Tbilisi festival to mark artistic ties with Berlin

For five days starting next week, Tbilisi will host a new festival celebrating artistic connection between the Georgian and German capitals by showcasing talent of artists from the two countries.

Camera Obscura: Berlin x Tbilisi is a freshly launched event set up within ongoing year-long celebrations of 25 years of diplomatic relations between Georgia and Germany.

Inviting artists involved in art forms including photography, painting and music, the festival will seek to foster connections and offer perspectives on intersection of creative expression.

A photo series by Margarita Broich will present portraits of actors following their performances. Photo: Margarita Broich artist website.

A display of photographs by Margarita Broich, titled When Curtain Falls, will launch the event on Tuesday at Cafe Littera.

Photographic portraits created by the artist for the series show actors immediately after their performances. The series were first displayed in Berlin in 2011.

On Wednesday, visitors of the festival will be invited to a concert involving Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra — also known as Georgian Sinfonietta — led by conductor Christoph Gedschold and featuring soloist Jens Peter Maintz on violoncello.

They will perform Cello Concerto No. 1 by Joseph Haydn, while artist Flavio de Marco’s bespoke artwork on the theme of music is exhibited.

Award-winning architect Stephan Braunfels will talk to the audience about his trade within the context of urban development. Photo: Guenter/B.Z. Online.

Changing the artistic subject, acclaimed architect Stephan Braunfels will offer a talk on architecture at the Fabrika venue on Thursday.

Braunfels, a recipient of the German Urban Design Award, will speak about architecture within urban development, a highly relevant issue for Tbilisi.

The important role of underground electronic music for both Berlin and Tbilisi will be marked with an event featuring a performance by artists Patlac und Stefan Goldmann at the Georgian capital’s Cafe Gallery venue.

The festival will conclude with an open-air celebration involving "music, art and gastronomy” at Fabrika on Friday.

The closing event will feature a newly founded German-Georgian jazz quintet showcasing their talent before an electronic music performance entertains the visiting audience.