Tbilisi Triennial Calls SOS
Self-organized System (SOS) is the main topic of the second Tbilisi Triennial. Artists from around the world will talk about, perform and show their works around this important social theme. The Triennial, one of the main contemporary art event in Tbilisi, starts on October 1 and lasts until the end of the month.
The Tbilisi Center of Contemporary Art (CCA) organized the first Tbilisi Triennial in 2012 with the topic of education. It aroused not only the interest and attention of local experts, but also foreign ones. In this way, the second Tbilisi Triennial is back with the status of Member of the International Biennial Association (IBA), which it gained in July 2014. According to Wato Tsereteli, founder and curator of the Tbilisi Triennial, it is a big honor for them as just two Russian biennials are in this Association among all Post-Soviet countries.
“Now we are members of IBA and it is a bigger responsibility for us,” said Tsereteli. “We choose the Self-Organized System topic because I think it is a very actual theme for our country. Self-organization is a pledge of democracy; we need to take the initiative and together reach our goals. In fact, we had the same system in the Soviet period and it was very successful. So now we just need to rediscover it with the help of foreign and local artists,” he explained.
Tbilisi Triennial 2015 will host 109 artists from 14 countries. Throughout the month, top artists in the field of self-organization will offer workshops, lectures, exhibitions and presentations in different locations around Tbilisi: The Center of Contemporary Art, Tbilisi National Scientific Library, Europe House, Writers’ House, Rooms Hotel as well as in Rustavi City.
“We have tried to select the best performers in this area; those who have already worked on this subject, who know and understand what is going on in Georgia. You will see many examples of how people come together for a common goal. All the artist perform in their own style and system. Our Triennial will be like reference book where you can discover all these systems,” said Tsereteli.
Martinka Bobrikova from Slovakia and Oscar De Carmen from Spain will present their project “More Than Supra,” which will be a merging of the food and art fields around the issues of social changes though an interdisciplinary experimental approach. Art professionals from Azerbaijan and Great Britain with ALOV project will focus on the self-organized and independent systems in the South Caucasus. Georgian artists will also be participating.
More information about the program and participants can be found on Tbilisi Triennial’s official Facebook page: facebook.com/tbilisi.triennial.
Eka Karsaulidze