“Matters of the Dark & Irresistible,” a Disturbing Exhibition at the MOMA

Review

Georgian multimedia artist Konstantin Mindadze is currently exhibiting his work at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in Tbilisi, plunging visitors into his dark and inquiring universe.

Mindadze studied at the Dutch Graphic Lyceum and Rietveld Academy and makes paintings, drawings, sculpture, video and multimedia installations. The themes recurrent in his work are many, and include the “synthetic structure of the world […], the biological reactions, […] lifecycle and death, love and loss, destruction and transformation”, even religion and technologies (ProjectArtBeat). The works on display at MOMA refer to each of these topics and generate heavy matter to question.

The exhibition is an audio-visual installation in three environments. As soon as the audience enters the first room, they can feel the oppression. Heavy music plays, capturing the visitors and absorbing them in the new and disturbing reality. A sense of confusion is indeed at the heart of the artist’s project, born from a period of personal emotional devastation that eventually led the artist to question scientific theories and create this cosmic exhibition.

Mindadze shows circular celestial paintings and plays with the gradation of colors to create a feeling of depth and relief in his artworks. He suggests the presence of the sun, of the earth, or of other cosmic objects. In the second and third room, he uses the colors black and white to create shades of grey. A quite surprising production is the one in which he used his blood, seeking to insert his DNA into his own artwork. His piece “black sphere” is made with real meteorites and salt brought from the Dead Sea. He even uses original records from NASA to plunge people into a sort of apocalyptic atmosphere.

This exhibition is somehow a way to make people question the world in which they live and the reality they take for granted. It is also a direct critique of religion and pre-established truths. People need to penetrate the space with an open mind to let themselves slowly enter the artist’s universe and installations. It is definitely not something people can see everyday.

The exhibition is on until February 28.

By Gabrielle Colchen

Photo by Doru Avram