#120: Vajiko Chachkhiani

Vajiko Chachkhiani’s work operates somewhere between the outside world and the human psyche, bringing the shadowy aspects of our Conditio humanato awareness through subtle and intriguing visual poetry. Frequently based on performances or transformative actions, many of his works share an affinity to minimalism while at the same time being charged with narrative meaning. Through his sculptures, installations and films, he addresses psychological conditions such as loneliness, violence and angst, interweaving them with topics from religion, politics, literature, and poetry – unforgettable Vajiko Chachkhiani’s haunting, poetic installation in the Georgian Pavilion at the 57^th Venice Biennale in 2017, for which he bought an abandoned wooden hut in the mining town of Tschiatura, rebuilt it in Venice and made it rain and grow moss inside.

Recurring themes of this master storyteller are conflict, culture/nature and the oscillation between the outer reality and the inner life of the individual being.

Vajiko Chachkhiani will show a selection of his films:

Social Ballet, 2006, 2:08 min
Lower than the Sky, 2021, 16:25 min
The Bee Fall, 2021, 24:24 min
Winter Which was not There, 2017, 10:40 min
We Drive, you in the Front, 2016, 2:50 min
Heavy Metal Honey, 2019, 14:14 min
Life Track, 2014, 3:45 min

Vajiko Chachkhiani (born 1985 in Tbilisi, Georgia) lives and works in Tbilisi. A student of Prof. Gregor Schneider, he graduated from Universität der Künste (UdK), Berlin, Germany, in 2013. After solo exhibitions at Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, Germany (2014), and Yarat Contemporary Art Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan (2016), his work was presented at the Georgian Pavilion at the 57^th Venice Biennale in 2017. In recent years his work has been shown internationally, with solo exhibitions including Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Germany (2018) and Art Basel Unlimited (2019). Most recently, he completed his residency as a fellow at Villa Aurora in Los Angeles, CA, USA, participated in the 22^nd Biennale of Sydney.