Tbilisi Portrait

Art manager Irena Popiashvili talks about Georgian contemporary art and the new generation at her art academy "VA[A]DS".

The organization PMMG (Public Movement Multinational Georgia) focuses on the protection of ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities’ rights. We are talking with its Chairman Arnold Stepanian, representing himself the Armenian minority.

We are starting our second season with the Human Rights' defender Lela Tsiskarishvili. Lela is executive director of the NGO "Georgian Centre for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims", called GCRT.

Georgia's economic and political development are the focus of this episode with activist Nino Evgenidze. Nino is Executive Director at the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC), as well as co-founder of the Tbilisi International Conference and of the Democracy Frontline Centre.

On the occasion of the current Pride Week in Tbilisi, we are having Mariam Kvaratskhelia as guest of our podcast today. She is the co-director of Tbilisi Pride and talks about queer life in Georgia and Tbilisi's queer scene.

Parki ar minda ("I don't want a bag") is an organization that offers recycling solutions for people living in Tbilisi. The founders of this organization, Mariam Pesvianidze and Tatiana Remneva, are talking here about waste management in Georgia and their motivation for a more conscious approach regarding waste.

Today it will be all about architecture and urban spaces, because we have Gogiko Sakvarelidze as our guest. Gogiko is founder and brand director of Fabrika and at the same time principle of MUA – Multiverse Architecture. This is a Tbilisi based architectural office, that describes itself with the keywords “Architecture” and “Placemaking”.

The women’s rights activist Baia Pataraia is one of the leading feminists in Georgia and the director of Union Sapari, an organization that works to combat violence against women and advocates for equal rights.

The furniture restorer Anna Sekowska-Livny moved from Poland to Tbilisi in 2007. She created her brand "ASL works" in 2020 during the pandemic. Today "ASL works" forms a team of 3 people working passionately on restoring old furniture in her studio on Aghmashenebeli avenue.

Researching the Soviet past and its legacy is the main aim of the Research Laboratory SovLab. Irakli Khvadagiani is one of their researchers and board members. Today he is our guest at Tbilisi Portrait.

The first guest of this podcast is Nestan Nijaradze. Nestan is a co-founder and the artistic director of the Tbilisi Photo Festival and the Tbilisi Photography and Multimedia Museum. Both institutions bring international artists and their work to Georgia and at the same time promote photographers from the Caucasus region.

What is "Tbilisi Portrait" about? Find out here!