Curators launch portable Museum of Contemporary Art in Tbilisi

Art enthusiasts in Georgia can learn about the recent history of contemporary artists and their creations in the comfort of their homes thanks to a new museum project.

Launched by three young art curators, the Museum of Contemporary Art — Tbilisi project involves a portable museum in a common suitcase.

Bringing together exhibits covering the last three decades of contemporary art in Georgia, the museum can be brought directly to interested audiences at their place of residence.

Founders of the museum spoke of the importance of new forms of art museum in their comments on the project. Photo: Museum of Contemporary Art — Tbilisi.

Curators of the museum bring the photographic and video material on the subject to those requesting their one-time visit.

The project was founded and is curated by Mariam Natroshvili, Detu Jincharadze and Natalia Vatsadze, who shared insight on their museum with reporters.

The time has come to seek new formats, new concepts for contemporary art museums.”

[From the perspective of] the digital era we live in, future museums may not exist in the form they used to”, Natroshvili told Rustavi2 channel.

The project co-founder also spoke of the importance of bringing art to new audiences in the reality where traditional art exhibitions are visited by the same groups of enthusiasts.

First unveiled on November 18, the museum brings together around 30 exhibits dating from the 1980s to this day.

They cover the recent history of Georgia and local contemporary art with social and political angle in an attempt to "recover lost history”.

Expected to be constantly updated, the new museum’s collection represents an effort for "understanding and rethinking significant works of Georgian contemporary art”, said the authors.

Founders also said they saw schools and universities among institutions where their visits could prove beneficial.