Human Emotions spilling over Art Villa Garikula

The contemporary art festival, Fest i Nova, recently hosted the Human Emotion Project (HEP) presented by Georgian artist Irina Gabiani.
Fest i Nova is a newly launched contemporary art event, held from Aug. 5 to Oct. 25, in the Garikula art villa in the Shida Kartli region. Karaman Kutateladze, founder of the festival, and the Shida Kartli Cultural Heritage Foundation, own the art villa.
“I wanted to turn the house into a contemporary art gallery and I suppose I have reached my goal,” Kutateladze said.
The festival also hosts artists from Austria, France, Netherlands, Georgia and the U.S.
“The artists are invited to realize individual projects in the framework of the project. The goal is to create a specific platform to facilitate the exchange of artistic views and stimulate different practices of contemporary art,” reads the summary of the Fest i Nova project.
Gabiani is a Georgian artist living and working in Luxemburg. After studying at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, she continued her study at the Amsterdam Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Her major field of interest is human emotions.
Together with her individual works she is involved in a variety of international projects, and the HEP is one of them. The HEP Georgian presentation was held by Gabiani in Garikula.
The HEP, a collection of video art, was created by Alison Williams, a contemporary South African artist.
“HEP 2009 was born out of a voyeuristic need to observe how other artists express themselves on an emotional level and to see the effectiveness of that in a social context via physical exhibitions and an online interaction,” she writes in the project summary.
Collaborating artists found each other on the Art Review Magazine’s Web site in early 2009. Since then the project has been screened in several countries, including Australia, Spain, Portugal, Italy and now Georgia.
Two and three minute films of different foreign artists displayed a big disparity of emotions.
Irina Gabiani has placed two of her films in the project, “The Slaves of the System” and “Samaia or Triamazikamno.”
“Samaia” depicts the moods of an ordinary person: sadness, anger and joy. According to the artist, none of these moods are stable and positive. They turn on each other rapidly and do not give the protagonist a chance to live sensibly.
“You feel in harmony only when you stand apart from all these moods, only in this case do you feel calm and comfortable inside,” the artist said. The three emotions are symbolic and cover many other varieties of moods that a human being has, she added.
Gabiani who usually only employs two shades – black and white – assumes that there are three energies in the universe – positive, negative and neutral. She became interested in the “essence of life” and indulged in physics. Science gave her a solid basis for her view of life. Electron as minus, proton as plus and neutron as neutralizing are the essences of the universe, she ponders.
Although people perceive things to be either black or white, Gabiani said, she on the other hand likes to be an impartial observer.
Gabiani tries to bring up things from everyday life in her work to make people perceive themselves as a whole, as part of the universe instead of being involved in the insensate triviality of life.
“So many things are happening around us, that we even cannot think about and the world is so complex that if we realize it, we would look at the events and facts around us in a completely different way,” she said.
Her later works, done also in black and white, depict atoms, micro and macro elements. She attempts to show the viewer the whole notion of the world around us, often leaving behind our minds.
Anna Chichinadze
18.09.2009

Double investigation reveals Russian blame in Storimans’ death

Russian cluster bombs killed Dutch cameraman Stan Storimans, 39, during the war last August.Two independent investigations conduicted after his death.
The first investigation was held by the Dutch government last October.
The second investigation was compiled into a documentary film and screened Aug. 12, 2009, exactly one-year after Storimans’ death. The 46-minute film was shot by Dutch RTL TV reporter Jeroen Akkermans who worked with Storimans on the day of the tragedy.
A special report prepared by the Dutch Permanent Mission to the UN states that, “Dutch cameraman Stan Storimans, who was killed in the Georgian city of Gori on Aug. 12, 2008, was the victim of cluster munitions. The munitions were propelled by a type of rocket that is only found in Russia’s military arsenal. That is the conclusion of the mission that Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen appointed to investigate the circumstances of Storimans’ death.”
Verhagen stated he regards the findings “extremely serious.”
“I have made this clear to the Russian authorities,” he said. “Cluster munitions must not be used in this way. There were no troops in Gori and innocent civilians were killed.”
The Russian government rebuked the accusations and blamed Georgia in the incident.
“The accident was the result of aggressive actions conducted by the Georgian forces,” President Dmitry Medvedev told a RTL News correspondent. “In this particular case, we arrived at the conclusion based on the fact that the Georgians have recognized their use of cluster weapons.”
He then expressed his condolences to the Storimans family.
In his documentary film, Akkermans uncovers evidence proving that Russian Iskander rockets led to Storimans’ death. Akkermans is RTL’s Germany and Eastern Europe correspondent, and has 20 years of journalistic experience. His work has taken him in to conflict areas such as Chechnya, Georgia, Abkhazia and the Balkans.
While conducting the investigation, Akkermans met with a number of military analysts.
Human Rights Watch Senior Military Analyst Marc Garlasco was in Georgia and participated in examining the exploded materials. He is sure the bombs that killed Storimans were cluster rockets owned only by Russian forces.
“As soon as I saw the cradles I knew they were cluster munitions because of the signature,” he said, noting that the star-shape patterns divulge the Russian origin of the bombs. “I have seen them many times in many other conflicts in Afganistan and Lebanon.”
“I am absolutely certain,” he said.
The Iskander M (NATO reporting name “SS-26 Stone”) was named after the Arabic version, “Alexander the Great” and invented by Russian specialists for Middle Eastern clients.
“The technical characteristics show that this is an absolutely unique missile,” Russian military expert Ruslan Pukhov tells Akkermans in the film. “The Russians became interested in the bomb and then developed the ‘M’ version, which means modernized.”
The missile’s range is about 250 miles and according to Akkermans’ film it can be shot from Dagestan or Chechnya to Gori.
Based on his and Storimans’ coverage last year, Akkermans said that all Georgian troops had left Gori Aug. 11, and the incident occurred the next day when only peaceful citizens and journalists were in the city. The bombing took place on the city’s main square – a flat, open area near the Stalin monument.
“We left our positions,” a Georgian soldier tells reporters in an interview late night Aug. 11, 2008.
Analytical Department head Shota Utiashvili at the Interior Ministry also confirmed that the troops were ordered to leave Gori late afternoon Aug. 11.
“It was a test-rocket shot into Gori,” Akkermans told Georgia Today. “It had no military meaning. It was only a gesture to show their power to Georgia, to threaten peaceful locals, and to enhance the spirit of war in their soldiers.”
In Akkermans film, German military expert Robert Schmucker states that the rocket had a psychological as opposed to military impact on the Georgian people.
Several Gori residents died together with Storimans.
A number of wounded people survived, including Akkermans, who sustained minor injuries to his leg. Israeli journalist Zadok Yecheskeli still has problems moving.
“I will never be able to run again, ski or play tennis,” Yecheskli says in the film. “But I do not concentrate on what I cannot do. I think about what I can do. I realized that I can function as a journalist, I can walk and ask questions.”
Yecheskeli came to Georgia after the war to conduct the ivestigation with Akkermans.
Akkermans noted another reason for holding the investigation.
“After a war, journalists have the task to find out what really happened,” he said. “Georgia like other countries wants to close the book and forget about the war. But we have to find out the truth and make the governments feel and meet their responsibilities.”
In one segment of the documentary Akkermans says Russia’s blame in the tragedy does not free Georgia from its own responsibility. As both countries used cluster bombs, the same tragic accident could have occurred in some South Ossetian towns, he states.
Akkermans is eager to screen the film in Georgia under the condition that it is translated honestly and shown from the beginning to the end.
Neither Georgia, who recognized its use of cluster bombs during last year’s war, nor Russia, who denied using these munitions, has signed the international convention prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster bombs. The convention was adopted in Dublin by 107 states on May 2008 and signed on Dec. 3 the same year.
Anna Chichinadze
21.08.2009

