Tbilisi's Modern Art Gallery Hosts Black Sea Exhibition

TBILISI- Tbilisi's History Museum launched its Contemporary Art Gallery on September 16 with the From the Shores of the Black Sea exhibition, an inaugural state-initiated initiative featuring artists from the six Black Sea region countries.  

The artists taking part include Lia Bagrationi from Georgia, Sebastian Moldovan of Romania, Nezaket Ekici from Turkey, Bulgaria's Mariana Vassileva, Iced Architects from Russia and Ukraine's Nikita Kadan. 

The Black Sea, one of the world's closed largest salt water basins with no direct connection to an ocean or open sea, straddles Europe and Asia and is a cultural melting pot of post-Eastern Bloc states and Oriental traditions found in Turkey.

The project is being implemented with the support of curator Dr Charles Merewether, whom GEORGIA TODAY had an opportunity to talk with.

“I think the project is important for Georgia to show that it is the part of the larger regional art world.”

“This is a very important project as long as it continues to be totally funded by the state. This is a great step forward and it will stay at our museum for the next six years. During that time, the project will be open to all participants,” Lika Mamatsashvili, the History Museum's curator, said.                 

Anna Ryaboshenko, a representative from the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection, commented, “Tbilisi's Modern Art Museum offers visitors the opportunity to see collections from Georgia's contemporary artists...as Georgia hopes to firmly establish itself in the Modern art world.”

The Gallery's first exhibition took place in June as part of Kyiv Art Week in the Ukrainian capital. Seven Georgian artists took part in the showing, including Tamar Mchedlishvili, Gio Sumbadze, Levan Mindiashvili, Davit Meskhi, Ana Chaduneli, Nino Zirakishvili, and Giorgi Tabatadze. 

The Gallery has scheduled three more exhibitions for the remainder of the autumn and winter. 

WHERE: 8 Grishashvili Str., Tbilisi

WHEN: September 16-October 8. Open daily except Mondays

TIME: 10 am to 6 pm.

PRICE: 0.50 GEL for school students, 1 GEL for university students and 3 GEL for adults. 

By Maka Lomadze

Edited by Nicholas Waller