Sunday, September 10, 2017

EXHIBITION: Knights from Pshav-Khevsureti - Andro Semeiko - in collaboration with writer Ana Kordzaia-Samadashvili and fashion designer Manana Antelidze


Opening: Friday 15 September 18.00
16 September – 14 October
Tuesday–Friday 11.00-18.00, Saturday 11.00-17.00
Giorgi Leonidze State Museum of Georgian Literature
Address: 8 Giorgi Chanturia St., 0108, Tbilisi
Phone: +995 322 932 890; +995 322 932 045
Email: info@literaturemuseum.ge
Website: www.literaturemuseum.ge
Facebook: facebook.com/Knights from Pshav-Khevsureti



The project explores life and work of Vazha-Pshavela in relation to pertinent socio-political issues around the world and particularly in Georgia.

Andro Semeiko and Ana Kordzaia-Samadashvili have explored Vazha-Pshavela’s work and his personal objects from the Literature Museum collection, and have selected the poet’s handkerchief as the central object around which they create a metaphorical world through their own work.

Andro Semeiko creates an installation inhabited by a ghostly presence of a medieval knight, a legendary crusader that lived in Khevsureti. He carries the poet’s handkerchief as a talisman and addresses Vazha-Pshavela’s ideas of humanism and progressive attitude towards nature.

Ana Kordzaia-Samadashvili has, in the process of her research, discovered that the handkerchief was made especially for the poet and given to him as a gift by Georgian Women’s Society; she creates a fictional character that reflects women’s voice in the world.

Manana Antelidze addresses various aspects of Vazha-Pshavela’s humanism including the female voice in his work, and designs an androgynous outfit, which combines audacity and gentleness.

The exhibition is an installation consisting of painting, drawing, fashion, archival material, slideshow, text and audio work that create a multilayered story. The project will be followed by a Georgian-English publication and further exhibitions and book launches in the UK and Georgia.

The project is made possible with the kind support from Arts Council England, British Council, AG Alco and magazine Beaumonde.

ELECTRONICS: Natalie Beridze TBA: Trackpremiere von "Waves Future" (groove.de) via @Groove_Mag


(groove.de) Groove-Chefredakteur besuchte für einen Szenebericht im aktuellen Heft Tiflis. Eine Generation im Aufbruch

Dass Georgien aber noch mehr als roughen Techno der Marke HVL oder einem bezaubernden Stamm an Volksliedern bietet, beweist die Compilation დე / DE – Sounds From Georgia, die auf einem neu gelaunchten Label mit dem geschwungenen Titel Intergalactic Research Institute For Sound erscheint. Neben einem der Labelbetreiber, dem I/Y-Mitglied Irakli, versammeln sich darauf Acts, die sechs zwischen zartem Klangflächendesign bis hin zu an frühe Aphex Twin-Werke erinnernde Electroncia in sechs Tracks eine erstaunliche stilistische Bandbreite vereinen.

Natalie Beridze ist die Veteranin unter den Beitragenden. Seit Anfang der Jahrtausendwende ist die Klangkünstlerin unter verschiedenen Pseudonymen – hier als Natalie Beridze TBA – in fast allen erdenklichen stilistischen Richtungen unterwegs und hat dabei auf zahlreichen Labels ihre eigensinnigen Soundentwürfe veröffentlicht. Beridze gehört auch zum Line-Up, das am 21. September im Berliner Silent Green Kulturquartier die Veröffentlichung der Compilation feiert. Neben den ebenfalls auf დე / DE vertretenen Rezo Glonti, MYI, Zesknel und Severiane wird sie dort live aufspielen und beweisen, dass Georgien weit mehr als nur Clubmusik zu bieten hat.