Political woes damage tourism

Although there is still one month before the end of summer, prominent figures of the Georgian tourism industry agree that the period has been far below satisfactory. The last August war, four months of opposition protests and the global economic crisis have resulted in the industry’s financial woes.
However, Georgian Tourism Department Chief Petre Kankava remains optimistic. His official statistics reveal that 600,000 tourists visited Georgia in the first 6 months of 2009 whereas 1.3 million tourists visited the country in 2008.
Kankava said June was the month when the most tourists crossed the border into Georgia – most coming from Azerbaijan and Turkey. Israelis, Ukrainians and Russians have been frequent visitors. German, British, Greek, Bulgarian, Baltic and Philippine citizens are also steadily visiting Georgia.
Compared with the same period last year, the rate shows an 11.7-percent decrease in the flow of tourists or 15,000 fewer visitors. Kankava considers the outcome a solid achievement although most tourists came in June. The Tourism Department considers everyone who crosses the border a tourist regardless of their purpose for entering the country.
“The purpose of their visit does not matter,” Kankava said. “Every foreigner stops at a hotel, eats out, buys souvenirs and spends money. That is tourism.”
Tourism Management Educational Center head at Ilia Chavchavadze State University Koba Arabuli does not agree with Kankava. He defines tourists as people “who arrives in the country for holidays, have leisure time, spend money, see the country and go back to the homeland for a week or two.”
“Individuals who have businesses, work officially or arrive for other reasons cannot be counted as tourists,” Arabuli said, adding that the presented figures are based on statistics from the Border Department, which count every individual crossing the border, including Georgians with foreign citizenship.
Meanwhile, tour agencies are voicing complaints about the fall in the number of customers.
Manana Tsiramua, director of the Georgian Holiday tour operator, works primarily on the Hong Kong, UK, Latvia and Ukraine markets. She said the four-month opposition protests have led to the downturn in addition to the August war.
“If last year we were serving 5-6 groups at the same time, now we have just one, and instead of 40-member groups, now we have just 6-10 tourists coming together,” Tsiramua said. “When foreigners were planning their vacations and booking tours, they read about the protests and unstable atmosphere in the country and opted against going to Georgia.”
Statistics aside, Gabriel Heim and Brigitta Monthey recently visited Tbilisi for an 8-day holiday from Berlin.
“Personally, I do not believe that the political situation is a reason to refuse going to the region, but foreigners should have more information about how easy, welcoming and friendly the country is,” Heim said.
Monthey added that they found information about the country on the Web. She also expressed a desire to learn more about politics in the country and cultural and tourist opportunities.
Kankava has launched activities to promote Georgia’s tourism opportunities abroad in light of the decreasing numbers of visitors to the country.
The department has opened the first modern tourist center in Tbilisi, equipped with new maps, booklets and guides. Five similar centers are pending to open in surrounding regions.
For international promotion, the government has allocated 180,000 euro to the department. Some funds will be spent on a film about Georgia travel opportunities, which will be produced and broadcast on Buzz TV and Spanish and English channels. The department will also participate in international exhibitions that Kankava hopes will attract more people.
“The war has strongly damaged our reputation and we are trying hard to correct it,” he said. “Europe started here.”
Arabuli disagrees, stating that Georgia has no strategy for tourism development — only a general concept.
“The president and economics minister publicly state that tourism is a priority issue, but I do not see what they are doing to prove this,” Arabuli said. “If they mean rebuilding cities, then this is not a tourism strategy. This sphere needs thorough planning and implementation, and all above more finances than there are now.”
Arabuli agrees that training and education are lacking in the department. He said the department holds periodic training for hotel owners, but realizes this is not enough.
“Prices are high and service is low,” Kankava said. “People do not understand that the hotel business is not just a matter of buying and selling. It requires working for years to achieve high quality and attract tourists. They do not understand that bad service damages the country’s image.”
Anna Chichinadze
31.07.2009

