As part of the exhibition 'Sentimental Traveller' by Karlo Kacharava, you can attend a book launch and a series of lectures.
Karlo Kacharava Talks is a public programme, unfolding in the context of Karlo Kacharava’s exhibition Sentimental Traveller at S.M.A.K. The events punctuating the programme unite various generations and diasporas of Georgian and international artists, art historians, curators, and thinkers. Unfolding primarily at S.M.A.K., and concluding in Tbilisi, Karlo Kacharava Talks adopts multifocal, multivocal, and multidisciplinary approaches with and from Kacharava’s oeuvre, entering into dialogue with his work.
For the book launch of the exhibition catalogue published in the context of Karlo Kacharava’s exhibition Sentimental Traveller currently on view at S.M.A.K., the speakers Irina Popiashvili, Vija Skangale and Guram Tsibakhashvili invite us to discover perspectives and fragments of the narratives in the bilingual catalogue (English and Georgian) reading in which their voices is accompanied by that of Karlo Kacharava (1964-1994).
The publication brings together a collection of new essays by Caroline Busta, Aka Morchiladze, Irena Popiashvili, Vija Skangale, Karima Boudou & Liesje Vandenbroeck together with a selection of Karlo Kacharava’s paintings and artistic production at large that span over two decades. The writers’ contributions provide detailed and multidisciplinary reflections on artistic, personal, and political change in the life and work of Kacharava, in his native Georgia and beyond. S.M.A.K. publishes the book and you can flip through and purchase the publication in S.M.A.K.’s bookshop.
Organized in the context of europalia georgia, in collaboration with the Estate of Karlo Kacharava, Kunsthalle Tbilisi, and Irena Popiashvili. With the support of Modern Art, London.
Irena Popiashvili is a curator and educator. She completed her education at Javakhishvili State University, Tbilisi; University of Lodz, Poland, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Since 2013 she is the dean of Visual Art, Architecture, and Design School VA[A]DS at the Free University of Tbilisi. Additionally, she is a co-founder of Kunsthalle Tbilisi. Previously she was a co-owner of Popiashvili Gvaberidze Window Project, Tbilisi, Georgia (2013-2017), Newman Popiashvili Gallery, New York, USA (2005-2012), and the rector of the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (2012).
Vija Skangale
Vija Skangale is a Georgia-born, London-based multidisciplinary educator, curator, and researcher. She is currently a PhD candidate and a visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London. She participated in various art projects including the Kunsthalle Tbilisi, Tate Modern Late, and Tate Exchange among others. Her written work has been featured in publications such as MoMA, Biennial Foundation magazine, the Calvert Journal, Tbilisi Public Art Fund, and many others. Her research focuses on recent histories of contemporary art within the framework of post-socialist transition. She explores practices and exhibition histories in Georgia that have been under-documented, aiming to broaden our understanding of exhibition-making during a period of significant cultural transformation.
Guram Tsibakhashvili
Guram Tsibakhashvili was born in 1960 in Tbilisi. He is a photographer who specializes in Street, Documentary, and Fine Art Photography genres. His works create voluminous photographic documentation of the turning points in the history of Georgia in the 1990s and the socio-political and creative life of Tbilisi. Together with his associates, he initiated the project of a Visual Repository in 1985. These photo reports depict Tbilisi during the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent civil wars, as well as the simultaneous activities of Tbilisi artistic groups, including artists' portraits and their everyday lives.
Guram Tsibakashvili graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry at Tbilisi State University in 1982. In the late 1980s, he began making documentary photos depicting the streets of Tbilisi while also creating pop-art-style collages. By 1985, he was already a self-taught professional. Tsibakashvili studied photography theory at his alma mater from 1990 to 1994 and began giving lectures on photography in 1991. After the formation of the Free Press movement in Georgia, he collaborated with various newly established newspapers, providing photographs.
Guram Tsibakashvili is a member of the Union of Independent Journalists, the Union of Georgian Artists, and the Union of Photo-Artists.
