On October 2, Thursday Our history teacher Levan Ghambashidze took us, his students, to Garikula Art Villa. The main reason we were very thankful and excited was that we would see each other for the first time this year. Garikula Art Villa consists of a beautiful tower that has only two floors.
There’s a vast free space of field around it where some of the art pieces are scattered. A few of them are of artists, but some of the regular people. The place seemed very strange and mysterious, and I had the feeling that it was separated from the rest of the world. It is not only me who felt like this place was special in some way, but artist Karaman Kutateladze, the creator of Garikula Art Villa, also says: “When people come here, some of them tell me they feel like they are in a dadaism world while others say they feel like they are in their childhood unconscious.”
As Kutateladze explained to us, Garikula Art Villa is an exhibition space, a modern art center for meetings with local and international artists. It offers residencies, short trips, as well as a place for workshops. When we arrived there, Mr. Kutateladze told us about the place and its history.
One of the reasons why I was charmed with the residence was its long and interesting history. It had changed its core purpose multiple times. The headquarters of Garikula was constructed in 1885 by Polish engineer Vasil Borgarsky as his summer residence. Then
his daughter married Russian literary critic Belinsky and the tower became Bolgarski Belinsky Citadel. Then after the Soviet revolution, the citadel served as the army base, pioneer camp, and then as an orphanage. While looking at the residence I imagined the orphans who ran in and out of the house. And now, so much time has passed and it is a modern art center.
“The artist group involved in Garikula shared a dream: to create in Akhalkalaki - a self-sustaining functioning infrastructure of contemporary art, an art village gathering the people of fine arts and passions to create a universal instrument of understanding, perception of the world, and balance through elegance. Everyone who believes that cultural development is important and is open to creativity is invited to participate in meetings, workshops, and festivals of art to gain international scope; the residency project invites people to witness Georgian esthetics of gardening and agriculture, environment history, and art,” says Kutateladze. What I liked about this place the most was that it is open for everyone to leave their work of art.
As the creator of this place Karaman Kutateladze says, artists from different places can stay in the residence where they can live, work and exchange their ideas and experiences: “last year 50 people lived in the residence.” I was interested if other students were amazed like me and asked a few of them what they liked about Garikula Art Villa and about this trip in general. “The thing that I liked the most was the mindset of people working there. They were so free, somehow torn off the materialistic world and were heightened spiritually”, said one of them. “I liked the space and nature there. Especially, the room with meaningful writings about the art pieces especially”, said the other.
“I liked the idea of this Art Villa the most. The fact that this man [Mr. Kutateladze] came and settled here with his friends and they make so much positive impact. They have workshops too and he made this place a free space for artists. I liked the way they perceive art, that they have no limitations. There is a very free and pleasant environment”, commented one of my friends. As Kutateladze told us, anyone can volunteer there, so my suggestion would be to go there with your friends or family as volunteers, leave your work and enjoy the place!
Edited by: Liza Jariashvili
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