Transitional Order: From Pandemic to War - Georgian Museum of Fine Arts Hosts Exhibition

 

The exposition’s concept echoes the transformation of Georgia’s art scene against the dire global political backdrop. The pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war are two new givens that seem to break away from the old world order, consequently transforming art’s functional and aesthetical role. The works by contemporary Georgian artists displayed at the exposition come across as a message from the new world order sandwiched between the pandemic and the war. This dilemma becomes evident in the artists’ visual language and the broader exhibition picture.

 

The exhibition features 11 contemporary artists:

• Andro Dadiani
• Tamar Nadiradze
• Nino Zirakashvili
• Tutu Kiladze
• Medea Bakradze
• Giorgi Kontridze
• Tamara Cana
• Anuka Beluga
• Tamar Bochorishvili
• Nina Akhobadze
• Mariam Saknelashvili

 

Exhibition’s Concept

The universe—and the chain of social, economic, and political events unfolding in it—is in its new world order mode, with a new reality in the making. The creative endeavors, languages of expression, messages, and aesthetical or ethical angles of artists are hazy, transitional, and both optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. Yet it is also clear that discerning one’s own self and self-determination in this new world are well underway.

 

In particular, our modern times are caught in the middle of a conflict between two categories: black and white, good and evil, love and hate, and now War and Peace. This transitional order will be illustrated by the works of contemporary artists creating a uniform narrative and, in a way, making a statement. The works by 11 artists selected for the exhibition are not dated, an intentional move to allow the curator to describe—by way of symbolic, visual narration, and not in real-time—the vibes ushered in into contemporary Georgian art by the pandemic and the war. Besides, the selection of pieces is not theme-based. Instead, through curatorial research, two works using different media have been cherrypicked from the oeuvre of each artist. What matters in this exhibition is to demonstrate a uniform universe and a universe taken apart, harmony and chaos. Amid the ongoing global crisis, pitching the most precise peace messages to the public is possible through such cultural events, something that is also demanded by our modern reality, meaning the demand to replace politics with art. The exhibition seeks to make sure that museum life directly reflects the chain of social and political events. And this exposition best accentuates informative and artistic aspects.