MKFOTO HFG

Invitation workshop - still some places left 7-8.2 (register: ksobel@hfg-karlsruhe.de) In the workshop, we will work on the figure of ‘The Voyeur’, its notion of the passive and active aspects of looking, viewing, and gazing as acts of empowerment and resistance from Western perspectives of the South Caucasus. Through visual culture we look at the structure of the gaze and its effects, we analyze how we can problematize standard(ized) ways of (gendered) looking. Together with invited artists from Tbilisi, we will share insights on themes such as post-communist and post-soviet contexts of art, architecture and counter-art practices, artivism, feminism, and LGBTQIA movements, activism, and (democratic) struggles in Georgia, with an outlook toward Eurasian (artistic) identities that question dominant western norms and visually oriented media societies.  Practical workshop involves performative, movement, and visual exercises. Please wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Public Programm on 7.2 starts at 6 pm At blauer Salon at HFG (Lorenzstrasse 15). There will be a panel discussion with Natia Chkvaidze and Georgi Rodionov about situation of artists in Georgia and the democratic struggles followed by tasing of Georgian specialiteis and screening of short movies. In cooperation with: UNESCO City of Media Arts Karlsruhe & UNESCO City of Media Arts Tbilisi, Georgia, Embrace Platform, Untitled Tbilisi, Plasm Platform, founded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Natia Chikvaidze co-founder of Plasm Platform, dancer, performer, choreographer, working on post-soviet trauma and female bodies. Natia Chikvaidze graduated from Vakhtang Chabukiani Tbilisi School of Choreography and Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Cannes (France). As a dancer she worked with Cannes Jeune Ballet (France), Campanie Linga and Ballet d’Europe (Marseille, France),Aalto Ballet Theatre in Essen (Germany), Kamea Dance Company in Israel. She has worked with such famous choreographers as Tamir Ginz, Itzik Galili, Sharon Eyal and Ohad Naharin and Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. She works as a choreographer, dancer and teacher in Georgia and across Europe.  Giorgi Rodionov is a media artist and curator. 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.