Mzia Chikhradze,Ketevan (Keti) Shavgulidze,Mariam Shergelashvili

“Double Agents”

„Cross the border, close the gap“¹

Resume

To analyze and evaluate the contemporary Georgian art processes it is essential to study the art of Georgian emigrant artists and rethink their role in Georgia’s integration into the west.
The project “Integration and Identity”, funded by Fundamental Research Grant Program of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation, is focused on this topic. The study generalizes the problems of emigration and discusses the reason-result issues of integration of Georgian contemporary artists living and working in the west, on the example of the formation of their personal and artistic identity. The rope of Contemporary Georgian artists in global context of 21st century and international cultural process is significant as the recent art history of Georgia implies to rethink the post-soviet period and integrate with the western world.
Contemporary Art, Post-modernism, Emigrant Artists.
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The 1990’s was the key period of artists’ migration from Georgia to the western countries. The key motivators of this process were: economic reasons, broadening the creative or cognitive horizon, mastering the art trade, desire to integrate with modern western art space and etc. The professional career of the migrated artists is taking its hold in the west and their art becomes the part of the western art, but they are also among those who create the contemporary Georgian art. Moreover, assessment of the contemporary Georgian art will be incomplete without taking their input into account. It must be noted that in this assessment not only their creative output but their values, their attitudes, worldview and social experience are important as well.
To study the life and works of Georgian artists living abroad, a TSU scientific team created a list of the countries that host the most Georgian artists. This group also created a list of the migrant artists. Members of the team travelled to Germany, Austria, Switzerland and USA, where they met Georgian artists and got acquainted with their life and their works. These interviews and discussions became the main source of information to answer the key questions of this research: what were the reasons for leaving Georgia and in which conditions they did it, how did they get a foothold in the foreign countries, how does the process of their integration in the western society take place, what connections do they make with the local artistic forces and what connections do they retain with Georgian artistic circles, how much do they perceive their art as the part of Georgian art, how do they assess the current art processes and integration of Georgia into the world art field?
It must be noted that most of Georgian emigrant artists are located in USA (New York) and Germany (Berlin, Dusseldorf). New York and Berlin are leading cultural centers in USA and Europe respectively, where the modern art is marked with international global context. The works presented on New York art scene have their own distinct features. Firstly it is a combination of output of artists of different national background, where the concept of national art disappears, dissolves in multiple global problems and it gains only a local context. In the integrated art space of New York, the national is underlined only when it serves as a foundation for artistic problems common to the global social political or philosophical contexts. Berlin is also an internationally open space, where the destruction of the wall resulted in the flourishing Berlin art scene; a free and open space emerged, where exchange of ideas, free contacts and collaboration excludes the type of establishment that exists for example in London or New York. The experimental field developed in Berlin is characterized by conceptual openness and interest in innovations, which attracts artists and results in the high concentration of creative energy (Many artists in Berlin follow the double home concept).
In this kind of global, international world – where the stylistic imperative doesn’t exist (Arthur Danto), the art has no specifically identified face, there is no special rule to produce art and only its philosophical dimension can determine its attribution. The second specific feature of contemporary art emerges – multiplicity and diversity of postmodernism. Hence, the questions arise: where, in this postmodern or post postmodern cultural clutter can one place the role of contemporary artists who emigrated from post-Soviet Georgia; Where and how did they find their place on the western art map; How has been transformed and precipitated their absolutely divergent historical or personal experiences(that merges with the latest Georgian political, historical or social situations); How did they manage to liberate themselves from the Soviet clichés that existed in their memories or were genetically transferred to them; And has their art become the organic or original part of the western culture?
Georgian artists are firstly characterized as diverse. They radically differ not only amongst each other, but they offer different approaches, media and form creation within their own art. Nonetheless, two main themes can be pointed out: in one case, we see direct continuation of the modernist line, via the transformation of the modernist esthetics and formal side of the art, in the other case, we find completely the opposite tendency, when the historic narrative already ended and the culture has transferred into a new postmodern culture.
Diverse kaleidoscope of the migrated Georgian artists who live and work in the USA and Germany blend smoothly in the complex landscape of contemporary art. Their art crosses the space where the painting sculpture, photography, installations, cinema, video, performance, internet art and the art works, that don’t belong to any specified category, coexist. The diversity of their problems is coherent with the themes that contemporary artists struggle with. The scope of these problems is huge: the themes of gender and sexual and ethnic minorities, fluid identities, displacement, political and social problems; cultural past and place, human and nature interactions, individual duality, hidden issues of subconscious. Their visual and cultural expressed forms are plural, where replica, comment, citation, metaphor, reproduction, textual multilateralism, invented and real, illusions and reality, past and present combination result in dissolution of perception boundaries, where nothing is defined and the space is wide open for subjective reading.
National form which is alien for postmodernist culture is erased in the works of Georgian artists too. From a visual-formal perspective their art is international and global; however, experience, values, emotions, pain and even trauma are coded in their visual-artistic images linked to their territorial-historical and cultural bonds, which often defines the thematic or emotional inspirations of their art.
