Tbilisi presentation to unveil book on city’s urban transformation
Tweet 
Share
A brand-new documentary project on rapid architectural and urban transformation of Tbilisi and its effects will be unveiled today in Georgia’s capital after the book project was successfully crowdfunded on the web.
Tbilisi — Archive of Transition is a publication bringing together years of research work documenting changes in the city that have seen it "wake up with a new face every morning”, its creators say.
Publishers, researchers and artists from Georgia, the United States and Germany collected the material over a period of more than three years. [This has resulted in a book that] is a snapshot of a city in transition”, said a summary of the work.
The documentary project has involved researchers, urbanists and other professionals. Photo: organisers of Kickstarter campaign for the book.
Subjects feature in the book include the trend of a reduction of public spaces in Tbilisi, problems of the city’s development influenced by market interests and the public protests against the phenomenon.
Chapters of the book — listed on the Kickstarter page — include contributions by city planner Zurab Bakradze, landscape architect Sara Cowles and activist Elene Margvelashvili.
Other parts of the publication come from journalists Ben Knight and Sebastian Pranz, with images by artists Mamuka Japharidze, Fabian Weiss and Lexo Soselia serving to illustrate the work.
A preview of the book’s section. Photo: organisers of Kickstarter campaign for the book.
Authors of the work have revealed the book is projected to feature documentary material on Tbilisi’s urban history from private and public archives never published before.
A crowdfunding campaign for funding Tbilisi — Archive of Transition, launched last month on online platform Kickstarter, successfully raised the funds before its March 28 deadline.
The project will be formally presented by researchers and authors involved in its creation later today, at the city’s Fotografia gallery.
The project of the book is supported by the Goethe Institute Georgia, the German Foreign Office, DVV International, the Heinrich Boell Foundation South Caucasus, the Georgian National Book Centre, the HFBK School of Design Hamburg and the Washington University St. Louis.
A group of Georgian and foreign authors has launched an online crowdfunding project for a documentary book on the urban and architectural transformation of Tbilisi over its recent history.
An upcoming program of public lectures, a workshop and a tour of an architectural complex in Tbilisi will attempt to imagine a sustainable future for Soviet-era buildings in the Georgian capital.
A group of Georgian contemporary artists will reflect on the relentless and ongoing changes to urban spaces in Tbilisi within an exhibition at a major museum focusing on the Georgian capital.
The urban transformation and resulting architectural contradictions of Georgia’s capital will be explored in an exhibition programme Hybrid Tbilisi at Frankfurt’s German Museum of Architecture (DAM) starting next week.
The multi-faceted architecture of Georgia, from its Soviet-era museums to striking new constructions, is the theme of an ongoing display at Vienna’s notable Ringturm exhibition venue.
Eight architecture projects from Georgia will vie to claim the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture next spring, after buildings from performance venues to hotels to marketplaces in the country were shortlisted by judges for the renowned award.
An untouched natural spot at the confluence of two rivers in Tbilisi will transform into a contemporary art festival offering displays, workshops and music performances over a week starting this Friday.
A talk about the rapid and continuous urban transformation that has made major changes to the fabric and function of Tbilisi over the past 10 years will mark the first unveiling of the book Tbilisi - Archive of Transition, the result of a crowdfunding effort from three years ago, in the capital on Saturday.