September 2018
by Nina Bendukidze
The BTA planned several Georgian events in Bristol in 2018 to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of friendship between Bristol and Tbilisi. One of them was an exchange exhibition "Unity in Diversity: Bristol & Tbilisi: 1988 - 2018” which focused on the historic content of the twinning between two cities.
This project was about friendship, unity, diversity, art, history, international culture, place, people, humanity and partnership. The aim of the event was to help establish new links and develop existing ones between people from two very different countries. One theme of the exhibition was to demonstrate the commonality and diversity of British and Georgian traditional and modern visual art, including video installations and photography.
The exhibition held in September 2018 at the same venue in Tbilisi - Tbilisi History Museum - Karvasla, where the British and Georgian young artists group “Silk Road” exhibition was held in 1994 and in October in the TBC Bank (the exhibition sponsor) headquarters.
Bristol’s City Hall welcomed the exhibition in December. The exhibition gave the BTA an opportunity to show the development of the cultural, educational and civic relationship between the two cities and most importantly between individuals from the beginning to the present day.
We would like to thank our sponsors (Bristol-Tbilisi Association, TBC Bank and The Guild of Guardians Bristol) for their generous financial support. We also would like to thank everybody who physically help us and made the exhibition happened.
http://agenda.ge/en/news/2018/1978
In Georgian
NB: Please note that vodeos below were recorded on iPhone with very limited options (time, music etc.) and are in fact just a report of our project. Please don't judge us too harshly :))
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July 2018
by Nina Bendukidze
Upfest 2018, Europe’s largest, free, street art & graffiti festival, attracting over 400 artists painting 50 venues throughout Bedminster & Southville in Bristol took place from 28th to 30th July. Talented artists travel from 70 countries and across the UK arrived to Bristol to paint live on 60,000sqft of surfaces in front of 50,000 visitors. The affordable art sale, music stages and art workshops round off a visually spectacular weekend.
Three Tbilisi based artists were selected from 15 Georgian applications to take part in this year's UpFest urban art festival: Dr Love (Bacha Khoperia), Tknaizer (Oto Tsagareishvili) and Tamoonz (Tamuna Tsakhnakia). Tamoonz was invited to paint four collaborative pieces with three other artists in a one hour time frame and her work was later auctioned.
Bristol International Twinning Association (BITA) and its coordinator Alix Hughes organised a meeting at the Hen and Chicken pub, North Str, with street art artists from Bristol twinning cities - Tbilisi (Dr Love), Bordeaux ( Lady JDay) and Hannover (Stefan Hoch), Bristol’s twin city since 1947, set up as part of getting to know our enemies and making friends with them to avoid another conflict. Dr. Love participated in UpFests for third time, Lady Jday, who is currently living and working in New York, came to Bristol for second time and Stefan Hoch for first time. The one hour session was facilitated by Richard Jones. Richard Jones runs Tangent Books, a Bristol publisher specialising in counter culture. Tangent’s street art titles include Banksy’s Bristol, The Banksy Q, Children Of The Can, and Upfest Vol 1 and Vol 2
Two Street Art Artists from Bristol Andrew Burns Colwill and Rosie McLay were invited during UpFest to participate in the Exhibition "Unity in Diversity. Bristol & Tbilisi: 1988 - 2018" in September - October in Tbilisi History Museum, organised by Bristol Tbilisi Association to celebrate the 30th anniversary of twinning link between two cities. All three Georgian artists will be taking part in this exhibition as well.
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May 2018
Two authors from Tbilisi came to Bristol to help launch the new "Book of Tbilisi" (Authors Zviad Kvaratskhelia and Bacho Kvirtia) as part of BTA 30th anniversary celebrations. The BTA was working with the Bristol Festival of Ideas to arrange an exciting and stimulating evening.
In the 26 years since Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union, the country and its capital, Tbilisi, have endured unimaginable hardships: one coup d’état, two wars with Russia, the curse of organised crime, and prolonged periods of economic depression. Now the Tbilisi has begun to flourish again – drawing hordes of tourists with its eclectic architecture and famous welcoming spirit. Zviad Kvaratskhelia (pictured) and Bacho Kvirtia, two contributors to the short-story collection The Book of Tbilisi, offer snapshots of life in their city, reconciling its recent past with its glamourous present.
http://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/events/zviad-kvaratskhelia-and-bacho-kvirtia/
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May 2018
The Poetry Translation Centre and the Bristol Tbilisi Association were delighted to present an evening of poetry and friendship in Georgian and English.