Dutchman takes stray-dog problem into own hands

After rescuing a dying puppy from the streets of Tbilisi, Dutch citizen Ivo Bakhuijzen decided to fulfill his long-time goal to open a pet shelter in the Georgian capital.
Bakhuijzen intends to build a shelter for 120 dogs and accept some cats as well.
According to his estimation, there are over 25,000 stray dogs in Tbilisi alone. He sees the only solution to be sterilization as opposed to putting the dogs to sleep as is the practice of the local government clinic. The plan is to sterilize, vaccinate, sign and send the dogs back to the streets.
“We should take care of animals not only for people’s sake, but for their normal living, because animals have rights confirmed by all the world’s organizations,” Bakhuijzen said. “We are obliged to honor them here in Georgia.” He added that older dogs will be kept in the shelter for the remainder of their lives, while puppies will be raised and put up for adoption. Adult dogs will be let out into the street as long as they are safe for people.
Bakhuijzen’s dog organization has a flexible plan. About 60,000 lari is needed for its execution, but he for now has only found 25,000 lari. He is working hard to raise more funds and welcomes donations from the public. The dog shelter is set to open in September 2009.
The Dutch project has been approved by two Georgian animal rights organizations – the Animal Rights Committee and Georgian Society for the Protection and Safety of Animals (GSPSA). However, both express concerns about releasing dogs. The chairpersons of both organizations consider the stray-dog problem to be unsolvable without the government’s goodwill.
“Definitely, these vaccinated and sterilized dogs will be killed by the governmental organization working on this issue, I am sure of it,” GSPSA Deputy Chairman Teimuraz Tsikorize said. “They have already killed several cured dogs, which were let out of [a GSPSA] shelter.”
Tsikoridze blames the local city government for having a shady business and earning income from killing stray dogs.
“The more dogs the company kills, the more money they get from the budget,” he said, referring to city hall documentation. The paperwork shows that during a 19-month period, they killed almost 27,000 dogs in the capital. The same documents show that during the same period, the First Veterinary Clinic Company, also registered as Debiuti Ltd., has vaccinated only 11 dogs for rabies and castrated 73. The clinic has received approximately 2 million lari for this work.
The First Veterinary Clinic did not respond to several phone calls by Georgia Today. However, Tbilisi Municipality representative Davit Sadaterashvili, who is in charge of stray animal issues, said he is satisfied with the clinic’s work. “We are not killing animals, we just make injections to euthanize old and sick dogs, others we vaccinate, sterilize and let out into the streets,” he said.
Animal Rights Committee of Georgia Chairwoman Tinatin Chavchanidze is concerned that killing dogs is not only the wrong way to solve the problem, but also an inhumane act that damages the country’s image. She said the OSCE was ready to fund her project to sterilize street dogs, but as long as she could not guarantee that the state services would not kill dogs, the OSCE refused to support the project.
“The number of street dogs has decreased [since spring] due to the raids that the First Veterinary Clinic organized, but they must realize that the city will face the same problem next spring as well,” Chavchanidze said, adding that the clinic catches weak, old dogs that are easy to catch and aggressive ones that can threaten the population remain in the streets.
Sterilization is the way she thinks the birthrate can be reduced, and together with vaccinations, it will provide not only the security of the population, but also the rights of dogs.
Chavchanidze said the system will prevent torturous treatment in places like the so-called “Baker Hole,” where street dogs are taken and killed.
“First, they kill them with an electric shock and then burn them with acid,” she said.
Tsikoridze said the GSPSA has documentary evidence of dogs being thrown in a hole and killed in masses. When it comes to the legal rights of killing the animals, Georgian law has only one act naming the torture and ill treatment of animals as illegal. Nothing is mentioned about killing them. Georgia also has not yet joined any international declaration regulating the issue.
Chavchanidze also raises a question of responsible ownership, meaning to impose concrete responsibilities on families who decide to have a pet.
“A main reason homeless animals exist is people who get rid of their pet’s new-born puppies, throwing them into the streets,” she said. “Laws should charge families with more obligations, including vaccinating and sterilizing their animal companions.”
Several such dogs have been sheltered by Tsikoridze, many of them of a good breed.
Sadaterashvili told Georgia Today that the city council is working on a responsible ownership law to oblige pet owners to vaccinate their pets.
Since 2002 the shelter has housed around 1,000 dogs. Now, there are about 28 dogs in the shelter. According to Tsikoridze, about half of the dogs died soon after arriving due to serious injuries and infections. The second half is killed by the state service after they are released.
Tsikoridze’s shelter is a rare asylum for pets in Tbilisi. Painter Giorgi Akhvlediani provides shelter to homeless cats at his “Cat Cafe.” He has 8 cats under his care. With the assistance of the German Embassy in Georgia, Akhvlediani feeds, vaccinates and sterilizes the cats.
“A German vet with the help of the embassy gathered donations for my cat cafe, but the money will soon end and I do not know how can I take care of them,” Akhvlediani said.
Tsikoridze also complains about a lack of money, and cannot remember a single incident when the government provided support to the GSPSA. He expressed his thanks to the individuals who support the shelter, and added that although he is eager to open branches, only municipal shelters can resolve the stray-dog problem.
In response to his statement, Sadaterashvili told Georgia Today that the government is considering opening a shelter in a Tbilisi suburb later this year.
Bakhuijzen’s shelter will open in September. He hopes that the special signs his shelter will place on treated dogs will save them from getting killed.
Anna Chichinadze
24.07.2009

"Kiss to Summer" by Maka Batiashvili

Georgian painter Maka Batiashvili decided to express gratitude to sunny July by holding her “Kiss to Summer” exhibit of about 40 pieces from July 17 until late August at the Art-Lavka exhibit hall in Tbilisi.
The exhibit was organized by Ketato Charkviani, wife of the late Georgian singer Irakli Charkviani. Batiashivili was the first artist to have her work displayed in the new space, but Charkviani hopes to host other modern art exhibits there in the future.
“It is just a gathering of the works I have in Tbilisi,” Batiashvili said at the opening. “Some of them were even painted a couple days ago.”
The main features of her work are the moods and emotions of people shown through unshaped figures with flat, almost homogeneous faces with slightly traced features, leaving the impression that the feelings are on the surface and the figures are part of the background.
The oil work “Decision” depicts two women sitting at a table, about to make a decision, who seem to have indifferent faces, but their horizontally stretched lips and crossed fingers express tension, while their button-like eyes suggest a feeling of hope. This hope is significant to all of Batiashvili’s people.
They all are sad, strained and sometimes seem to be grieving from loneliness, but a glimpse of hope is always there in their black, dot-like eyes.
Colors that the artist used are a contrast of pastels and darks. She used khaki, brown, mat blue, yellow and green, and the pictures almost always have unexpected angles.
“I want to change something in my style,” she said. “I am in need of new inspirations and new shapes. I am stuck in this particular way of painting.” Earlier works are comprised more of bright and intensive colors.
Though her main interest is pictorial arts, she experiments in almost every genre.
Batiashvili works in installations, video art, photography and graphic design. In the last two years, she also discovered ink.
“Technically it is very easy to draw with ink, but I put a huge effort to show emotions I want to express,” she said. “This is the main challenge in graphics.” Shapes of graphical people are like the paintings and are as a kind of new, minimalism interpretation of the canvases.
The big screen on the terrace shows an animation film based on the artist’s works. Night time is the right time to see the film on outdoor screen.
Almost all Batiashvili’s works are exhibited in Lithuania, but since April 9, the collection has traveled from town to town around the country. The idea to exhibit modern Georgian artist in Lithuania came after Pirosmani’s successful exposition in Vilnius.
Batiashvili’s work will be on display until February 2010.
“I cannot find the reason, but Lithuanians often talk about similarities between me and Pirosmani, which annoys me a lot,” she said, but is pleased that her works gained such success in the Baltic state.