Groove präsentieren TBAs "Waves Future" als exklusive Premiere! VÖ: 21. September 2017






Fotos: Presse (Natalie Beridze)

ROMAN: Das Spiel des Todesengels. Georgien unter Stalin. Von Awtandil Kwaskhwadse (reichert-verlag.de)


(reichert-verlag.de) Klappentext: "Eine bittere Geschichte behandelt dieser wohl erste dokumentarische Roman eines Georgiers über den Stalinismus in Georgien und der Sowjetunion. Der Verfasser ist ein Kind dieser Zeit, er hat sie als Augenzeuge erlebt und durchlitten. Eigene Anschauung und eigener Schmerz bewegen ihn bei der Wiedergabe einer Fülle von Fakten, die dem deutschen Leser bisher wenig bekannt sein dürften: Die Invasion der russischen Streitkräfte in die Demokratische Republik Georgien 1921, die faktische Okkupation Georgiens durch Sowjetrussland, die Emigration der georgischen Regierung, die Abwehr der türkisch-islamischen Aggression im Raum Batumi durch gemeinsames Vorgehen von georgischen Regierungstruppen und Bolschewiki; die Machtübernahme durch die Bolschewiki und die Ausrufung der Sowjetmacht in Georgien, die Entwicklung der Widerstandsbewegung gegen die russische Okkupation und die Sowjetordnung, das Erstarken des politischen Widerstands vor allem in Gurien, das Wüten der Tscheka; Verhaftungen und Massenexekutionen, um den Widerstand des georgischen Volkes zu brechen, der August-Aufstand 1924 gegen die russische Besatzung und die Sowjetmacht; Berias Aufstieg, die Attentate auf Stalin an der Schwarzmeerküste und auf dem Weg zum Riza-See, die Machtkämpfe im Sowjetstaat, Berias Zusammenarbeit mit Stalin, der massenhafte Terror in der Sowjetunion, die Verhaftungen, Folterungen und Hinrichtungen in den dreißiger Jahren, Berias Intrigen, die systematische Bespitzelung, Verfolgung und Ermordung georgischer Intellektueller, die Stalinschen Todeslager, der zweite Weltkrieg aus der Sicht der Sowjetbürger, die Hoffnungen der Kaukasier auf Befreiung aus dem riesigen Völkergefängnis; das Kriegsende und Stalins Tod, Berias Entmachtung und Erschießung, die der folgende Scheinprozess zu verhehlen versuchte. Awtandil Kwaskhwadse lässt eine Zeit aufleben, in der die Furcht vor der Zukunft das Leben der Menschen bestimmte. "

Produktdetails:
2017, 568 Seiten, Maße: 21 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Deutsch, Übersetzung: Fähnrich, Heinz, Verlag: Reichert, ISBN-10: 3954902567, ISBN-13: 9783954902569


Vorwort (pdf)
Probekapitel  (pdf)

FILM: ADILA - documentary film about Georgian traditional music, dance and style of life culture

Film by Zaza Korinteli & Gia Diasamidze


DOCUMENTARY: "Wie Luft Zum Atmen" - Film von Ruth Olshan (Traditional Georgian Music Documentary) @salzgeberfilm



WIE LUFT ZUM ATMEN ist eine Reise in ein kleines Land zwischen Asien und Europa, das zu unrecht zwischen den Grenzen der Kulturen vergessen wird: Georgien, das hier in seiner ganzen Schönheit, seinem Zauber und seiner Vielfältigkeit eingefangen ist.

Der Dokumentarfilm von Ruth Olshan entdeckt vor allem die beeindruckende Musik Georgiens, in der die kulturelle Identität seiner Bewohner tief verwurzelt ist.

In den fast verloren gegangenen und wieder entdeckten Gesängen und Tänzen, die die UNESCO auf die Liste des Weltkulturerbes gesetzt hat, meint man Stimmen und Lieder aus einer vergangenen Zeit zu hören. Musik sei für sie so wichtig wie die Luft zum Atmen, erzählt eine Protagonistin im Film und man versteht sie sofort. #

Ruth Olshans vielschichtiges Porträt eines Landes, seiner Menschen und ihrer Musik zeigt, was das Besondere an der georgischen Musik ist: die Lebendigkeit der Folklore im Alltag, die aufrecht erhaltene Tradition, die in den Texten gespeicherten Mythen, das soziale Erleben der Musik, die regionale Unterschiedlichkeit der Kultur, und die Musiker, die die Musik heute auch in Pop- und Jazzbereiche weiterführen.

"Großartige Bilder, sympathische Protagonisten und schöne, unvertraute Musik!" (filmdienst) "Ruth Olshan hat einen sehr feinen Musikfilm gemacht, der einen Ort 90 Minuten zum Klingen bringt" (zitty) "Eine berückende Hommage an ein Volk, dessen große Kultur durchströmt wird von Gesang" (Rheinischer Merkur) "Folklore kann ganz schön cool sein!" (Die Welt) "Ein ‚Hit’ für musikbegeisterte Weltreisende im Kino!" (programmkino.de)
 
+++
 

Ruth Olshan in her film portrays musicians who work with different approaches: a male choir searching and cultivating old folk songs in the Caucasus region, a female choir, a school dance company and musicians who enhance Georgian folk music. There is a common denominator that links the diverse protagonists in Olshan’s film: Singing, dancing and music are crucial elements of their lifestyle. Music is as important as “air to breath,” explains the director of the female choir . The subtle camera work discreetly catches moments and spontaneous encounters, showing that the rehearsals and the singing brings moments to these women where they are taken away from their normal course of life. For life in Rustavi, a small town near Tiflis, seems bleak. The industry is dead, the unemployment rate is enormous. You ask yourself how people can live. The choir women’s beauty and positive energy exude an affirmative sign of life, even in mournful moments. Men and women sing and dance both joy and sorrow off their chest. In Georgia, music seems to be omnipresent, almost existential. Even if a young singer does not think folk music is “sexy”, he still gets hooked. It gets under his skin. The film pays tribute to this fascination, vitality, and spiritedness.


twitter.com/salzgeberfilm
www.salzgeber.de

VIDEO-PORTRÄT: Der Georgische Schriftsteller Zaza Burchuladze (literaturport.de)

Im Rahmen des Projekts "Writers@Berlin". Präsentiert von www.literaturport.de
twitter.com/literaturport
Produktion: Atlantis-Film Berlin
Tonbearbeitung und Komposition: Klangkosmonauten


Thursday, September 07, 2017

DOK FILM FESTIVAL: Import/Export - Georgischer Film im Grenzverkehr - Länderfokus in Leipzig 2017 (dok-leipzig.de)

(dok-leipzig.de) DOK Leipzig 30. Oktober – 5. November 2017
60. Internationales Leipziger Festival für Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm

Filme aus Georgien liegen im Trend. Seit einigen Jahren bekommen sie die Aufmerksamkeit von internationalen Filmfestivals und zunehmend auch von Weltvertrieben. Im Landesinneren schwelt unterdessen noch ein Generationenkonflikt, denn aufstrebende Filmschaffende wenden sich vom kulturellen Raum der ehemaligen Sowjetunion ab und wollen sich an breiteren europäischen Diskursen beteiligen. Wie werden dieser Wandel und die Ablösung von der sowjetischen Vergangenheit im Dokumentarischen reflektiert?

Der Länderfokus Georgien bildet die rasante Entwicklung der vergangenen Jahre ab und hinterfragt kritisch, ob sich die Machart der Filme ändert, wenn die ganze Welt auf diese zu blicken scheint.

The Dazzling Light of Sunset (2016); Regie: Salomé Jashi
Die Regisseurin Salomé Jashi entwirft in The Dazzling Light of Sunset ausgehend von einem lokalen TV-Sender ein Stimmungsbild einer georgischen Kleinstadt. Jashi reflektiert dabei etwas, das in vielen der ausgewählten Filme mitschwingt: die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Selbstbild der Georgier/innen, die als modern wahrgenommen werden wollen, und dem vermeintlichen Fremdbild, das einem Vorzeige-Image zuwiderlaufen könnte. Die skateboardfahrenden Jugendlichen in When the Earth Seems to Be Light verkörpern dagegen eine universelle Jugendkultur, sind dann aber doch ganz in ihrer Region verhaftet, wenn durch abrupte Gegenschnitte auf Staßentumulte das Dahindriften der jungen Leute irritieren. Es ist offenkundig, das sich nicht nur der Filmmarkt im kaukasischen Land gewandelt hat, das ganze Land befindet sich seit 1989 im Umbruch und sucht nach einem eigenen Platz zwischen Ost und West.


