Fotograf Gallery

Gvantsa Jishkariani
— How did we start an art gallery with no money?

on Tuesday, September 24, at 6 pm

How can project spaces change art and society? How can shifting aesthetic values impact human wellbeing? Why is our measure of success the volume of fails artists do with our help? How can we allow strangers to use our space, using energy for experiments? Artist, curator and gallerist Gvantsa Jishkariani will talk about her own art practice and experience in gallery creation and the impacts her galleries have on Georgian art.

Gvantsa Jishkariani (born 1991) is currently based in Tbilisi. After studying at Tbilisi State Academy of Art (BA in Architecture), she gained an Informal MA in Inclusive Mediation at Center of Contemporary Art, Tbilisi. In 2013 Jishkariani and Eliso Kirvalidze founded the first magazine about Georgian contemporary arts and design scenes (gargar.ge). In 2017, Gvantsa Jishkariani won the Tsinandali Award in visual art, the only award for young artists, writers and scientists in Georgia. In 2017, alongside Nata Kipiani, Jishkariani founded the Patara Gallery in an underpass shop in Tbilisi, which is a space for experimental, hitherto unpresented art and for game-changing young artists. In 2018 Jishkariani with Ellen Kapanadze founded The Why Not Gallery in an underpass vitrine. This gallery is also dedicated to video and 2D art. Since 2017 she has been curating the Night of Photography in the Frames of Tbilisi Photo Festival. She is the co-curator of the Magic Carpets residency program. In Prague she is looking for local artists and aspiring curators to collaborate with in both galleries as well as other big projects she’s currently working on.

Her lecture takes place during her research stay in Prague, after gaining the Fotograf Residency for curators and artists from the Visegrad countries and Georgia.

Support

Fotograf Gallery is supported by the Czech Ministry of Culture and during the year 2021 by a grant from the City of Prague amounting to 630 000 CZK.