Gabriela Von Habsburg - 20 years in Georgia
By Anita Magradze
Thursday, May 9
Kunsthalle Tbilisi and Goethe-Institute Georgia are presenting Tabula Rasa, Gabriela Von Habsburg -20 years in Georgia - an exhibition of stainless steel sculptures by Gabriela Von Habsburg.
Gabriela von Habsburg is an artist and a diplomat. She was Georgia’s Ambassador to Germany in 2009-2013 and today she is a professor at the Free University of Tbilisi.
Along with diplomatic functions, the artist aims to raise Georgia’s international profile and popularization on the artistic map of the world. The exhibition is dedicated to Gabriela Von Habsburg’s twenty years of contribution, activity and work in Georgia.
On display in the courtyard of the Georgian National Museum, the show contextualizes her work with that of four students from the Visual Art, Architecture and Design School at the Free University of Tbilisi. The exhibition includes works by Giorgi Geladze, Salome Chigilashvili, Liza Tsindeliani and Giorgi Vardiashvili.
It is curated by Irena Popiashvili.
A catalog guides the exhibition with essays by Kimberly Bradley and Saul Anton.
As critic Saul Anton notes in the exhibition catalog, it is evident from the first glance that the Munich artist, as opposed to what often happens in the art scene, did not try to impose her aesthetic choices and values on the students.
There are seven abstract statues exhibited in the courtyard created during different periods of the artist’s work. Von Habsburg works mainly with stainless steel materials and creates a visual language of her own with variations of geometric shapes.
The exhibition Tabula Rasa explores parallels between Gabriela von Habsburg and the works of students.
In addition to her work at the museum, Von Habsburg has three public sculptures in Georgia, most notable of which is the revolving sculpture in front of the former presidential palace in the capital Tbilisi. Another is installed in the city’s central Mziuri Park. The third work is to be found in the Sculpture Park in the Black Sea port city of Poti.
The exhibition is held with the support of Georgian National Museum and will last until May 29.