When the Earth Seems to Be Light (2015); Regie: Salome Machaidze, Tamuna Karumidze, David Meskhi
In den Filmen dieser sogenannten Neuen Georgischen Welle werden keine zeitgenössischen Tendenzen ausgelassen, anders als beim sowjetischen Dokumentarfilm, der viel mit suggestiver Musik und gedankenführendem Kommentartext arbeitete, um keine politisch ungewollte Interpretationen zuzulassen. Heute verwenden einige Filmschaffende beispielsweise Mittel der dokumentarischen Inszenierung und rücken in die Nähe des Spielfilms, etwa Nino Kirtadzes Don’t Breathe oder Rati Onelis Langfilm-Debüt City of the Sun. Rati Oneli fängt die schrumpfende ostgeorgische Stadt Tschiatura vor dem Hintergrund einer gewaltigen Naturkulisse ein. Wurden im umliegenden Gebirge einst Mengen an Mangan abgebaut, liegt das Bergwerk heute fast brach und hinterlässt eine geisterhaft wirkende Stadt. Bei Vakhtang Jajanidzes Exodus sind die Grenzen zwischen Dokumentarfilm und Fiktion kaum noch auszumachen.

Wenn Heinz Emigholz in 2+2=22 [The Alphabet] schließlich die deutsche Band Kreidler bei deren Albumaufnahmen in Tiflis begleitet und den Ort mit besonderem Blick auf die Architektur filmt, schafft er Bilder, die es so von der georgischen Hauptstadt noch nicht gegeben hat – ein wertvoller Blick von außen.

Begleitend zum Länderfokus gibt es eine Paneldiskussion, in dem das Aufeinanderprallen zweier unterschiedlicher Sichtweisen auf den georgischen Film thematisiert wird: der sehnsüchtige Blick des westlichen Publikums auf Geschichten osteuropäischer Länder und die zweifelnde Selbstreflexion georgischer Filmemacher/innen.

Der Länderfokus Georgien wurde kuratiert von Zaza Rusadze, Filmemacher, Produzent und Mitglied der Auswahlkommission von DOK Leipzig. Das Programm entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.

Mit ihrer Filmreihe „Female Gazes from Georgia – Contemporary Documentaries“ fördert die Heinrich Böll Stiftung georgische Regisseurinnen und tourt durch vier weitere Städte.

In Kooperation mit der Heinrich Böll Stiftung

Filme Länderfokus

2+2=22 [The Alphabet] | Heinz Emigholz | Germany | 2017 | 82 min. | OV with English subtitles | Documentary Film

Altzaney | Nino Orjonikidze, Vano Arsenishvili | Georgia | 2009 | 31 min. | OV with English subtitles | Documentary Film

City of the Sun (original title: Mzis qalaqi) | Rati Oneli | Georgia, USA, Qatar, Netherlands | 2017 | 100 min. | OV with English subtitles | Documentary Film

Don’t Breathe (original title: La Faille) | Nino Kirtadze | France | 2014 | 86 min. | OV with English subtitles | Documentary Film

Exodus (original title: Gamosvla) | Vakhtang Jajanidze | Georgia | 2015 | 15 min. | without dialogue/ subtitles | Documentary Film

Horizon | Dato Kiknavelidze | Georgia | 2017 | 5 min. | without dialogue/ subtitles | Animated Film

Li.Le | Natia Nikolashvili | Georgia | 2017 | 10 min. | without dialogue/ subtitles | Animated Film

Madonna (original title: Madona) | Nino Gogua | Georgia | 2014 | 58 min. | OV with English subtitles | Documentary Film

Sunny Night (original title: Sonnige Nacht) | Soso Dumbadze, Lea Hartlaub | Georgia | 2017 | 85 min. | OV with English subtitles | Documentary Film

Sovdagari | Tamta Gabrichidze | Georgia | 2016 | 22 min. | OV with English subtitles | Documentary Film

The Dazzling Light of Sunset | (original title: Daisis miziduloba) | Salomé Jashi | Georgia, Germany | 2016 | 74 min. | OV with English subtitles | Documentary Film

The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear | (original title: Manqana, romelic kvelafers gaaqrobs) | Tinatin Gurchiani | Georgia, Germany | 2012 | 101 min. | OV with English subtitles | Documentary Film

When the Earth Seems to Be Light | (original title: Roca dedamiwa msubuqia) | Salome Machaidze, Tamuna Karumidze, David Meskhi | Georgia, Germany | 2015 | 80 min. | OV with English subtitles | Documentary Film

Tuesday, September 05, 2017

PRESS RELEASE: The Tbilisi Photo Festival 2017 - Opening Week September 13 - 20

For its 8th edition The Tbilisi Photo Festival, the premier showcase for regional and international photography in the Caucasus, is back with its most provocative and diverse program to date! The central theme of festival 2017 is fashion! Fashion is, after all, a genuine representation of identity.