Where: Bristol City Hall, College Green, Bristol BS1 5TR
When: 21st May, Monday, 7pm
Acclaimed Georgian poets Diana Anphimiadi and Salome Benidze read their work alongside award-winning British poets Jean Sprackland and Helen Mort, before discussing the delicate art of translation with their bridge translator Natalia Bukia-Peters. This event was in English with poetry readings in Georgian and English.
Diana Anphimiadi is a poet, publicist, linguist and teacher. She has published four collections of poetry: Shokoladi (Chocolate, 2008), Konspecturi Mitologia (Resumé of Mythology, 2009), Alhlokhedvis Traektoria (Trajectory of the Short-Sighted, 2012) and Kulinaria (Personal Cuisine, 2013). Her poetry has received prestigious awards, including first prize in the 2008 Tsero and the Saba Award for best first collection in 2009. She lives in Tbilisi with her husband and young son.
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April/May/June 2018
by Colin Evans
Georgian Films screening started in April and was held at the Community Cinema in Easton, known as The Pickle Factory, All Hallows Road, Bristol, BS5 0HH.
Perhaps the greatest complement we can pay to Georgian cinema is that it isn’t Hollywood! There are no big budgets so no stars, just actors and directors combining to create amazingly effective ensemble scenes that catch the essence of the people and the country. If there is one consistent element it is Georgia itself and in these three films we hope to show the country in all its diversity.
First film shown in April was The Village, director Levan Tutberidze, 2012, 112 minutes. We start in the breath-taking Caucasus mountains. A young Georgian academic takes his British girlfriend with him on a research project to a remote village. They hope to stabilise their shaky relationship but her urban idealism is at odds with the traditions that dominate in an isolated rural community of mostly older people because the younger generation have left for a more progressive life in the cities. The young couple discover that there is a dark side to this world in spite of the idyllic setting.
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April 2018
by Alix Hughes
A public talk by Peter Nasmyth. Peter's writings and photographs about the Caucasus region have been published in most major UK magazines and newspapers. He has also written for several American publications, including the Washington Post. Since his first visit to Georgia in 1987 he has also developed several broadcast projects in the region and been nominated for the UN Media Prize by the BBC.
He has been involved in initiatives to preserve Georgia's heritage buildings especially in the old city area of Tbilisi.
In October 2016 a group of Georgian citizens and one Englishman, established a new National Trust style of organisation in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Under the title of the National Trust of Georgia it was set up in association with the National Trust of Great Britain’s international branch INTO and follows the successful British model.
In October 2017 the Trust took over a unique, unusually unmolested 18th -19th century property in the Metekhi cliffs area of the city, adjoining Avlabari. The property is large enough to act as the Trust’s headquarters on a permanent basis, as well as contain space for exhibitions and events. Like so many properties in Georgia this three story building is in a poor stage of repair, but it will slowly be restored and used as an example for locals as to how building repair can be done cheaply, effectively and with historic sensitivity, on their own homes. There will be an exhibition inside the building illustrating how this is achieved.
http://www.nationaltrustofgeorgia.org.ge/
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March 2018
by Derek Pickup
In the spring of 1911, Margaret Chambers, intrepid explorer and traveller, decided to mount and expedition to the High Caucasus. One of the first women to be admitted as a fellow to the Royal Geographical Society, she spent many months in Georgia, most of them in the mountains of Svaneti, walking or riding across remote passes with local guides and friends, observing, noting, drawing and painting as shetraveled.All her writing and painting has lain undisturbed and unpublished in the library of the Royal Geographical Society since her death.Tony Anderson and Georgian colleagues are at present working to rectify this. Tony talked about all this. A glass of wine and some nibbles were offerred by BTA at the event
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March 2018
by Esther Keller-Pickup
Venue: The City Hall, Lord Mayor's reception Room
Katie, who has lived in Tbilisi for 11 years, talked about her life in Georgia and explored the magic and unique wonders that keep her there. She talked about how the capital city and its people have changed in her time there and gave her outlook for the future. She also was touching briefly on her young adult urban fantasy books and her growing following of fans, introducing to attendees her latest saga set in Tbilisi: Dark Wings.
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