Anna Chichinadze
24.07.2009

Knolevi – Village of Constant Stress

We won’t be responsible if anything happens to you there, we recommend staying and seeing the rest of the village,” said Georgian soldiers to an International Rescue Committee representative, who was attempting to cross the conditional line dividing the village Knolevi into two parts – the buffer zone and another smaller district known as the hot zone. The two border a line on a road, including a piece of inhabited ground that separates Georgian and Ossetian checkpoints from each other.
Another Ossetian military post lies up in the hills, can observe the entire gorge.
“Ossetians shoot almost every day, whenever they want. For example, yesterday they had been shooting around five minutes, it was into the air, but anyway, it is terrifying to listen even if you know they don’t shoot at you,” said Eliso Maisuradze, a village resident. Another woman, short and very thin, with a wrinkled rather nervous face, said that Ossetian soldiers react to her every single word or abrupt move; they considerate unacceptable and immediately shoot.
She lives close to the woods, and as she says, her activities in her backyard have been never left noticed by the soldiers. She is not alone with that feeling, almost all 32 families living in Knolevi, express the same feeling of ominous presence. As if “Big Brother” is always watching them. Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia lies in no more than 35 kilometers from Knolevi.
That feeling of fear and constant stress made doctors reason that the villagers suffer from massive high blood pressure.
Manana Amonashvili, a program manager at International Rescue Committee remembers one of the last visits there in the Buffer zone villages, when she brought doctors to examine the people.
“Two doctors spent the whole day examining people and they both were surprised with the results at the end of the day – the majority of the population suffer from high pressure, they concluded it was as a result of war and recent life under the permanent stress,” she claimed and added that the primary, urgent need of the population is to have long-term professional psychological aid, “Furthermore, it is obvious that a large number of somatic disease are caused by the stresses.”



Amonashvili is leading protection monitoring program throughout the twenty five buffer zone villages, which began from January 2009. She spends five or seven days in the villages and knows almost everyone by name, their problems and struggles.
The International Rescue Committee launched its emergency work in Georgia when the August War began between Georgia and Russia. From 2009, the Committee spread its long-term program into twenty five buffer zone villages, monitoring human conditions and supporting them with special references to different governmental and international organizations to provide them with needed health or any other kind of care. Being founded (1933) by the suggestion of Albert Einstein, to assist Germans suffering under Hitler, now the International Rescue Committee is on the ground in forty two countries providing emergency relief, relocating refugees and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster.
“In case of urgent needs we also have a modest budget to deliver some aids to some individuals,” the program manager says. She has set local volunteer network that helps them to be informed and cover all twenty five villages at the same level.
Knolevi inhabitants conveyed they feel abandoned by everyone. After the war, all 32 families returned back to their houses, some of them found their homes burnt. They receive governmental aid, about 24 – 30 GEL per person; also they receive free monthly food products and some of them get aid for children. They also have free medical service and medicines. Listening to them, one can only guess that they are in an informational vacuum and are not fully aware of their rights and aids due to them.
“We have heard that head of our municipality has changed, but this new one is originally from the lower village and he doesn’t want to arrive here, neither he nor his representatives,” said one of the gathered women, hoping to learn some useful news from us.
Manana Amonashvili is concerned about the medical service system, “Almost all kinds of services are free of charge for victims of war, but the fact is that the Minister of Health and Social Care releases the order for free medical service just for one month, after each month he produces the document again for one more month. Sometimes the process impedes the services and doctors have to wait for the new resolution and at the end of the day patients suffer from it, especially when one needs emergency surgery.”
She has to repeat to the people about their rights over and over. But the way to the regional center is long, and one singular procedure needs two or more visits to the center, which is problematic for them.
Delivered aid is clearly not enough, particularly when people have been cut from their fields. Eliso Maisuradze showed their fields, which goes up to the hills – now the territory is controlled by Ossetians.
“We have left just small gardens closer to home and we cultivate them to get some vegetables and fruits, while we had a good piece of land and we usually lived with it,” she told.
Olena Petsun, adviser at Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs at European Council and Sabrina Burchler, Human Rights Adviser at European Council Georgian office, studied the situation and listened to these and some other stories in Knolevi. They have planned to include these hardships in the next report, which they are about to release. Insecurity and poverty are issues they plan to emphasize.
Amonashvili from the International Rescue Committee, on her way, marked infants of the village as feasible bodies for the next feasible support delivered to the village. Fortunately, all three children had no vitally important needs to solve. This time.
Anna Chichinadze
12.06.2009

I'd like to share some photos taken by me in village Knolevi, I visited today, Saturday June 6. Knolevi is the last buffer zone village to South Ossetian conditional boarder created after the August war between Georgia and Russia in 2008. My report about the village for "Georgia Today" is coming soon, t-x

Grand pa from Knolevi

A girl (my favorite shot from Knolevi)

Knolevi village women

"Kitchen," as the family has been left without house, they have no place of the kitchen in their newly built shelters

house burnt during the August war

white "house" at the end of the road is Ossetyan check-point

The article below is not a culture piece (as i used to have them before), but I'm keen on covering social issues as well, so I'm presenting one of them. I'd like to have your comments on it. t-x :)