The festival program will emphasize all existing connections between fashion, the tradition of identity representation, ideology and the photographic image.

From Guy Bourdin’s seductive avant-garde photographs to Viviane Sassen’s daring approach to fashion images and the extremely rare collection of East German fashion photography from the Stasi period (1970s), as well as never-before-seen pre-Islamic revolution Iranian Fashion magazines, the week-long festival of shows, events and talks once again breaks new ground in subjects, styles and ways of seeing.

For it’s 8th edition, TPF is proud to host the world premier exhibition of Russian Journal Revisited by Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak and British writer Julius Strauss. 70 years later they travel in the footsteps of famous American writer John Steinbeck and Magnum agency co-founder Robert Capa, who visited and documented life in Georgia, Ukraine and Russia two years after the end of World War II.

Another 2017 highlight of the TPF program is the exhibition-tribute to the late American photojournalist and co-founder of Noor Images, Stanley Greene. Curated by Anna Shpakova, “See You in My Dreams”: Intimate Diary of Stanley Greene is a presentation of Stanley Greene’s unseen series of polaroids and personal letters.

Now in its eighth year, the Tbilisi Photo Festival has ensured its place as a must-stop meeting-point for photography and photographers from across Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

TPF EXHIBITIONS

Fashion Photography
The 2017 Tbilisi Photo Festival starts off with fashion photography and the work of Guy Bourdin and Viviane Sassen, both of whom are shown in the Caucasus for the first time.

Guy Bourdin, Avant-Garde

Guy Bourdin is definitely one of the “most important photographers of the second half of the twentieth century.” An autodidact artist, he re-defined the contours of contemporary fashion photography. For more than 40 years, his sublime iconic images - surreal, enigmatic, and humorous, are timeless and have had a major influence on the works of generations of photographers. TPF will inaugurate its 8th edition with an outstanding open air event that will combine the screening of Guy Bourdin’s work with a live music performance of Nika Machaidze/Nikokoi – one of Georgia’s leading contemporary composers and artists.

Viviane Sassen. In And Out Of Fashion

The Dutch star of fashion photography - Viviane Sassen has broken all the rules of contemporary fashion photography and challenged the way we see fashion in the context of our complex modern world. “Her images are complex, unexpected and breathtaking, and they are many conceptual leaps away from the mainstay approaches to fashion that have dominated the 21st century so far” Extract from In and out of Fashion, Bright Star by Charlotte Cotton.

Identities
Identities is a captivating group of shows that focuses on traditions and ways identity have been represented in the photographic image. Many of these are “found” images, several collections have never been seen before, while others have been published online or in book form. This series is noteworthy for its brazen humor and impact as a chronicle of the human condition: • Renowned Lithuanian photographer, Vitas Luckus’s series of portraits In Front of the White Screen (1987); • A stunning collection of studio portraits from 1970s central India by Suresh Punjabi, from the project Studio Suhag; • Never-before-seen pre- Islamic revolution Iranian fashion magazines; • Portraits of the Taliban found and collected in Afghanistan by Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak in early 2000s; • Bikini Collection from the private Trophy Collection of the Soviet Soldier (1950s); • Unveiled images of couples photographed in Iranian photo studios before the revolution; Extremely rare collection of fashion photography from East Germany by Gunter Roubitcz (1960s-1970s); • The Circle of Life, a collection of portraits of the inhabitants of Blenio Valley in Switzerland from 1910-25 by Swiss photographer Roberto Donetta. These along with other series are all part of Identities, one of the week’s great highlights for festival 2017.



Identities. Taliban. Collection of Thomas Dworzak/Magnum Photos  
See You In My Dreams!
Stanley Greene’s Intimate Diary
Curated by Anna Shpakova

Co-founder of the prestigious Noor agency, American photographer Stanley Greene started out as a fashion photographer but made a name for himself as a prominent war photographer.

Regarded as the “poet photojournalist,” Greene died in May 2017. Tbilisi Photo Festival presents a tribute to a dear friend and defender of the Caucasus. Anna Shpakova, a long-time friend of Stanley Greene and a curator of the exhibition explains, “For most (he is) a legendary photographer whose war and social injustice coverage will forever stay in the history of photography... For me, (he is) a master of the eminent world I am grateful to be part of... Countless letters and polaroids are evidence of a romance at a time when we were oblivious to the world falling.”

