Winter Which Was Not There

Vajiko Chachkhiani

Vajiko Chachkhiani’s video Winter Which Was Not There, a man watches a monumental concrete sculpture being hoisted out of the sea. The sculpture is reminiscent of a classic depiction of a hero, but in a strange and somewhat uncanny way, it looks stunningly like the man who is watching it rise out of the sea. After a long drive through a series of landscapes during which the sculpture is dragged behind his vehicle, the protagonist ends his journey with the monument fragmented and destroyed. Chachkhiani weaves a discourse of liberation into a multilayered visual narrative that allows viewers to relate to the video, regardless of their origins. The artist employs a classical sculpture as a metaphorical weapon to decipher the intangible notion of human conscience. The video presents viewers with the critical dilemma of having to define what is private or public, and reflect on the interrelations between the public sphere and our sense of ethics. The artist’s prophetic vision seems to echo the current situation of decolonization that has led to the removal of many historical colonial monuments, increasingly since the 2020 resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. We are often stranded with remnants of historical experiences projected onto our present reality. Building a scaffolding of countless salient question, this work offers a compassionate, intellectual confrontation with the past as a way to consciously shape the present and future.

Vajiko Chachkhiani (b. 1985, Georgia) lives and works in Berlin. He studied Mathematics and Informatics at the Technical University, Tbilisi, before turning to Fine Art, which he studied at Universität der Künste, Berlin, Germany, and Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. Solo exhibitions include GRA Glass Pavilion, Amsterdam (2009), Gallery Gala, Tbilisi (2011), BINZ39, Zurich (2012), The State Museum of Literature, Tbilisi (2013), and Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen, Germany (2014). Group shows include Museum of Contemporary Art, Leipzig (2011), Stedelijk Museum, s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (2011), Meet Factory, Prague (2012), Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin (2014), Museum of Contemporary Art, Wolfsburg (2014), and Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (2015). Chachkhiani held a DAAD scholarship (2013), was awarded the prestigious 7th Rubens Promotional Award of the Contemporary Art Museum Siegen (2014), and was accepted for the ISCP Residency Program, New York (2016).

Born of Kabuye Benedict family, Balimunsi Philip is the curator of Uganda National Cultural Centre and the Uganda National Gallery known as Nommo gallery. His curatorial focus steers towards documentation and shaping the arena of experience to grant viewers a glimpse into an exhibition of memories and a creative mist of conversations. His practice explores the intellectual explosion of artistic quandary in relation to creativity as a social response to human interaction with extremely difficult spheres of life. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial and Fine Arts from Makerere University and received curatorial training from ICI’s Curatorial Intensive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and at the School for Curatorial Studies Venice by A Plus Gallery-Venice, Italy during the 2019 58th Venice biennial to pave way for processes of organising a Ugandanpavilion at the Venice Biennial. He is a co-curator of the Know Go Zone, Dance in the City, KLAART014and a curator of the DADs and Climate Changeexhibitions with Embassy of Sweden, JAMAFEST visual arts pavilion with UVADA, Know Way Out with Belgian embassy, Art Creates Water, Hope Art exhibition, a retrospective of 25 years of Bruno Sserunkuuma’s Ceramic Philosophy, and Anecdotes of Origin. He’s previously published articles with Start Journal, ICI, JAMAFEST magazine, and contemporary And.

Notes for Tomorrow is a traveling exhibition organized and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI) and initiated by Frances Wu Giarratano, Jordan Jones, Becky Nahom, Renaud Proch, and Monica Terrero. The exhibition was made possible with the generous support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, VIA Art Fund and ICI’s Board of Trustees and International Forum.
 

We are on Treaty 1 Territory. Plug In ICA is located on the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. Our water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.

Plug In ICA extends our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors, valued members, and dedicated volunteers. We acknowledge the sustaining support of our Director’s Circle. You all make a difference.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.

Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Erin at erin@plugin.org.

For more information on public programming and exhibitions contact Allison Yearwood at allison@plugin.org.

For general information, please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043