Pause / Play: Culture under Pressure

Talks & zine launch 

With Kulturschafft e.V. and Untitled Tbilisi
When: Thu April 25, 2024, 18:00-21:45
Where: neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 11/13, 10178 Berlin
Register here
Participants: unlimited
No previous experience/knowledge or equipment required

The first Community Meetup of 2024, Pause / Play: Culture under Pressure, will be realised in cooperation with Kulturschafft e.V. (Berlin) and Untitled Tbilisi (Tbilisi - Berlin) and presents activities that were part of the project Pause / Play: Culture under Pressure, as well as address current socio- political issues in the South Caucasus. Overall the evening programme will focus on presenting cultural and artistic tactics and strategies of self-organisation in the region of South Caucasus and challenges of integration in Georgia, Armenia and Germany.

The programme will consist of a zine launch and a public talk, that will present the issues that arose from the project “Pause / Play: Culture under Pressure”. The project captures the intricate dynamics of the contemporary art and culture scene in the (post)pandemic era, interwoven with political repressions, wars and transitions in Eastern Europe and South Caucasus. The project started in 2022 in Tbilisi, Georgia and continued in Yerevan, Armenia in 2023. The second public talk of the evening will bring together art and queer organizations from the South Caucasus region. The speakers will be sharing their own experiences in community-building during turbulent times, and speaking out about the importance of regional solidarity. 

Schedule:

18:00 – Doors open

18:30 - 20:00 Presentation of the zine “Pause/Play - art communities in migration” Introduction to the digital exhibition “Translating Transition“

TALK: Art communities in migration

20:00 – 20:15 Break

20:15 – 21:45 TALK: Mutating Caucasus

Programme

18:30 - 18:40 Welcome and Introduction by Tatiana Bazzichelli and Elena Veljanovska (Disruption Network Lab)

18:40 - 19:00 Presentation of the zine “Pause/Play - art communities in migration” and Introduction to the digital exhibition “Translating Transition“ 

by Giorgi Rodionov and Alexandra Goloborodko

The zine encompasses a collection of texts and artistic projects dedicated to the self organized art groups and to the migration of artists and art-initiatives, caused by the Russian invasion in Ukraine and political repressions in Belarus. The publication explores various strategies for navigating new spaces and engaging with local communities, reflecting on individual experiences. Simultaneously, it addresses the shifting trends of the digital arts and the move of artistic practices into digital spaces. The catalyst for the publication was the project Pause / Play: Сulture under Pressure, which took place online and offline in Tbilisi and Yerevan from 2022 to 2023.
The exhibition is based on the process of translation, that entails finding the correct way to convey meaning from one language to another. The title, both metaphorically, and in practice, alludes to the perpetual need to discover new methods of translation to adapt to the evolving circumstances of life in exile, particularly for those who recently had to leave their homes due to political and geopolitical reasons. People who were forced to leave their home countries, to cut a lot of both professional and personal ties, are facing the challenges of the need to “translate”, not only the language and new cultural semiotic system into everyday life as immigrants, but also to make everyday efforts to get to know and comprehend the otherness, to integrate into the new cultural context and social structures and re-evaluate their own identity in these new circumstances. The projects presented at the exhibition primarily reflect or are influenced by the struggles and the process of discovering new grounds and means to forge fresh ties and get new meanings.

19:00 - 20:00 TALK: Art communities in migration

With: Alexandra Goloborodko (Curator), Marlene Bart (Artist), Anna Titovets Intektra (Artist and curator), Diana Meyerhold (Artist). Moderated by Giorgi Rodionov (Curator)

Art has always been on the frontline of ideology struggles and therefore often a target of authoritarian regimes. Recent political crises, wars and instabilities pushed many artists and art initiatives outside of their home countries. The panel discussion explores artistic and curatorial practices which developed without institutional support in or out of the artist’s own countries. The speakers will reflect on the struggles that the migrating artists are facing through the example of the project “Pause/Play: Culture under Pressure”. The project aimed to provide and document? tools for working outside of institutionally structured systems and in virtual spaces. The talk also emphasizes the importance of developing artistic and activist strategies in digital media. 

20:15 -21:45 TALK: Mutating Caucasus

With: Salina Abaza (Sukhum/i), Leo/Leona (Pink Armenia, Yerevan), Murad Yuzbashov (Salaam cinema). Moderated by Giorgi Rodionov (untitled tbilisi) 

The South Caucasus is a meeting point of larger socio-political ideologies, and the current time of global crises is impacting the region rapidly as well. Migrations, conflicts, economic struggles and a feeling of instability usually affect vulnerable groups the most.  The public talk brings together art and queer organizations from the South Caucasus region. The speakers will be sharing their own experiences in community-building during turbulent times like this decade, and speaking out about the importance of regional solidarity.  As of 2024, these four organizations initiated an art platform called InVisible, built on the experience of the queer and feminist art festival, previously taking place in Baku and Tbilisi.  In its current form, InVisible is envisioned as an annual collaborative platform for queer and feminist art in the Caucasus region. It provides broad access to underrepresented stories, creating a safe space for encounters and finding alternatives to pervasive nationalist narratives, and developing connections and collaborations between the queer community from the region and its members who are in exile in other countries. 

In 2024, InVisible focuses on the manifold process of mutation that the Caucasus region is going through, investigating how it affects queer and feminist rights and how to foster a transnational community practice that can provide a tactical response to the current difficult context.

