უცხოელი/Foreigner

July-August 2003

'უცხოელი/Foreigner', was a two-month collaborative project of 6 Georgian and 6 Netherlands based artists.

The project 'უცხოელი/Foreigner' was realized in the Summer 2003 in collaboration with Felix Meritis Foundation and involved 6 Georgian and 6 Netherlands based artists that worked together for 2 months in Tbilisi, Georgia and set up a collaborative exhibition that was shown first to the Georgian and later to the Dutch public.

The theme of the project, foreigner, is with a broad understanding of the word. It can mean physical person coming from the other country, somebody you don’t understand anything about or allude to the position of art and artist in the society. This one word, foreigner, can also have a very different perception to it. For Georgians it stands for rich, smiling person with photo camera and no worries and for Dutch - poor, emigrant, rude.

During the two month working period group of international artists worked together, reacted on each other, on the city and it’s political and social aspects. The working period and exhibition took place in an old wine factory territory in Tbilisi, giving the location a new meaning. Later the same show was presented to the Dutch public in the framework of ‘Georgian Days’ organized by Felix Meritis Foundation in Amsterdam. The project had a very positive response in Tbilisi as well as in the Netherlands, attracting many visitors and media attention.

Participating artist:
Tamar Chabashvili (Geo/NL), Zura Macharashvili (Geo), Lado Darakhvelidze (Geo), Sophia Bazgadze (Geo), Sophia Tabatadze (Geo), Ani Riaboshenko (Geo), Xiang Yan Yang (China), Nanna van Heest (NL), Kirsten Leenaars (NL), Adriel van Drimmelen (USA, NL), Lovve Geeven (NL)

The ‘უცხოელი/Foreigner’ project was realized in collaboration with:
Felix Meritis Foundation and De Phenix Foundation

Financial support:
Amsterdam Foundation for the arts;
De Phenix Foundation;
Haëlla foundation;
Georgian Glass and Mineral Water Company;
The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Georgia;
The Dutch foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB).