18:00-21:00
#6 G. Tsabadze str.
The State Silk Museum will officially open on October 9, 2024, after four years of full restoration. The date is symbolic because the museum’s foundation was laid exactly 135 year ago, on the 9th of October 1889. It is one of the oldest Caucasus museums, and a unique institution which preserves and develops knowledge about the silk production in Georgia.
The International Association of Francophone Mayors, (AIMF – Association internationale des maires francophones) will support the opening event. It will give special attention to the museum’s heritage and its modern significance. AIMF, in partnership with the Tbilisi Development Fund (TDF), is co-sponsoring the restoration of the museum.
The State Silk Museum preserves and develops the historical and culture heritage of sericulture with a contemporary interpretation. The State Silk Museum will present a new exposition of historical collections, as well as thematic temporary exhibits, for the opening ceremony. This will introduce visitors to the important research project that has been carried out parallel with the museum restoration.
Program
October 9, 2024 from 18:00-21:00
The State Silk Museum reopens its doors after 4 years of full restoration. The museum will celebrate the important event in a newly renovated space, with invited guests. The Ministry of Culture will be represented by representatives of Tbilisi City Hall, Tbilisi Development Fund and Tbilisi City Hall.
19:00-19:30
– Welcome Speech of the Museum Director – Nino Kuprava;
– Speeches from invited guests.
Exhibitions – display the research-based project
Opening of the museum’s permanent historical collection
The main permanent exhibition of the museum will be open to the public. This includes, among other things, restored museum collections from 2023 Europalia International Festival, Liege, Belgium.
The central hall will temporarily display Tamuna Chabashvili’s installation “Traveling Stories” from the series “Boundaries Of Vulnerability” (2023), which was shown at the Europalia Exhibition “Silk”, together with the Museum. The work will be displayed in an adapted version and echo the silk museum’s archives and the industrial textiles in the museum’s collection of textiles.
Temporary Exhibition: Silk Chronicles – From Padua to Soviet Era
ARACNE is part of the Horizon Europe ARACNE Project
Second floor, temporary exhibit hall
The exhibition features rare infographics printed in Padua, Italy at the beginning of 20th century as well as propaganda posters from Georgia during the Soviet era of the 1950s. Visual materials from different places and times were used to educate in the field sericulture. This collection, which is being exhibited for first time, brings historical moments, design, political, and educational issues together.
“Casting an Echo : The Architecture of Sericulture
First floor, temporary exhibit hall
The digitization of glass plate negatives at the State Silk Museum was a major project that was undertaken with the help of German artist Olaf Nikolai, and curator Nina Akhvlediani. Salome Phachuashvili was the curator of museum collections and the project coordinator. The exhibition shows the digitization process and the documentation of “Seri (A),” a publication developed in parallel. The exposition contains material from the exhibition “Casting an Echo : The Architecture of Sericulture”, held at the Goethe Institute, in 2023.
“Taxonomies of power: Photographic encounters at the State Silk Museum in Tbilisi”
Curators: Alaina Claire Feldman, Mariam Shergelashvili
This exhibition, which was originally shown at the Mishkin gallery in New York, will be moved to the State Silk Museum, a newly renovated space, with the help of Alaina Feldman, director of the Mishkin gallery. The exhibition will feature the biology of the silkworm as depicted by the museum’s collection of glass plate negatives. The exhibition at the intersection between science and art will present how the museum’s collection engages with the broad themes of identity, power and cultural production using photography.
Public Events
October 10, 2024
Tours of temporary exhibits
17:30-18:30
Casting an Echo: the Architecture of Sericulture Nina Akhvlediani and Olaf Nikolai. Presenting all three Seri(a) editions.
“Taxonomies of power: Photographic encounters at the State Silk Museum in Tbilisi”
Curators: Alaina Claire Feldman, Mariam Shergelashvili – book presentation
Project in Focus
18:30-19:30
“Texts as cultural treasures”
The US Embassy in Georgia has supported a library project.
Curators: Lydia Matthews, Nino (Chuka) Kuprava, Mariam Shergelashvili;
Participating artists – Nino Kvrivishvili (Nino Goderidze), Mariam Zaaldastanishvili (Nino Goderidze), Stacey Steers, John Romano, Mary Tsiongas, Jim Roeber and GE Patterson.
19:30-20:30
Presentation of the architectural design project
Nino Tchachkhiani is the architect and author of the restoration.
Visit the museum website for more information: www.silkmuseum.ge
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