Tartu Art Museum presents 'Aesthetics of Repair' exhibition of contemporary Georgian art
Between March 24 and May 29, 2016, the Tartu Art Museum in Estonia presented 'Aesthetics of Repair in Contemporary Georgia,' under the curation of Marika Agu and Francisco Martínez. This exhibition showcased the works of twelve Georgian artists, who examined the theme of post-socialist transition through the lens of repair, a concept developed during field research in Tbilisi in the fall of 2015. Notable pieces included 'Pirimze' (2015) by Sophia Tabatadze, the photo series 'Approximate' (2014–2016) by Nino Sekhniashvili, and 'Esophageal Foreign Bodies' (2014) by Thea Gvetadze. Other contributors comprised Giorgi Okropiridze, Levan Mindiashvili, David Bostanashvili, and the collective Bouillon. The exhibition catalog framed repair as a means to address societal deficiencies in Eastern Europe, while the Georgian embassy's refusal to support it underscored the conflict between governmental image and artistic expression.
Key facts
- Exhibition ran from March 24 to May 29, 2016 at Tartu Art Museum in Estonia
- Curated by Marika Agu and Francisco Martínez with twelve Georgian artists
- Concept developed from fieldwork in Tbilisi in fall 2015, including visits to Tbilisi Triennale and Artisterium
- Featured Sophia Tabatadze's 'Pirimze' (2015), a replica of a demolished Tbilisi handworker's booth
- Included Bouillon collective's performance of haircutting at the opening
- Accompanied by a catalog titled 'Aesthetics of Repair in Contemporary Georgia'
- Georgian embassy in Estonia declined to support the exhibition
- Tartu Art Museum previously showed controversial Polish exhibition 'My Poland' in 2015 with Artur Żmijewski's removed video '80064'
Entities
Artists
- Marika Agu
- Francisco Martínez
- Rael Artel
- Artur Żmijewski
- Deimantas Narkevicius
- Wojtek Doroszuk
- Franciszek Orlowski
- Dominik Ritszel
- Dmitry Gutov
- Alevtina Kakhidze
- Dan Perjovschi
- Tamás Kaszás
- Sanja Iveković
- Nino Sekhniashvili
- Sophia Tabatadze
- David Bostanashvili
- Shota Bostanashvili
- Giorgi Okropiridze
- Levan Mindiashvili
- Thea Gvetadze
- David Elliott
- Bojana Pejić
- Emir Kusturica
- Susan Strasser
- Svetlana Boym
- Michel Foucault
- Marcus Farias Ferreira
- Walter Mignolo
- Lali Pertenava
Institutions
- Tartu Art Museum
- ARTMargins Online
- Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow
- Radek Group
- Moderna Museet
- e-flux
- Georgian embassy in Estonia
- Baltic Worlds
- Venice Biennale
- São Paulo Biennial
- Rostock Biennale
- Manifesta
- Tbilisi Triennale
- Artisterium
Locations
- Tartu
- Estonia
- Tallinn
- Georgia
- Tbilisi
- Poland
- Krakow
- Lithuania
- Russia
- Ukraine
- Romania
- Hungary
- Croatia
- Venice
- Italy
- São Paulo
- Brazil
- Rostock
- Germany
- Vienna
- Austria
- Brussels
- Belgium
- Miami
- United States
- New York
- Spain
- Berlin
- Stockholm
- Sweden
- Serbia
- Argentina
- Moscow
Sources
- ARTMargins —
- ARTMargins —