relates to the following areas: the dialogue between social life and anthropology, mythology, psychology, as well as gender. Nadiradze primarily uses paper and watercolors as her media but she is working on diverse mediums.

01/09/2023

GLIMPSE IN GALLERY - SPECTATOR

”Spectator” is Lali Kutateladze’s solo exhibition. Artworks presented at the exhibition were made in the last two years - from the pandemic to the war (2020-2022). During the pandemic, live contacts got limited, increased the role of virtual communications, and for one reason or another, society became a polarized observer. Artist Lali Kutateladze depicts the transitional reality between virtual and real life in an artistic form, where a person - in the mentioned series - « character, « is perceived as a spectator whose abilities are arguable or questionable. For this reason, a question arises: can virtual life change things? For the viewer, it becomes interesting to perceive and understand the secondary background, where the spectator looks at the « spectator » like a symbolic self.

01/09/2023

MANGLISI CHURCH

Manglisi is one of the oldest Christian sites in Eastern Georgia. The first church was built at the location in the fourth century, soon after the Kingdom of Iberia had officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in around 330. In the 490s, a new church was constructed in Manglisi. By that time, it was commonly believed that relics which had borne witness to Christ were kept at Manglisi. Their possession made Manglisi the Caucasian-wide center for pilgrimage.