RE-DIRECTING: EAST
Conversation # 15
Nini Palavandishvili "Artist as an active citizen"

June 4, 2014, 6 p.m., CCA Laboratory Building
The presentation is held in English.

Nini Palavandishvili
"Artist as an active citizen"
Through her curatorial projects, Nini Palavandishvili researches social and political contexts of cultural production, and the interpretations of these in and by contemporary art. She is interested in an artistic practice that searches for innovative forms and language enabling people to talk about political and social matters. Most her projects carried out within the GeoAIR initiative are dealing with the notion of public space, and how it becomes appropriated by citizens. Recently, her practice has also developed as to engage community in the art creation processes. Combining these research fields, Palavandishvili will discuss the concepts of active citizenship and self-determination in the context of Georgian art. In particular, she will refer to a Georgian philosopher, Meram Mamardashvili, who said the following words in a 1989 interview published by "Civic Art Review:"

"The civil society is based on an act of belief that in the course of free pursuit of people’s interests, there will develop a symmetry between the private and the public world, and that our free actions will eventually converge for the common good... I mean, in short, those citizens who are socially-conscious to the extent that they cannot even imagine a life they would not recognize themselves in - or be left out of control over it – and have enough strength to take both responsible and risky actions. I do not want to live the kind of life in which I do not recognize myself, and I could not consider that kind of life to be mine. Only such people may be called citizens. Not the ones entitled to take part in public affairs, but those who are obliged to and capable of carrying out their responsibilities in public life. This is an old Greek idea, one of the great achievements of Greek society: we do not have sole rights, but the obligation to take part in public affairs, to resolve our problems by ourselves."

There are several instances (exhibitions and political events) recently going on in Georgia, that directly connected with the issues of active citizenship and self-determination. Palavandishvili will present them to the audience.
 

Nini Palavandishvili was born and brought up in Tbilisi, Georgia. After studying the history of art in her home city, she then went on to graduate from the Faculty of Public and Industrial Communication at the Berlin University of the Arts. Returning to Georgia, she launched herself as a graphic designer, producing work for a diverse range of advertising companies, cultural institutions, book publishers and various media organisations. Designing catalogues for exhibitions and individual artists led her back to the community of the visual arts and artists. In 2006, she joined the GeoAIR initiative and has been actively engaged in curating and organising international exchange projects in Georgia and beyond ever since. She is also a coordinator of an art residency programme launched in Tbilisi by GeoAIR in January 2010. Palavandishvili’s projects are a means by which she researches social and political frames of reference and their interpretation in the context of cultural production and contemporary art. She is interested in artistic practice that gives rise to innovative forms and finds a language with which it is possible to speak about political and social matters. Nini Palavandishvili lives and works in Tbilisi.

RE-DIRECTING: EAST project is realized thanks to the support of City of Warsaw.

CCA media patronage: TOK FM, Elle Decoration, KMag, Label, Aktivist, Purpose, artinfo.pl, Stolica