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Open Discussion (Birzha) moderated by Giorgi Kevlishvili

24 October 2020, 4:00 pm–5:30 pm

Birzhastation

Join us for this event part of PPV (Perverting the Power Vertical: Politics and Aesthetics in the Global East) - A SSEES FRINGE Centre Seminar Series

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

FRINGE Centre

Location

Zoom

In Soviet times, when all social life was dominated by official ideology, birzha - a physical place of gathering in the neighborhood - often played the role of an informal public sphere, where not only events of daily life were discussed, but also popular political and social attitudes, tastes and new knowledge were formed. Sometimes birzhas were the only places where “common sense” could be found. In our effort to contribute to the creation of new knowledge, we will address maybe the most important question of our politics – whether we can change 30-year-long paradigm of neoliberal dictatorship. 

Throughout October PPV will be looking at 'Birzhastation' - inspired by the Georgian practice of birzha, a type of informal gathering in public space - interrogates neo-liberal ideologies of architectural transparency in the post-socialist world (and in the global “wild capitalist” reality of the 21st century). Named in a fiddly, imaginative cocktail of Georgian, Russian and  English, Birzhastation provides an archi-ethnographic exploration of the possibilities and pitfalls of fine ideas (transparency, openness, horizontality, togetherness, the commonness) in a time of an ideological crisis, amid a global rise of the new types of militarized police regimes. While in many countries of the world we are still naively enamored by architectural transparency as a metaphor of political openness and economic honesty, in Tbilisi (in part, perhaps, as a result of former President Saakashvili's failed attempt to combat police corruption and brutality by decreeing the construction all-glass police stations) people are equipped with a more cautious mindset. 

About the Speaker

Giorgi Kevlishvili

Giorgi Kevlishvili, 1971 Graduated State Academy of Arts, Tbilisi 2000. Worked as head of contemporary art studio and advisor of Rector of State Academy of Arts (2006-2009).  Since 2013 he has worked as advisor to the President of Georgia, in parliament and several ministries. One of the founder of the political movement Social-Democrats for Development of Georgia