Georgian Artist’s Work Displayed at Berlin Wall

Berlin-based Georgian artist Besik Maziashvili exhibited his artwork at the Berlin Wall over the weekend.

His work linked the separation of Georgia’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia with the Berlin Wall. Entitled 65 Degrees, Maziashvili put up signposts used by the forces controlling South Ossetia since its occupation in 2008 written with “Attention! State border! Passage is forbidden.” The signpost was leaned against a fragment of the Berlin Wall in Teltow.

The work was a reflection of borders and walls being built in Europe and through the world. “Nevertheless, the essence of 65 Degrees [is that] walls will fall and families will reunite,” state the display’s summary.

Based in Berlin, Maziashvili is a sculpture and artist whose works explore a personal history in the context of room and space.  

The opening of the exhibit was attended by Georgia’s Ambassador to Germany Elguja Khokrishvili and a group of Georgian troops preparing for their peacekeeping deployment to Afghanistan in Germany.