No Place for Street Children, but the Street

June 1 is Children’s Defense Day

June 1st, International Children Defense Day is one of those rare celebrations, when Georgian society nationally expresses charity for socially unprotected children. 2009 went without exception – taking children to zoo, parks, cafйs, presenting them with gifts.
However, the main point of the day was defense, and expressing through entertainment programs, protection of Children’s right on leisure.
Entertainment and leisure is one of the rights all children should have, but there are some more vital rights that every state and civil society should provide.
The main problem that the Georgian Public Defender office cites is related to street children.
“In almost every field referring to children and youth, the state leads some reforms and we move forward, except street children. There is not even one single long-term project designed specially for street children,” said Meriko Maghlaferidze, children affairs officer at Georgian Ombudsman office who also mentioned that eventually, these kinds of children are inclined to violence and crime.
A program launched in 2005, provided rehabilitation houses for street children. The project has been funded by Georgian NGO “Child and Environment,” who consists of five rehabilitation centers for vulnerable children throughout the whole country. Each of the houses is capable of receiving around fifty children per day.
However all of them are day-centers and only one “Begurebi” keeps about 20 children per night.
“Child and Environment” has donors and international organizations that help, but according to its director Nana Iashvili, after the last project, USAID has strongly recommended to find alternative sources of financing. Indeed they’ve gained state financing, (it funds five lari per day, per child), but without one exceptional service – a mobile group working on the ground.
“We received refusal from the Ministry of Health and Social Care, who reasoned the specifics of this service, but it is vital in determining the existence our houses,” Iashvili said.
Working on the ground, in the streets is the basic and most important part in taking care of street children.
“Our social workers meet children, gain their confidence and convince them to come to the rehabilitation centers, it is very hard, particular and decisive step when working in this sphere; I don’t really know how we work so far,” said the director.
Specifics of the program are that after they first come to the centers, children spend the whole day, having two meals and different classes, including a school preparation program, working on enamel, singing and some others. If someone doesn’t take the child on their first visit, it is a small chance that the child will get there on their own. Iashvili has decided to address donors or charity organization for help.
Though Nana Robakidze, head of the “Begurebi” rehabilitation house remembers several examples of getting the street children back into society, finding jobs and normal life, the program still has gaps regarding the deliverance of children from the street.
Teona Aslanishvili from international NGO “Save the Children” refers to the unreliable service of day-centers, when talking about the absence of concrete state programs to aid street children. Under the program she is managing Rebuilding Lives Project, “Save the Children” together with UNICEF and USAID has done a research project counting and registering street children in four main cities of Georgia including Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi and Gori. The research showed that in 2007 children listed in urban areas counted 1,600, most of them being boys aged 5-14 years old.
Aslanishvili claims on having no general state policy over these issues. Indeed, the Social Service Agency under Georgian Ministry of Health and Social Care doesn’t include a program connected to vulnerable children.
“We have programs for socially unprotected families, and children are obviously included there,” said Eka Alavidze, representative of the agency.
Aslanishvili of “Save the Children” accents on the fact that prevention of children from street in their early years of being in the street is much more effective than any other services given later.
“More time child spends in the street, the more difficult it is to get him back to normal life,” said the Rebuilding Lives Project Manager. She also emphasizes that creating mobile groups working in the streets will be much more effective than any other step.
Another problem Aslanishvili mentions is system protecting children from family abuse. She intends creating social network including teacher, police, psychologists and some other structures to defend child from problems at home.
“If a child comes to school beaten, or muddy, doesn’t prepare lessons, that may be because of dramatic situations in the family, and it needs adequate and timely reaction,” said Aslanishvili.
Alongside with the street children issue, UNICEF representative in Georgia Ciovanna Barberis presents a list of concerns the organization has towards the state. Infant mortality, nutrition and poor pre-school education.
According to UNICEF’s research, the infant mortality rate goes up to 31% per year, when the state shows about 14.1% of the same findings.
Barberis mentions two kinds of problems there, including giving birth at home in rural areas, instead of maternity houses (mainly she highlighted national minorities who have that tradition) and furthermore, sometimes people face low professional qualifications and access to health care representatives.
The same reasons cause low attendance of children in pre-school educational centers.
“There is a huge difference in rates comparing urban and rural population in terms of giving children pre-school education, in villages, people think they do best for their children keeping them at home,” said the UNICEF representative. Research shows that only 40-41% of the children attend kindergartens. Also she mentions poor equipment of schools with needed materials.
According to the UNICEF findings, about 11% of children of the population have been observed in stunting tendencies, when about 22% suffer from obesity. Barberis notes about lack of proteins and vitamins delivered to children.
“Though, there are strong capacities to solve problems fast, things are slowing down and they don’t go the pace we’d like to see,” she concludes. UNICEF’s full report about the children’s conditions will be issued in a couple of months.
Information to know, an orphan having neither mother nor father regardless the work abilities of the trustee receive only Gel 22 monthly state aid. Children with disabilities under the age eighteen receive Gel 22 as well. Families having children less than 18 years, in the amount of seven or more receive Gel 35 monthly aid.
Anna Chichinadze
5.06.2009

Romantic German Painter From Sayatnova Street

Contemporary Art Mixed by Hans Heiner Buhr

Sayatnova Street is one of the smallest streets in Old Sololaki district, where among the sinuous and extremely narrow streets you won’t be able to find Sayatnova easily or maybe never find. That’s the place where Hans Heiner Buhr lives. Very old wooden stairs go up to the house and a studio where the painter works. Hans Heiner Buhr is a painter. But this one word seems not enough to express all the diversity neither of his art nor his whole activities he is fond of doing.
The first Painting he shows is “Mother of Georgia” from his earlier works. He laughs a lot when remembers the first reaction of the Georgian who saw it on the exhibit. He shows me the real “Mother of Georgia” from the window of the studio “Are they alike?” he asks. It’s impossible to keep off laughing. Actually the painting shows an old woman sitting in the chair and two beardy men with guns are standing on the background of her. Their faces are stern, ruthless and they look like robbers. It is exactly what the painter wanted to express. It was Georgia perceived from his eye – eyes of a German man who came from Europe and find out a world of his childhood dreams. “All my childhood I played in robbery and pretended to be a thief or robber who lives wildly in the mountains and my dreams almost came true, I’d never imagine it,” remembers Buhr his first impressions about Georgia that actually last long, until this days.

“In 1996 I got a job as a German language teacher abroad. When people from the office asked me where I wanted to go I said South America. After some time they found me a workplace in Rustavi, Georgia. Of cause I’d heard about Georgia. I’m from East Germany, from East Berlin and I’ve studied eastern art and Russian language. I had some Russian friends and they used to talk much about Georgia and its beauty. When they heard about a chance I had, they advised not to miss the chance to explore a nice country and an opportunity to paint beautiful pictures,” Hans remembers. He arrived in Rustavi and probably astonished. He opened a completely bizarre country that he has never seen or heard.
Besides the extreme poverty, he saw a very strange, completely different transformation process of Georgia from socialism to capitalism apart different from the same transformation his home part of Germany, eastern Germany had been passing. “You had nobody, to advice what to do, Georgians had to learn themselves, I remember that time when Georgian women began their business, opened shops in Rustavi, when man used to spend time playing cards. Women were responsible on the family.” His “Mother of Georgia,” was an echo for that period when robbery and killing people had been considered as an ordinary thing in Georgia.

