Center of Contemporary Art –Tbilisi (CCA-T) is an
independent, nonprofit organization. The main goal of CCA-Tbilisi is to support
the development of contemporary art in Georgia and in Caucasus region as well.
For a country with deeply rooted cultural traditions it is of crucial
importance to have an independent and open institution, which will work on
contextualization of contemporary visual culture and help Georgian and
international artists to effectively present creative production to local and
international audiences.
The center is acting as a hub in Georgia, linking and
working with similar organizations around the world. We also aim to stimulate
research in contemporary visual culture in Georgia and abroad. Our main
research project is focused on art that was repressed in Soviet times and due
to censorship largely forgotten. It is time for Georgia to start dealing with
its troubled past and move on from there. CCA-Tbilisi intends to play important
role in these processes.
The Center has four key activities: organizing professional
exhibitions of interesting and innovating contemporary art work; educating
motivated art students; conducting research of Georgian art and creating
exchange opportunities of artists and curators with different partner
institutions worldwide. We intend to make CCA-Tbilisi into a vital asset to the
cultural life of Tbilisi.
Initiators and invited teachers at CCA-Tbilisi have 12 years
of experience in organizing private art education. Wato Tsereteli, the director
of CCA-Tbilisi, has proven his organizational skills, enthusiasm for art and
persistence in setting up Tbilisi’s first and only photography institute.
Exhibition
The exhibitions of contemporary art is a core activity of
the Center.The gallery of CCA – Tbilisi has about 150 square meter space
divided into 3 proportional parts.Main Strategy is to approach the audience by
innovative social and cultural interaction.To propose contemporary art, on the
one hand, as a spatial/architectural experiment to provide kind of journey for
the visitor, and on the other hand, to produce exhibitions which will try to
contextualize contemporary art and its history in Georgia.Reflection on actual
local or global questions in relation with art practice has permanent
character.
The strategy concerning exhibition production and design
aims to establish in Georgia, and the Caucasus region, professional standards
in which each work has carefully chosen space and is provided by necessary
verbal information.
The Educational Officer (EO) of CCAT is inviting visitors
from schools and universities, staff of partner organizations (TBC Bank,
international cultural institutions and embassies, Elkana, Gipa, Icomos
Georgia); journalists form different media (TV Broadcasting, radio's,
newspapers, bloggers).Visitors get a tour of the exhibition and are meeting the
participant artist for a public dialogue.
Center hosts 8 exhibitions a year and organizes audiovisual
festivals quarterly.
Education
CCA-Tbilisi offers a unique 9-month Informal Master Program
in 5 different fields:
• Mediation (Context Production)
• Audio/Sound Art
• Photography
• 2D Art (Painting/Drawing)
• Moving Image (Video Art)
Students from each of these fields are taught in separate
ateliers both in theory and practice. All students also attend shared theory
lessons.
The program gives each student the opportunity to reflect
theoretically and in practice on his/her chosen discipline as well as to focus
on the production of his/her independent works. All ateliers join at the end of
the program to exhibit in a final show at the CCA-Tbilisi gallery space. This
exhibition is then documented both in a printed catalogue and a digital
publication (DVD). Together these form a professional basis for the students'
further creative activities.
In addition all students attend the 9-month course "Bio
Farming in Relation to Art Praxis" at the Cloud Library, residency of
Mamuka Japharidze and Anthea Nicholson in Shindisi.
During the program students are also involved in other
activities at CCA-Tbilisi: They assist curators and artists as well as attend
various additional workshops and lectures.
Selected groups of 10 students maximum will be accepted per
atelier. The selection criteria are the students' motivation and portfolio.
Further selection is based on interviews.
Initiators and invited teachers have 12 years' experience in
teaching and the organization of alternative art education.
Research
The Department is involved in various forms of creative
research in the field of contemporary art but also of modern and soviet art in
Georgia. Its task is to promote a dialogue amongst various artistic media, and
to contribute with its research to the development of contemporary art.
The
Department encourages experimentation as a method of developing various
curatorial practices, as well as cooperation among curators, theoreticians, and
artists on joint projects. This form of activity is realized through various
innovative projects, exhibitions, events and presentations. The first
beginnings of this strategy can be traced to the Center's activity when it
launched several exhibition projects under the titles: The Health; Transit; On
the Way; Writing with Color; The Other Narration; and A fragment of Time Which
is not Recorded.
The Department is working on the publication project Art
History in Georgia that would reconsider the history of Georgian art of the pre
and post soviet period and reveal the modernist artists whose work has fallen
into oblivion, due to Soviet censorship. This publication aims also to
contextualize Georgian modern and contemporary art in international historical
frames. Another planned project is to set up art archive and media library that
can be used as resource center for contemporary artists and art events.
Consulting
The circulation of an artwork, when the work is transmitted
to another person is most natural process for any creative producer.
CCA-Tbilisi offers unique service in Georgia, to consult art collectors and
general public by selecting artworks. Our database reflects wide range of
contemporary art production.
Our experts advise you to find suitable piece for
your environment. Each enquiry is being processed on an individual bases. Any
purchase is accompanied by an annotation of our art historian's and reflects
the importance of the author and the concrete artwork in historical context.
Tourism - Interpreting Tbilisi as artwork
Your cumbo* guide invites you to visit Tbilisi in a
different order: by cumbowalking through a city built on ancient tales and
kilometers of hot sulphur water bassains. Today Tbilisi is a place of
spontaneous architecture - an anarchic mix of old cosmopolites, fading socialists
and sprawling urban life. Consequently, Cumbowalking is a constantly evolving
artwork, where you might encounter the silhouette of Kazbegi or visit
contemporary Georgian artists.
You pay for cumbo as much as you think you should. Cumbo lives on http://www.cca.ge and speaks Georgian,
English, German, Dutch and Russian. If you want cumboarttbilisitour you just
call him: +995 577 468446
* Cumbo is a holy servant that can materialise in any
person. Cumbo serves only good intentions - no matter in whom or where they
are.
Exchange
Artists' residency and exchange program is important
addition to the CCAT platform. Short or long term exchange between artists and
curators from Tbilisi and other cities has unique aspect of researching and
reacting on environment by artistic expression. At the moment CCAT works on
development of long-term cooperation with other artists exchange networks to
create new opportunities meeting and exchanging artists and curators
internationally.
The artists' residency room is a 30 sq. meters including
bathroom.
Contact:
Wato Tsereteli
Founder, Head of CCA-Tbilisi
+995 577 468 446
George Spanderashvili
Projects Coordinator
+995 558 900 400
Katharina Stadler
Educational programs curator
+995 593 302 845
Phone: +995 032 2 956
958 / +995 558 900 400
Email: info(at)cca.ge