Biographies 

Alexandra Goloborodko

Curator

Curator and an art mediator, founder of the association Kulturschafft e.V. and the curatorial initiative International Cultural Project Butterbrot. She graduated from UdK Berlin in the field of Art in Context (MA). As a curator, she is interested in forms of artistic self-organization, promoting cultural dialogue between Eastern and Western European countries, and art practices in public spaces.
As an art mediator, she focuses on exploring the living environment through educational practices. Her latest projects, carried out between 2021 and 2023, include installations and performances in public space such as "Like the air you breathe" and "Urban Practices of Care", the forum and lab "Pause/Play: Culture under Pressure", and the series of creative workshops "Besondermüll - Art, Ecology, and Urbanism".

Marlene Bart

Artist

Marlene Bart PhD is a Berlin based, internationally renowned artist and artistic researcher working at the intersection of natural history, anatomy and visual art. In her artistic work Bart deals with the combination of scientific and artistic visual language. The use of multimedia techniques (printmaking, artist books, sculptures, taxidermy, installations, VR animations) allows her to combine a wide range of image content in a playful way, to refer to the historical dimension of scientific publications, and to put them in a contemporary context. Bart studied Fine Art at the University of Arts in Braunschweig (HBK), the Villa Arson (École nationale supérieure d’art) in Nice and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. She holds a PhD from the Bauhaus- University in Weimar, a masters degree in Art in Context from the University of Arts Berlin (UdK), has been a docent at the University of Arts in Braunschweig, the Technical University in Braunschweig and the Bauhaus- University in Weimar. She is the founder and editor of the transdisciplinary book series "Atlas of Databodies" published by transcript Verlag. Additionally, she is a co-founder of the internationally active artist collective and association, TURBA e.V.

Anna Titovets Intektra

Artist

Anna Titovets Intektra is an interdisciplinary artist, creative director, researcher and curator at the intersection of art, technology, and society. With a focus on digital culture, media activism, cybersecurity, and posthumanism, Anna's practice spans various media, from video–art and CG to AI-generated works, 3D printing, and interactive installations.

Her work has been presented at many international exhibitions and festivals in Europe and Russia. In 2021 she was nominated for the Golden Mask prize as best video-artist  for her contemporary dance piece Sleeping beauty. Anna also founded and curated a festival of experimental audio-visual performances and digital art Plums Fest (Moscow, 2008-2020). And she is the concept creator and chief curator behind the Cryptography Museum's permanent exposition. Anna has held acclaimed roles as a program director and curator at numerous media art/digital art festivals, including guest intern curatorship at Ars Electronica (Linz, 2015), curator at Polytech Fest of science, art and technology (by Polytechnic museum), Pixels Fest of digital art (organized by 2x2 in Yekaterinburg) and others.

Diana Meyerhold

Artist

Diana Meyerhold is Bishkek-born and St. Petersburg raised, graduated with a Drama degree, and working as a contemporary artist and theater-maker, whose practice is deeply engaged with expressing the reflexivity of social processes and the politics of systemic injustice through the form of participatory theater and performance. In her own words: ‘In my work, I seek to combine analog and digital media to create hybrid expressions of live art that push the boundaries of creativity and engagement. I am currently interested in various forms of political engagement, seeking to provoke thought and action through the intersection of art and activism. In August 2023, escalating pressures led to an urgent need to migrate, prompting my relocation and subsequent participation as a scholar in MRI's support program for artists at risk. Despite the adversity I have faced, I remain committed to using my art as a catalyst for change, advocating for freedom of expression and social justice both locally and globally. I live and work in Berlin at the moment.’

Giorgi Rodionov

Artist and curator

Giorgi Rodionov is an artist and curator born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and currently based in Berlin. With a multidisciplinary approach to artistic expression, he does performance, photography, participative art, drawings, podcasts, 3D art, art books, and storytelling. Giorgi’s practice delves into themes of identity struggles, migration, queer issues, and the evolution of new forms of existence. Giorgi's art is deeply rooted in personal experiences. His main focus remains on the South Caucasus region, which he sees as a symbolic crossroad of diversity. In 2019, Giorgi founded untitled tbilisi, an art space dedicated to promoting collaboration among artists and art activists from the South Caucasus region. The mission of the space is to create a platform where art serves as a catalyst for meaningful discussions on queer issues, ethnic minorities, and the complexities of belonging in the region. Through his artistic works and curatorial initiatives, Giorgi Rodionov continues to push boundaries, challenge societal norms, and amplify marginalized voices.

Salina Abaza

Artist

Salina Abaza, born in Damascus and based in Abkhazia is an interdisciplinary artist working in design and visual storytelling, with a focus on matters of identity, memory and sexuality.

Leo/Leona

Community worker

Leo/Leona is a community worker from PInk Armenia focusing on the LGBT+ community of Armenia. He is one of the pioneers of openly queer stand up shows in Yerevan, at the same time he is a drag Quing ( QUeen+King), and a part of the local drag movement.

Murad Yuzbashov

Social worker

Murad Yuzbashov born in Baku is currently living and working in Berlin, Germany. Murad graduated with a master's degree from Alice Salomon University, Berlin in "Social Work as a Human Rights Profession”. Currently working as a social worker at a refugee dormitory by the German Red Cross. He is a member of Salaam Cinema Baku, a community-based cinema and art space. As a queer person with a migration background, advocacy for social justice and work with marginalized groups were among his main directions of work. 

The Meetup programme “Decoding Agency” by Disruption Network Lab is funded by the Capital Cultural Fund (Hauptstadtkulturfonds), Reva and David Logan Foundation and is part of The New Perspectives for Action – A project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-founded by the European Union. The series is organised in cooperation with neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), Berlin.

“Pause/Play: Culture under Pressure” is curated and organized by Kulturschafft e.V., in partnership with Untitled Tbilisi and CSN Lab, with financial support from the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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