THEA DJORDJADZE If not Art… Art alone.

Although the Georgian-born and Berlin-based artist Thea Djordjadze works in different mediums, she is best known for her sculptures and installations. “I was trained as a painter and ended up being a sculptor,” she says, and her refined, poetic and minimalist artworks have been displayed in a number of significant art spaces and museums, including MOMA PS1 New York, Venice Biennial, Documenta, Trienalle Di Milano and many other important art scenes. 

Djordjadze’s art pieces often sit between form and anti-form are a combination of process-oriented materials, such as glass, foam, linoleum, plaster, rugs, reconfigured furniture and other stuff that find totally different and allusive contexts in her art.

MOVING FROM TBILISI TO THE WEST: HOW DO YOU REMEMBER IT? 

Very transforming. 

DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY IN A FEW WORDS. 

Open hearted, coffee addict. 

WHAT JOBS HAVE YOU DONE OTHER THAN BEING AN ARTIST? 

Do you really want me to start listing them? All I can say is that all of them later fed my art. 

WHAT’S YOUR STRONGEST MEMORY OF YOUR CHILDHOOD? 

I remember snippets but not really a full memory. 

WHAT IS A TYPICAL DAY IN YOUR LIFE? 

Never had a typical day. 

YOUR ART PIECES ARE BORN FROM YOUR INTUITION, HOW CAN YOU DESCRIBE THIS PROCESS? 

They are definitely not born out of intuition. It is really a very long process which involves ratio of objects to space as well as use of time as a tool and pressure mechanism. 

APART FROM DIFFERENT MATERIALS, YOU ALSO USE SALVAGED OBJECTS IN YOUR ART, WHERE AND HOW DO YOU FIND THEM AND WHAT WAS THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY OBJECT YOU’VE COME ACROSS? 

I don’t know about extraordinary, but once I moved my entire studio, kitchen and nails and all, into a museum space. 

YOU HAVE PARTICIPATED IN A NUMBER OF IMPORTANT SHOWS. WHICH EXHIBITION WAS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FOR YOU? 

I loved working for Kamikadze Loggia at the Venice Biennial, Documenta, MOMA Projects, but maybe my show at Vienna Seccesion felt most significant, because it was an honor to be invited by artists to a place made by artists. 

WHAT IS YOUR DREAM PROJECT? 

My dream project is to be able to do what I do while skipping all the organizational parts.

HOW HAS YOUR PRACTICE CHANGED OVER TIME? 

I was trained as a painter and ended up being a sculptor. 

WHAT MEMORABLE FEEDBACK HAVE YOU HAD FOR YOUR WORK? 

„აუუ, რა მაგარია!!!“ (Wow, it’s so cool!!!) 

WHAT INSPIRES YOU MOST? 

Life. 

IF NOT ART… 

Art alone. 

FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WHAT ARE THOSE MUST-SEE PLACES THAT SHOULD BE VISITED BY GUESTS TO GEORGIA? 

I think the mountains, primarily Tusheti, although I have never been. 

WHAT’S AHEAD FOR YOU AND DO YOU PLAN TO LAUNCH SOMETHING IN GEORGIA? 

I don’t have any immediate projects in Georgia but I am currently preparing a solo show for the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, which opens for the public on the 19th of October.

PHOTO : NAKANIMAMASAKHLISI 

STYLE : YOHJI YAMAMOTO, DARAIA 


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