After seeing all this troubles and horrors in Georgia and still didn’t fled from the country, is makes clear how the romantic German painter felt in love with poor and dangerous but beautiful Georgia.
He stayed three years in Rustavi, using that period in traveling all over the country. Especially he was impressed with the mountains of east Georgia. Then he got married and has been living here about 13 years already having Georgian wife and three children, talking Georgian and German but looking like Germans. Now he is 43, tall and blond having greenish-bluish eyes and strong German accent.
“I stayed here and didn’t know what to do. I wanted to promote myself as an artist, because I was completely apart from Berlin and galleries, cultural life and I didn’t know what was going on there. Then I came across to blogs and I understood that it was a great thing to promote my art. I realized that blog was better than just web-site, and launched my blog.”
He is very fond of internet. He does most of his works using internet and is a great promoter of it.
“Internet is a kind of medium bringing together all Caucasian artists. Caucasus and Georgia had no lobby for a long time, nobody was interested in this country, but there are really good artists here, and foreign artist got interested what’s going on here, in Caucasian phenomena, its romantic character. There came an idea to create art club Caucasus, where we have gathered different artists from all over the world, including Georgian artists living abroad. That is not just only bringing them together but promotes them, we have their works on the site and viewer can see and buy them or contact with authors,“ Buhr says. The blog artclubcaucasus.blogspot.com is the place of one big gathering of the artists from Caucasus and people fond of the region with different styles, tastes and ways of expression.
The style of Hans Buhr is very eclectic, mix of painting, textile, photos, Photoshop and some more things and he merges them together with different techniques and methods. The style changes a lot. The latest idea he is obsesses is doing photo collages using silver paper as a background of the picture.
“Only problem that I faced was that my creations were only in computer and not in the paper, but I have found a way out of it, I found a special material, it is cheap and even if something pours on it, it doesn’t spoils and you can easily wash it. And people who like the picture can buy it, not just having in computer,” he even uses to paint with brush on the surface of the ready collage and create some different image of the picture.
Neighbor’s ordinary luxurious Mercedes treated in photoshop looks completely different and even it is hard to guess where the photo ends and painting begins, but there is no painting at all and that’s the whole charm of his works. They are very contemporary, very close to the reality but wrapped in a very romantic cover. Tin Solders are his other fascination. Black and Golden old soviet soldiers look very modern but giving the remembrance of old times as well.
In spite of his good skills in promotion, business, management and scheduling are words he doesn’t like. He performs his love to the traveling into a small business plus pleasure and enjoys it every summer. “I always try to take small groups to travel, because I don’t want to have real big business and I want to keep beauty in my business. Don’t want to become a manager and to sit on a table and write emails and manage the guests arrival. I can get more money to put 20 Americans in one big buss and bring them to kakheti and other places, but tourists and me, we are all much more satisfied when the group consists of two or three people, maximum 6.” His guests are mostly German, Austrian and Swiss tourists and the way he they connect with each other is again his invariable friend and partner – internet.
Hans has a good collection of paintings, Dutch and modern Georgian artists, who are his friends as well and is proud of his collection, the collection also consists of photos Stalin and big variety of maps exposed in the studio. His owns exposition intends to hold in October. Buhr has an amazing idea of the exhibit, but let live it as a surprise for the amateurs of the modern art.
Anna Chichinadze
http://www.georgiatoday.ge/article_details.php?id=6639&cat=Culture&version=455

Michael Kenna in Tbilisi

Photography Exhibit Brings Originality to Landscapes
The atmosphere is mystic and calm. Trees are rustling quietly, and the seas are soft. Total silence is the main spirit in Michael Kenna’s landscapes. They that are all black and white, and taken mostly after midnight.
Michael Kenna, a world-acclaimed British photographer, visited Tbilisi last week to open his first exhibit in Georgia. The name of the exhibit is “French Landscapes,” and all the photos are taken in France – Kenna’s favorite country to work.
Kenna, born in Ireland, finds his only interest in landscapes, and photographs them all around the world. He said that he was greatly impressed with France 30 years ago, and since that time he photographs it more frequently than any other place in the world. That said, he still travels much and has worked in many countries, such as Japan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, USA, and Canada.
“Last time, I was interested in Japan, particularly its North Part. I’ve worked there in winter and everything around is white, it’s very impressive. Looks like England and I love it,” says Kenna. He never visits a country once; his style of working is to return back in the same place and discover new things and new angles to shoot.
The project has been organized by the Tbilisi House of Photography, in partnership with The Georgian National Museum and the Alexander Dumas French Culture Centre.

“I’m very happy that the National Museum helped us to promote this event. Photography is one of the most popular fields in art, which gathers together the biggest public. During the last ten years it became more worldwide and sometimes this period is known as a photo explosion,” said Nestan Nizharadze, the Head of Tbilisi Photography House. Before the opening of the exhibit, she took Kenna and his French agent to the Kazbegi mountains, and the photographer said he was impressed by the landscapes and he would be glad to come back and work on Georgian mountain prints more carefully. The most important feature in his personality is that he mostly works in the dark, after midnight, and spends around eight hours setting the composition for one shooting.
“People always ask, how can I do it, to wait eight hours until the particular shadows or lights appear in the nature, but I think it is a luxury for me, in this time I look at the sky, at stars, I feel the atmosphere and I’m really very happy of it,” Kenna said.
He also said, “though sometimes I try to make some experiment and photograph models, my main interest is landscapes, and I’m never bored of it. Everything in the world has already been photographed, but the art is to find something new in everything already known, and I try to do it.” He tries it, and the result is in front of us. The prints are very close to the painting, every detail is accounted, and even the smallest shade has been shot only because the artist decided it was worthy to have. The viewer can feel that everything, all the nature, is under the author’s control. You feel that the only human being around is the photographer himself, the only person awake in the middle of the night, between the minutes of the dark and the sunrise.
Guram Tsibakhashvili, famous Georgian photographer and one of the initiators of the exhibition, said, “He is a very interesting photographer. That is the main reason we chose him for the exhibit. Not many photographers are left working in the classic style. His photos are like meditation, actually he meditates. He works about eight hours on shooting a single photo, and it means he is meditating. I hope that he’ll take photos in Georgia and his collections will be enriched with Georgian landscapes.”
The exhibit was held in Tbilisi Karvasla Museum and attended by lots of people. It was not easy to reach the photos and to look at them in the time you need to observe. That’s why interior designer Guga Kotetishvili said, “I liked the exhibit very much, and I want to come again, to view the photos more carefully. The Photographer is very professional, so I’m very glad to be here.”
One of the photos paid homage to Henry Cartie-Bresson, prominent Photographer of the early 20th century. Kenna feels him as his own teacher. “Of cause he is absolute master, I’m absolutely impressed, it’s impossible not to be. He is a phenomenal artist. I often look at different masters’ works and I take some ideas for myself. I’ve found many interesting things in his photos; I try to acknowledge them. That is why I wrote a homage to HCB. Cartie-Bresson is fantastic,” says Kenna.
Prints presented on the exhibit belonged to different periods of the artist’s works. Some of them were from eighties, and the newest pieces were taken in 2007.
“He is great, this man knows all the methods of how to take good landscape photos. He keeps attention on geometric objects, he is very careful observing and using air, lights and the maximum possible details of the landscape where he works. Yes, I love these landscapes, and I’m delighted,” said Aleksandre Bagration-Davidoff, a young photographer.
Kenna, who had been giving signatures and talking with Georgians, said he didn’t expect the warm emotions he has received from the Georgian people.
Over the next days of the exhibit, he will travel in the Black Sea coast and shoot experimental photos there, to see then and come back again.
The day before the exhibit in the Karvasla museum, he held a workshop in the Georgian National Museum hall. He showed about 150 prints to the auditorium and talked about his techniques and stories about some particular photos.
Michael Kenna is the author of about 30 books. Most of them are thematically arranged. He is the author of books about Japan, power stations, steel works, and all kinds of landscapes, beginning with the pastoral and rural landscapes.
“I have a whole book about my daughter’s kindergarten,” he said.
Kenna has been exhibited in almost every famous museum and gallery, and has about seven exhibits a month all around the world. The French Landscapes will be presented in the Karvasla Museum until December 20.
Anna Chichinadze
5.12.2008
http://www.museum.ge/web_page/dijest.php?id=82

