History

Art Villa Garikula was established   by Tbilisi born painter and educator, Karaman Kutateladze in 2000, when spontaneous art squat housed in a derelict   Bolgarsky Estate in Akhalkalaki village (built in 1885) turned into cultural enterprise -  Art VIlla Garikula and started developing all the necessary functions relevant for the center for contemporary arts, thus creating   a precedent for the rehabilitation and successful management of the   state owned asset by investing it with new  meaning.

The idea of the Center for Contemporary Arts was developed and implemented by the   private Foundation for the Revival and Development of Cultural Heritage of Shida Kartli;  Karaman Kutateladze,   the Chairman of the Foundation.

The foundation  initiated a careful restoration of the house according to its new functions and meaning and a bit later, the project  by the name  Art Villa -The Center for Contemporary Arts first presented   Georgia at the  Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2004.

By the time of the Art Vila’s establishment the Socialist art system had been   ruined.  Georgian art was in search of new context, with  urgent need for a new system based on the state-of-the-art principles of educational and exhibition practice.

Art Villa along with other private art institutions filled the vacuum produced resulted by  the Soviet Union’s breakdown   and became  a significant player for  the reorganization of cultural life in Post Soviet Georgia.

Nowadays, Art Villa Garikula creates successful example of self organized system, which has been developing several important programs and projects necessary for the functioning of the Center for Contemporary Arts. It provides exhibition space and museum facility with more than 300 artworks of contemporary art, unconventional educational programs based on experiential learning , artist-in-residence program and the annual International Festival of contemporary art - Fest i Nova. 

Priority lines:

• ·         Curatorial activity which encompasses all formats and media of contemporary art
• ·         Communication - meetings, discussions, cultural exchange
• ·         Learning – workshops, lectures, master-classes carried out on a regular basis
• ·         Interaction with local community
• ·         Enrichment of the contemporary art collection