See You In My Dreams! features 30 letters and Polaroids that appeared in the spring and summer of 2001 “Only accompanists of a romance, are becoming a narration, allowed us to penetrate, without being the voyeurs, to the singular rhythm of Stanley Greene,” Anna Shapokova says. This exhibition is a personal, heartfelt presentation of the man; not a display of his work.

Russian Journal Revisited by Thomas Dworzak and Julius Strauss

In 1947, American writer John Steinbeck and Magnum photographer Robert Capa set out to objectively document the USSR. Their journey took them to Russia, Ukraine and Georgia. 70 years later, Magnum Photographer Thomas Dworzak and British journalist Julius Strauss have teamed up to re-explore the 1947 journey with the same original aim Steinbeck described as, "honest reporting, to set down what we saw and heard without editorial comment, without drawing conclusions about things we didn't know sufficiently." TPF is proud to host the world premier exhibition of this bold project, which will prove to be a deeply perceptive comparison and contrast of the times.


Georgian Journey: Robert Capa in Georgia - the collection of Robert Capa’s 1947 images from Georgia will be also featured in the 2017 program of Tbilisi Photo Festival 2017.

Night of Photography 2017 at Fabrika
Open Air Night Screenings

Tbilisi Photo Festival continues its tradition of conducting open air night-time screenings of first-class photography from around the world. This year, however, the Night of Photography moved from the streets of Old Tbilisi to a refurbished Soviet sewing factory called Fabrika - a creative multi-purpose urban space situated in a historical neighborhood. The work of over 350 photographers will be featured on the screens set up on Fabrika’s roof, as well as in the laid back lobby of its hostel, and in the generous courtyard, surrounded by restaurants and bars - and even in hostel dorm room 137.

The Eye of Photography, British Journal of Photography, Photo Vogue Festival, Delhi Photo Festival, Finish Museum of Photography, Ibasho Gallery with the selection of Japanese female photographers and some other, are joining the program of the Tbilisi Night of Photography for the first time in 2017. The Night of the Year of Les Rencontres d’Arles has also returned to Tbilisi. A selection of slideshows will be screened in memory of the late Claudine Maugendre, who had been Artistic Director of the Night of the Year of Les Rencontres d’Arles for many years. Lensculture is again part of the Night –second year in a row. The selection of works of emerging Georgian Fashion photographers, Belarusian artists, emerging Dutch photographers, Vasa project with Kharkov Photography School, in addition to many others, will be featured on the Tbilisi Night of Photography 2017.

Night of Photography will be screened on opening week Saturday, September 16th from 20.00 to 01.30 @ Fabrika.

Vlisco at Tbilisi Photo Festival 2017

Georgia’s vibrant and dynamic fashion industry has lately found its place on the world map of fashion. To celebrate this and to underline Georgia’s stature as “new capital of fashion in Eastern Europe,” Tbilisi Photo Festival has invited Vlisco, the Dutch textile brand with a renowned 170 history as leader in print design using batik technique in West Africa, for a new collaboration with emerging Georgian designer, Lasha Devdariani, and Georgian fashion photographer, Luisa Chalatashvili. The collection will be presented in the event Vlisco, A Unique Fashion Story, along with a public lecture on design at Vlisco by Gabriela Sancez y Sancez de la Barquera, Vlisco in-house designer.

A conversation with Viviane Sassen

Coralie Gauthier, Director of Exhibitions and Programs at the prestigious Parisian club Silencio, designed by David Lynch, and the exclusive underground Paris club Salo, and founder of Since 1977, will moderate a conversation with Dutch fashion photographer Viviane Sassen.

Magnum Photos 70 at 70

2017 is Magnum Photo’s seventyyear anniversary. To commemorate its birthday, the world’s leading photo agency is curating seventy iconic images by seventy of its photographers that will be part of a screening with live music at Tbilisi Photo Festival 2017 at the stylish Rooms Hotel Garden.

Capa Curator Cynthia Young (ICP) on Robert Capa and Russian Journal
Talk/slideshow

The year Magnum was founded was the same year Capa and Steinbeck made their landmark journey to the USSR, just two years after the end of World War II. Cynthia Young, representing the Capa Archives at the International Centre of Photography in New York, will give a talk about Capa and the Russian Journal. Ms. Young will also have a conversation with Thomas Dworzak.