New Batik Creations from Katie Nikolaishvili

Intense colors of purple, red, blue and lilac, in natural silk tissues, combine almost all the colors of the palette, in a technique that seems as though the canvas has been applied to, with many little accents of tissues and accessories. This mirage is the result of refined taste and individual technique of the artist; Katie Nikolaishvili.
Landscapes, different compositions, flowers and even portraits created with the technique of batik, were exhibited in Shardeni Street Gallery “Baia”, last weekend. It was twenty-four year old, Katie Nikolaishvili’s second personal exhibition. “I’ve taken part in many group exhibitions, the last time it was in Germany some months ago, but I try to hold personal ones annually as well,” says young artist. Slim and tiny, she seemed happy and a little bit nervous at the opening of her exhibit. Her crisp appearance, a white blouse and a kind of unique creation, makes one imagine how accurately, and with attention she has worked on the tissues. “I do outline spontaneously, I never know ahead what will come out from it, but then when the graphical picture is ready I work on colors and it takes a lot of time,” Katie says. She graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Art and has a diploma in Textile Design. She has worked on Gobelin as well, but as of late she prefers Batik on silk.
She never knows how long one creation will take before its ready. Most of her time is spent working on processing the tissue and the paints on it. “When I make things like scarves or cushion covers or other things that need to be washed, I try hard to make them water resist, but decorative works doesn’t need so much trouble,” the artist explains. Not because of less trouble, but because she felt so, Katie decided to create just decorative batik pictures for this year’s exhibit.
The forty-two textiles have not one creative line or common theme. The painter created them throughout the year, randomly, and not specially for that event. That is why all the works are different, and every piece of textile needs its own special attention and observation. If you look closely enough, you can find some themes in the pieces Katie has worked on during the year. One of them; compositions made of tea-pots and glasses for tea. Their colors and ornaments are like old fashioned, traditional Russian kettles. Impressive yellow, light-red and light-brown colors evoke the feeling of old kitchen, sitting around a table, having a tea and delicious biscuits. There are also a line of flowers on the pots and landscapes. The well-known Georgian painter and cartoonist, Zaal Sulakauri, who also attended the opening, has been enchanted with the landscapes. He even thought to try Batik himself, a technique he hadn’t used yet. “I’ve never worked in Batik but after seeing these pictures, I really think of it now. I especially liked some of them because, I feel an inspiration from my favorite artist, Gustav Klimt, and that’s fine. Also I like the compositions of the picture, they show that the author is professional painter and good at her work,” Sulakauri said. He even proposed Nikolaishvili’s future cooperation, and asked if she would be interested in teaching batik for children in the art-studio, which he owns. It appeared teaching was in Katie’s interests as well.

Anna Chichinadze
3.04.2009

MY Article About Dito Saralidze, Yoga and some more

Yoga Classes by Sri Chinmoy Follower

Jharna-kala, in one of Tbilisi’s narrow and old streets is a place where everyone can visit and get some more about yoga philosophy or just relax and talk to the owner Dito Saralidze.
Jharna-kala in Bengali means “fountain-art” and it is the name that Sri Chinmoy Indian Spiritual teacher and philosopher gave to his artwork. “The name Jharna-kala reflects the spontaneous fountain of creativity he experienced through meditation, expressed and revealed through an extraordinary output of paintings in a wide array of media and forms,” is written in the Chinmoy web-site. Dito Saralidze 31, is the follower of the man that had many other occupations and talents during his lifetime.
Sri Chinmoy born in 1931 in East Bengal, now Bangladesh, became a well-known spiritual teacher all around the world. According to his followers Sri Chinmoy wrote 1,500 books, 115, 000 poems and 20, 000 songs, crafted 200, 000 paintings and gave almost 800 peace concerts. During the concert he usually played 10-15 different instruments, though people say he could play up to 150 musical instruments. “And all that was the merit of his spiritual life, no one without great power of heart and soul can do the same,” says Dito about his master. The Chinmoy theory, about the heart power, is the theory which first intrigued Dito and encouraged him to spread the heart yoga theory among the people generally interesting with yoga.
“The power of a human being is in his soul and the place of the soul in a human heart, that’s why the power of heart is greater than the power of mind. All the possibilities we have, are thanks to the soul and mind and cleaning and stimulating the soul helps us to do everything we want, as Sri Chinmoy did fantastic things during his lifetime that at one sight is impossible for one man to do,” told Saralidze to the people who gathered at his place, what he calls Jharna-kala and is the room where twice a week he opens a door for everyone who wants to learn more about yoga. The walls are covered with paintings from Sri Chinmoy most of them are birds, as the master used to paint birds as a symbol of freedom. The room is in white, and the floor covered with carpets. Candle is lightning and the music performed by Sri Chinmoy is on.
The music was the first reason that Dito met with his future master. He attended the concert that Chinmoy held in January 2007 in Varna, Bulgaria and Dito being in a stressed state of soul decided to go there. For that time he knew nothing about that man. His Ukrainian friend whom he called in that tough period of life advised him to go in Chinmoy concert together and they went. “After the concert I felt unspeakable, indescribable, I felt my body easier than feathering and I don’t remember how I appeared in my hotel. But then I sobered and went back to the concert hall. I wanted to meet him, but he appeared busy. I sent him letters, asked to his people to arrange me audience and at last he let me in. We talked a lot, he explained me his meditation and so I became his follower,” remembers Dito that period of time. Soon they met in Saint-Petersburg, Russia and the new follower studied much about meditation from his master.
Before Saralidze met Sri Chinmoy he was fond of Yoga for seven years or more. “I loved to read Greek philosophers, but once I found a book of a Polish author about yoga and I was addicted to it. I began to search for yoga books and I bought enormous amount of them. At the same time I tried to find a master but there was no one in Tbilisi at that time, it was around 2000. Later an Indian master arrived in Tbilisi and he taught me Hatha yoga. When he left, I went on practicing it on my own,” says Dito. In 2005, he took a part in a reality-show “Geo Bar,” and lived about three months rounded up with cameras. He couldn’t meditate there. He didn’t win and when he tried to return back to his old life faced terrible stresses and disorders in him. Even Hatha yoga didn’t help him. That was the time when Sri Chinmoy came in his life.
“What I like in Chinmoy is that he dismisses all kind of body activities to reach the highness of your soul. It is not mind, but soul concentrated and, as the soul is everything in human being so the energy comes from heart to mind and not contrary. With the meditation of Chinmoy way, sitting putting hands together and silencing your soul and your mind is getting calmer and when the heart and mind are calmed down, then the furtive talents can come out from your inner world and you can do the best things in the world,” says Dito, sitting in the same order he explained.
Principles of meditation, he explains, are very simple. Silence and concentration on positive things a nice garden, rainbow and beautiful flowers, to imagine in your heart and visualization — are the main tips he gives to the people gathered in his room. Later one can do it at home in an appropriate place for meditation or everyone can come again and again at his place always welcome to get guests. “It’s my second time here but I can feel nothing important for now, I have serious stresses in my life and I will go on practicing here,” says forty-three year old Marina Mkhitariani. Another man Soso Phavlenishvili, appeared to search phenomenon in him, he wishes to reach perfection.
After discovering the new method of mediation, Dito says he found himself calmer and happier than ever. Sri Chinmoy died in October 2007, a month before Dito and his friends planned to hold his concert in Tbilisi. Later he made an exhibition of Chinmoys paintings and a year later he arranged a screening of his master’s some of the best concerts in Film House.
http://georgiatoday.ge/article_details.php?id=6384&cat=Culture&version=448
Anna Chichinadze
27.02.2009

