From Batumi to the Stratosphere: Art Exhibition in Space

Batumi hosts this year’s International Print Festival LIFE N STYLE, made up of a number of events. The main theme of Print Festival LIFE N STYLE is “White is Black and Black is White”. Organizers of the event say that the event planned for the festival’s opening will be quite extraordinary. On Saturday, August 24, for the first time in art history, Artworks will be exhibited in space. LIFE N STYLE will kick off with a performance titled “To the Near Cosmos”, 45 km above sea level at 13:00.

Three artworks of a Georgian artist, Romanoz, will be exhibited 45 kilometers above Earth, with specially designed equipment taking off from Batumi and traveling into the stratosphere.

The journey from earth to stratosphere and back will be documented and the video broadcast after the return.

Romanoz, the artist whose works will be sent into space, is a perfect fit for the project, considering his choice of art style. Romanoz is a transcendentalist artist. Transcendentalism, as a genre, extends its meaning beyond traditional ideas of limits and borders.

“Transcendentalism is a trip to the subconscious where events, characters and time are transported to the canvas in artistic forms,” says the artist. Now these surreal, even rebellious “transportations to the canvas” will be transported further – to the stratosphere, giving the exhibition more conceptual and metaphorical meanings. This way, LIFE N STYLE brings subconscious back to its motherland, space.

While crossing borders and limits in an eccentric manner is the main extravaganza of the festival, naturally, the exhibition will take place in its traditional location, Earth, as well. Simultaneously to the exhibition taking place in the stratosphere, a multi-media art-show will take place on land with exclusive silkscreen prints, installations, performances video-art and live experimental music displayed throughout the festival.

The festival will feature a great musical background. Original sound created by Tete Noise presents a sonic spectral image that was specially made for the paintings to be exhibited in space – meaning that in the sound, the painting is somehow transformed into music. The visual artworks’ image in the sound of Tete Noise can be seen with any spectrogram.

The concept for the Exhibition in Space was generated by To Ko. The event is organized by Print Festival Life N Style. Financial supporter of the Festival – Batumi Municipality Mayor.

Curator and idea-author of the festival, Nana Kirmelashvili says that the festival, within its opening and closing ceremony frames, aims to mark Georgia as unforgettable on the world art map. In addition, the festival serves as an awareness-raiser for the unique art form of printing, while also attracting young collectors.

By Nini Dakhundaridze

Image source: theculturetrip.com