Most of the interviewed artists have lived abroad for years; however, they still feel as a part of the Georgian art space. The artists who migrated to Europe talk about duality, about living experiences within double mentality, the invisible „other side“ for the others, which is continuously with them and often becomes the source of inspiration. The artists seem to exist in two dimensions at the same time. Almost all of them acknowledge the impact of Georgian trace in their art, however, in their view, this is a hard to grasp, shredded, hidden context, which is just a part and not the entire. Their integrity is divided in two parts, their personality - into to I… In this context, one of the paradigm issues of postmodernism is interesting, which defines an individual not as static, fixed structure, but as an open source, the so-called open identity (R.H. Brown). “In the end, I don’t feel good neither in Georgia, nor in Germany, nor in the USA, but at the same time, I feel good everywhere” – says one of the respondents.
It is clear that a stable identity becomes fragmented, multilevel, contradictive and unlimited. It is discussed in close connection with the other, alien; it could be a different culture, people or the values. Thus, it happens the projection of others identity, which forms a new, open identity.
Assimilation of new in this multicultural world is an infinite and constant process. Self-identification orients change constantly. No permanent identity exists. In the aspect of postmodernism, it is a dynamic, heterogeneous, fragmented source, which is composed of not one but many, often contradictory identities. “I am a part of the Georgian art space, but I am also a part of the art space here”. The respondents acknowledge that completely unified, accomplished, secure and whole identity is a fantasy. The art of the respondents is a hybrid of different codes, structures and fragments that are woven from wails, citations creating a new language. In this context, it should be noted that one of the respondents talks about the “cross-breeding” of cultures. Most of them positively assess the integration process and see perspective of interesting development. It means not only borrowing fragments (such as, wrapping up your art in your Georgian identity or culture), but also a stylistic code, that represents the form of thinking or tradition. In the play of cultural codes and languages, none are given the advantage. In the art of majority, just like in a postmodernist space, where the war against any kind of a discourse is announced, two different discourses coexist and develop simultaneously: two texts, two codes, two languages, two homes…
Collaging, as the demonstration of cultural polycentrism manifests itself in the works of Georgian artists working abroad. Their works, as visual signs of specific time and environment, clearly reflect the features of postmodernism. They are understood as collage of cultural semiotic codes or as a structure of citations organized according to collage principle interplay of which creates the polyphonic semantic field. As postmodernism is defined by the coexistence of ideological and genetic contradictions, their art works reflect the eagerness to work with different medias and forms, creating complex social-conceptual images in the same way: “… I spoke about my project, where picture, space, fine arts, photography are mixed together. I also work on other projects simultaneously”.
The interviewed artists, as we have already mentioned, work with completely different media – film, photography, graphics, collage, jewelry. Their field of interest is heterogeneous and it includes practical, as well as theoretical discourse. While some of them are interested in technical experiments, design and social projects, others are interested in diverse and current topics, such as space and object interaction, communication and language issues, children problems, importance of matriarchy and others. The processes that happen within art are understood by them as absurd, chaotic, mixed, fragmented and unpredictable, but on the other hand interesting and complex: a kind of a floating condition, where nothing is well-defined. This heterogeneous and free, communication-oriented culture speaks in the language of new signs. Hybrid disciplines and the development of various approaches are very obvious. Promotion of multidisciplinary approaches and theoretical discourses, new technologies, the impact of internet, computer visualization and easy access to information on art, which, in their view, significantly changes the world vision and creates a complex system of paraphrasing, associational indications and allusions. “The tendency is so strong, that it is very hard to describe. If I explain in simple terms, in old times the art saw the experiences and feelings through one pair of eyes, now it is as if viewed by hundreds. This new art is almost like an alien. It is so abstract, I can’t explain or prove it”, says one of the artists during the interview, who sees the work on his/her own web-page as a creative process and the end product – the web page, as an art work.
It is noteworthy that some of the interviewed artists are considering to implement their plans in Georgia, they want to carry out projects, establish art platforms, hold exhibitions and teach in Georgia. It is notable, however, that the part of the artists focus on the searching process and not on specific projects, when talking about their future plans. Instead of exhibitions, they are actively talking about research projects or continuing their study. It must be noted that most of them work simultaneously on several projects. Their majority do not have a specific plan or do not plan for a long term.
When discussing Georgian artists in the postmodern paradigm, the answer of one of the respondents is of particular interest, as it clearly describes the processes in contemporary art: "I do not have specific plans, but I try to be in the process of searching, or discovering as a traveler or an archaeologist."
In postmodernism, classical labyrinths are confronted by the rhizomorphic labyrinth that gives birth to infinite values. Traveling through it resembles wandering in the infinite labyrinth of the infinite possibilities of the universe. There is no central topos that determines the movement vector. Movement, moving is the only permanent condition.
It is noteworthy that the main characteristics of postmodern culture, the decentralization, discretion, and demolition of the hierarchical structures, can be identified in the responses of Georgian artists. In terms of their art, the above-mentioned labyrinth-rhizome, or rhizomorphic labyrinth concept is important, which in its structure is based on the principles of formless space organization and anti-hierarchical principles. The principle of rhizomatic pluralism denies the existence of one axis that marks integrity. There is no section in the rhizome, which will be considered as a root or an axis for the other or be in any meta position with it. All of them equally belong to the multiplicity, which is not connected to the unity. The rhizome is heterogeneous: each dot is connected to the other in a way that they themselves are not fixed. The rhizome does not fit into boundaries, you can identify its coordinates and understand its development trajectory. “The tree is filiation, but the rhizome is alliance, uniquely alliance. The tree imposes the verb “to be,” but the fაbric of the rhizome is the conjunction, “and… and… and…” This conjunction carries enough forces to shake and uproot the verb “to be.” - Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus.

The article is written on the basis of scientific research - "Integration and Identity", funded by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation in fundamental studies, therefore, TSU research team - Mzia Chikhradze, Ketevan (Keti) Shavgulidze, Mariam Shergelashvili, Marita Sakhlukhkhishvili and Lana Karaia would like to express their gratitude to the foundation.