The Art of Fashion Photography with Patrick Remy
Talk/slideshow

French fashion photography critic Patrick Remy is known for his book series, Fashion Images de Mode and Strip/Paradise/Desire/Sensation (Steidl). Remy has also published photographer’s monographs and organized photo exhibitions in Miami, Tokyo and Melbourne. For TPF, Patrick Remy will be talking about fashion photography and the books of fashion photography.

Photography in the Margins: The Material History of an Indian Studio
Talk/slideshow

Anthropologist and art historian, Professor Christopher Pinney is Professor of Anthropology and Visual Culture at University College London. He is a specialist for his studies on the visual culture of South Asia, specifically India, and is also curator of the Suhag Studio show, which is the part of our Identities program.

The Delhi Photo Festival & Photography from India by Dinesh Khanna
Talk/Slideshow

Dinesh Khanna is a photographer and co-founder of the Delhi Photo Festival, one of the most respected photo festivals in India. Mr. Khanna explains that India is a vast and diverse country of many languages and ethnicities, yet its arts and traditions are steeped in the visual. “In such a nation, photography and the image were bound to be an integral 'language' for social, political and economic conversations,” he says. TPF is eager to have Dinesh Khanna in Tbilisi to present these visual stories to help us understand the rich world of Indian photography.

Tbilisi Photo Festival Book Fair

Tbilisi Photo Book is the first and only photography book fair in the entire South Caucasus region. It was founded by Tbilisi Photo Festival to promote the production of photo books in Georgia. The collection includes photo books from Japan, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, France, India, Iran - and many other countries - as well as self-published books selected by our guests and the curatorial team.

At this old crossroads between East and West, the Tbilisi Photo Festival has become a new destination for the world’s photographers, bringing together the best images of the region and far beyond, transforming Tbilisi into photography capital of Caucasus.

Tbilisi Photo Festival 2017
September 13 - 20
Night of Photography on September 16

Elina Valaite
Program Coordinator

www.tbilisiphotofestival.com
www.tbilisiphotofestival.com/en/residency
www.facebook.com/tbilisiphotofestival

VIDEO: უშბის სარკე • Ushba's Mirror. Attempt and heavy stonefalls. By Archil Badriashvili




More Videos by Archil Badriashvili

LITERATUR: Die georgische Lyrikerin Bela Chekurishvili (fixpoetry.com)

Bela Chekurishvili (c) Dirk Skiba
(fixpoetry.com) * 1974 Gurjaani (Georgien)

Hat georgische Sprache und Literatur an der Universität Tbilisi studiert. Sie arbeitete als Kulturjournalistin und auch als Lehrerin, zeitweise war sie auch eine begeisterte Alpinistin. Jetzt ist sie Doktorantin für Komparatistik an der Universität Tbilisi, zur Zeit studiert sie an der Universität Bonn.

Autorin von vier Gedichtbänden in Georgien, 2012 Fragen an Sisyphus bei Diogenes Tbilisi und zuletzt August 2017 Detektor der Nacktheit bei Intelekti Tbilisi. Auch erschien 2016 bei Intelekti Tbilisi ein Band mit Kurzgeschichten unter dem Titel Rheinische Aufzeichnungen auf Georgisch.

2015 wurden 4 Gedichte in der Sammlung Aus der Ferne Neue Georgische Lyrik Corvinus Presse Berlin erstmals in Deutscher Sprache herausgebracht. Der erste deutsche Lyrikband Wir, die Apfelbäume wurde 2016 bei Wunderhorn Heidelberg veröffentlicht.