A Newspaper Worth to Read

http://georgiatoday.ge/

My article about Ralph Haelbig

Caucasian Blogspot by German Ralph Halbig

Georgien.blogspot.com is the place where artists – musicians, painters, photographers gather and are able to share and discover eachothers work.
The artists don’t gather here randomly, all of them are Caucasians. The only foreigner here is the creator and author of the Blog,German Ralph Hдlbig, mostly known as just Rapho – a nick name that his Georgian friends gave him, adding to his real name a bit Caucasian dialect.
His story of achievment in the Caucasus began in the late 80’s. Once when climbing near his hometown Dresden, friends told him about the Caucasian Mountains. From that time he started to research the region. Everything begins with an amazing love-story in Berlin,but also with many harships in the relationship with his Georgian love. “We discovered the differences in our own mentality and traditional education. We had conflicts in our young life. And these differences are nevertheless very interesting for me. The caucasian culture is for me a private contact with my deeper mirror image of myself. In Georgia I could discover more about myself than in Germany. And besides I have learnt to respect my own roots more and my own daily culture. Now I would like to use the discrepancies of different cultural conditions for building a bridge between different cultures. I know Georgia and Armenia are very early christian cultures but the influences of the persian and asian cultures are more present than in Europe. Therefore we have to understand and learn more about each other. This abstract idea was the main-subject to open my blog five years ago,” remembers Ralph his first steps as a blogger for Caucasus.
First he asked friends for contacts, for links of different interesting sites to pubish on his blog and then connections and relations came step by step, in this regard, Ralph’s communicative character played it’s biggest role. “I got in touch with more and more people all over the world in the internet the most with Caucasian roots. In the virtual world I am well-known. I am very glad about the many caucasian and foreign people in the world who have been writing me and thanking me for my collections of news and caucasian stuff in my blog. Five years ago there was a small blog community in the Caucasus. Mostly by foreigners. Now the situation has changed and I hope more young people are interested in building a serious community. Not only in the internet and in networking. I hope the young generation can find a real development of their own culture,” says Ralph.
Among others, Ralph’s favorite hobby is photography. His Blog permanetly broadcasts collections of different Caucasian Photographers. The recent session belongs to Natalia Mali, A photographer from Dagestan Republic. His own photo sessions are all about Caucasus and one of his future plansis to hold an exhibit together with South Caucasian photographers,the topic is of course Caucasus. Another important segment on his blog is Georgian music. “My first serious contact with the georgian folk music was the documentary of my friend Ruth Olshan. Her film “Like Air To Breath” about the georgian music and dance was very impressive for me. This film completed my thinking about Georgian culture. Suddenly I felt the timeless energy and the strange emotions of the Georgian culture. I learned through experience also during my travels together with Tutarchela, what is the deeper sense of the caucasian mentality. In contrast to european culture I could relive an important ground of human being. The music, the dance and sometimes also the supra can bring different people realy together. But for the very typical europeans, that c an be ery difficult to understand,” explaines Hдlbig. “And I haven’t realy a favorite Georgian song. It depends on my mood. Last summer there was an impressive funeral song from Tamar Buadze (Tutarchela on the Tour) in Europe dedicated tomurdered people in the war. Now I often listen to the song “Kvira” by Sopho Aslanishvili. And one of my favourite singers are Hamlet Gonashvili.”
Being fond of Georgian and South Caucasian culture, besides blog activities, Hдlbig does most from internet as well. He has organized many small-budget events together with Georgiansin Germany. “I tried to popuarlizethe culture of Caucasus in Germany. With the aid of the Geothe-Institut and the State Department of Germany could we organize concerts in Europe for the Female Singer Chor Tutarchela from Rustavi. Four years ago I organised a georgian week “Kartuli Suli” together with my friend Knut GeiЯler in Leipzig with support of different cultural foundations in Saxonia. Different artists only from Georgia could come to the small Theatre Festival “OFF Europa” in Leipzig. And last year I invited in the same Festival the curator Nini Palavandishvili. We organized short-dated together with young artists from Georgia and the support from rusiko Oats New Art Gallery a non-budget exhibition with the works of georgian artists in two galleries in Leipzig.”
Ralph’s future plans are many and diversive but traditionally connected to Georgian and South Caucasus. “I want to present our artifical documantary about the archaeological travel from Jцrg Herold in all three South Caucasian countries. Now exhibitions about this project run in Berlin in the gallery Eigen+Art. And also I want to start some film projects with the SchmidtFilm Production from Leipzig. Friends from the EuroKauKasia Society would like to support the history of Germans living in Caucasian area like Bolnisi.”
Ralph thinks about travel development in the region. He plans to launch travel tours for Europeansinterested in folk music traditions of Georgia. “My dream is to find a company for all such activities,” he says. At last he makes a big anouncement, that Blog needs activists — “I am looking for support for my blog. Maybe some Georgians, Armenians and aAzerbaijanians from younger or older generation like to publish their intependent articles, photos, reports, posts, potcasts, videos and much more in my blog. It is easy to do it.”
Ralph is enormously optimistic. Maybe the book he has decided to write will see the day light soon. He puts all his knowledge and experience about Georgian and South Caucasus in it and writes with the great love forthis region, that is most significant for his life and maybe meaningful for Caucasus.

http://www.georgiatoday.ge/article_details.php?id=6424&cat=Culture&version=449

my welcoming note

Hello Guests,

I'm Anna Chichinadze, I write a lot in English, they are mainly articles for the English-language nespaper "Georgia Today." I want to show you some of my works. Let us see you like them or not. Please, share your point of view, they're very useful for me. Every idea are welcomed here.
My special thanks to Hans Heiner Buhr, who convinced me to have my own blog.

sincerely yours,

Anna aka Anni Chichinadze