Die Dichter zählen ihre Schritte nicht
Georgisches Sprichwort

Sie zählen
die Zeilen, die Wörter in den Zeilen, die Silben in den Wörtern.
Sie zählen, wo sie stehen bleiben,
still sein, atmen, wo sie klagen, wo sie stöhnen
wo sie einen Laut verdoppeln und die Mimik ändern sollten.
Sie zählen und berechnen
wie Baumeister des Altertums, wie Alchemisten, Banker, Wucherer,
wie Markthändler, Versicherungsvertreter, Schuster.
Sie werten die Gefühle aus,
die Lust, das Charisma, den Suizid, die Freunde, Nutten, Stars,
Statisten, die Tage auf der Straße und die Nächte in den Hütten.
Sie zählen und sie wiegen alles wie die Steine,
Kieselsteine, den geschnitzten Findling, Marmor, Ziegel und Granit.
Sie zählen und bemessen,
damit sie’s später passend machen,
wenn sie die Herbergen, die Burgen und die Tempel bauen,
damit man fliehen, sich verstecken oder beichten kann.
Und so passiert es dann, dass diese Tempel, Burgen und Gemächer
zur Zuflucht für die andern werden
und keiner kann sich mehr erinnern
was dafür zurechtgestutzt, poliert, geschnitzt, in Form gebracht
und abgeschliffen worden ist.

Wie’s in den Schulbüchern so steht: das alles ist jetzt ein Gedicht.

Aus: Wir, die Apfelbäume, Wunderhorn 2016 (wunderhorn.de)

BOOK: Memories of Baku. Edited by Nicolas V. Iljine. Text by Fuad Akhundov, Farid Alakbarli, Farah Aliyeva, Jahangir Selimkhanov, Tadeusz Swietochowski. Published by Marquand Books

Memories of Baku is the visual retelling of the rich history of the capital of Azerbaijan and the country’s rise to power as one of the largest oil producing nations in the world. This publication showcases the unique socio-economic cultural and political situation of Baku in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, presented alongside aspects of Baku culture in the forms of architecture, music, theater and the visual arts. Embellished with photographs, advertisements and postcard views of the once-opulent city,Memories of Baku reaches beyond the classical stereotypes of Azerbaijan as “the land of fire,” focusing instead on what are considered the more formative elements of Baku’s community. The postcard illustrations included in this collection are derived from the personal collection of editor Nicolas V. Iljine, who has developed a passion for discovering and sharing these impressions of an antiquated city with the public.

Click this Link to download PDF (15 MB)

BOOK: Memories of Tiflis. Edited by Nicolas V. Iljine (iljine.net)

(iljine.net) Memories of Tiflis, edited by Nicolas V. Iljine, December 2017, 194 pages + attached image.

Richly illustrated with articles about history, art, architecture, music, festivities etc.

Documentary about Josph Brodsky

Film about and with Joseph Brodsky recorded in Venice in 1991. Directed by Nathan Fedorovski & Harald Lüders; Speaker Piotr Olev; Produced by Lufthansa / Nic Iljine

DOWNLOAD: Odessa Memories. Edited by Nicolas V. Iljine, Essay by Patricia Herlihy (Published by: University of Washington Press) (iljine.net )

(iljine.net) Odessa, the city founded by Catherine the Great in 1794 on the Black Sea, became a thriving international crossroads less than a century after its creation. This virtual ‘melting pot of Russia’ – the gateway to Russia from Constantinople, Athens, Venice, Marseilles, and Genoa, and the third largest metropolis in the country – quickly rose to prominence as a European cultural capital and a vibrant centre of Jewish culture. Odessa in its prime shared with St. Petersburg the distinction of being one of the few places in Russia where international ideas and commerce could flourish. In this album of pre-1917 Odessa, Nicolas Iljine has assembled a wealth of old postcards, rare photographs and illustrations from private archives, colourful posters and advertisements, and materials from the Russian National Library that have never before been published, to recapture a lost time in the life of one of the world’s great romantic cities. Historian Patricia Herlihy’s essay paints textured historical tableaux of Odessa’s nightlife and resorts, its theatres and criminal underworld, its schools and industries, and, not least of all, the synagogues, philanthropic societies, and organizations for defence against pogroms that were such a large part of Jewish life in old Odessa. Her portrait brings to life the city as experienced by such luminaries as Isaac Babel, Sholem Aleichem, and Vladimir Jabotinski. Both a visual treat and a serious exploration of Odessa’s rich history, culture, and social fabric, this book stands alone as a sumptuous homage to a storied city that has inspired affinity and curiosity all over the world. Nicolas Iljine, European representative for the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, has over 30 years experience in cultural exchange with Russia. Patricia Herlihy is research professor at the Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, and professor emeritus of history, Brown University. She is the author of “Odessa: A History, 1774-1914” in English and Ukrainian.
 
To view the book download by clicking here (71MB)