issue#1511

Issue no: 1511

FOCUS ON A POW

Vladyslav Zadorin, Ukrainian prisoner of war, on 678 days of torture and degradation in Russian captivity

PAGE 4

• JULY 25 - 31, 2025 • PUBLISHED WEEKLY

PRICE: GEL 2.50

In this week’s issue...

IMF Calls for Stronger Independence of Georgia’s Central Bank NEWS PAGE 2

Ukraine Latest: Ukraine, Russia Hold 3rd Round of Peace Talks in Istanbul despite Ongoing Drone Strikes POLITICS PAGE 3

Lemonade Natakhtari is Celebrating its 20th Anniversary with New Packaging BUSINESS PAGE 5

When Sound Resists: TKESHI 2025 and the Poetics of Media in Exile Vladislav Zadorin. Photo by Etienne Maury for Le Pèlerin

CULTURE PAGE 9

of Georgia in ‘Don From “Ugly” to Iconic: Why the Inmates Quixote of La Mancha’ “Rike Tubes” Must Be Preserved From Auction Spotlight CULTURE PAGE 10

BLOG BY IVAN NECHAEV

I

n the heart of Tbilisi, on the gentle slope between the Old Town and the Mtkvari River, two monumental tubular structures lie dormant like half-awake sentinels of a future that never came. Dismissed by some as “ugly” and “non-functional,” the Rike Tubes—as they’ve come to be known in the public imagination—are once again under threat of demolition. But to reduce these architectural gestures to debris would be a civic and cultural failure, a betrayal of memory and ambition.

Let’s be clear: these are not “tubes.” They are an unfinished symphony in steel and glass. They are not eyesores, but lenses— portals through which Tbilisi once imagined its entry into global architectural discourse.

Continued on page 6 The Rike Tubes. Source: frontnews.ge

to International Stages: Catching Up with Natalia Lashki, BI Auction Winner and Rising Art Voice CULTURE PAGE 11 Prepared for Georgia Today Business by

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2

NEWS

GEORGIA TODAY

JULY 25 - 31, 2025

Court Upholds Life Sentence for Beka Jaiani in Murder of Kesaria Abramidze

Image source: Government & Law.

Georgia Boosts 2025 Municipal Budget to GEL 46 million

BY MARIAM RAZMADZE

T

he Georgian government has added nearly GEL 22 million to its 2025 municipal funding, raising the total allocation from GEL 24.65 million to GEL 46.43 million. The updated budget, approved on July 17, aims to sup-

port infrastructure, social and economic development in various regions.

Chiatura will receive the highest share, up to GEL 9.15 million, while other significant allocations include Tkibuli, Baghdati, Vani and Terjola (each receiving GEL 2.5–2.9 million). Over 20 municipalities will benefit from the increased support.

The changes amend an earlier decree issued in February 2025.

Georgia Sees Alarming Setback in LGBT Rights, New UPR Report Warns

LGBT rights supporters. Source: Amnesty International.

BY MARIAM RAZMADZE

A

new shadow report submitted to the United Nations as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) shows a grim picture of LGBT rights in Georgia as of 2025. Jointly prepared by the Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group, Equality Movement and Tbilisi Pride in collaboration with ILGA World, the report warns of serious democratic backsliding and systemic rights violations targeting LGBT people.

Despite accepting 19 out of 21 SOGIESCrelated recommendations in the previous UPR cycle in 2021, Georgia has failed to fully implement any of them. Seventeen remain completely unfulfilled while two have seen only partial progress.

The report emphasizes a significant deterioration in human rights between 2022 and 2025, driven by restrictive legislation and increased hostility from the government. Transgender people, in particular, face worsening barriers to healthcare and legal gender recognition while the LGBT community has experienced more exclusion from public life and violent attacks.

Peaceful assemblies, including Pride events, have repeatedly been shut down or attacked, with little to no state protection. Meanwhile, gender equality efforts have been put on halt and institutional protections remain weak despite the existence of anti-discrimination laws.

The report concludes that Georgia’s growing gap between international obligations and domestic implementation raises serious concerns for the country’s democracy.

Wizz Air Leads as Georgia’s Airports See 14% Passenger Growth

BY MARIAM RAZMADZE

G

eorgia’s air travel sector experienced growth in the first half of 2025, with the country’s airports serving 3.65 million passengers, a 14% increase compared to the same period last year.

Wizz Air maintained its position as the leading carrier in the Georgian market, transporting 642,956 passengers between January and June, a 16% yearon-year growth and taking 18% of market share.

In second place was Pegasus Airlines, with 8% annual growth and carried

284,984 passengers, securing an 8% market share.

Georgian Airways followed closely, benefiting from the resumption of direct flights to Russia. The national carrier posted a 17% increase in passenger traffic, reaching 272,568 travelers, taking 8% of the market.

Once a market leader, Turkish Airlines was pushed back to the fourth place, with 268,959 passengers, a 6% decline year-on-year.

Azerbaijan Airlines rounded out the top five, recording 222,237 passengers and a 15% increase in traffic.

Meanwhile, AJet, a subsidiary of Turkish Airlines, operated separately and served 54,326 passengers during the same period.

Kesaria Abramidze. Source: Le Soir

BY MARIAM RAZMADZE

G

eorgia’s Court of Appeals has upheld a life sentence for Beka Jaiani, convicted of the brutal murder of Kesaria Abramidze.Rruling emphasized the legal system’s stance on gender-based violence.

The decision confirms the verdict delivered by Tbilisi City Court on April 16, 2025 which found Jaiani guilty of committing murder with exceptional

cruelty, motivated by intolerance based on gender and gender identity.

The crime occurred on September 18, 2024, in the Didi Dighomi district of Tbilisi. Prosecutors said Jaiani attacked Abramidze with a knife, inflicting multiple injuries that led to her death. Evidence presented in court also revealed a pattern of systematic physical abuse

by Jaiani, motivated by hatred toward Abramidze’s gender identity which caused her ongoing physical and psychological suffering.

Jaiani was charged under Article 109 (subparagraphs ‘t’ and ‘m’) of Georgia’s

Criminal Code, covering aggravated murder committed with particular cruelty and due to gender-related motives, as well as Article 126 (subsection 2) for repeated domestic violence resulting in severe suffering. These charges carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

In a statement, the Prosecutor’s Office welcomed the appeals court’s decision to leave the initial ruling unchanged, declaring it as a reaffirmation of justice in a case that had drawn national attention due to its brutality and transphobic motive.

IMF Calls for Stronger Independence of Georgia’s Central Bank

IMF headquarters. Source: Civil Georgia

BY MARIAM RAZMADZE

T

he International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on Georgia to enhance the institutional independence and financial autonomy of its central bank, warning that current laws allow excessive discretion in transferring funds to the government.

The recommendations were outlined in the IMF’s Article IV Consultation summary which followed the Fund’s visit to Georgia on June 4. While the IMF maintained its strong 7.2% growth forecast for Georgia in 2025, it raised

concerns about the governance structure of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG).

At the heart of the IMF’s concerns is the NBG’s ability to determine how much of its profit is transferred to the state budget each year. In 2023, the Bank transferred 303 million GEL of its 559 million GEL profit to the government. This figure rose in 2024, with 670 million GEL transferred from a total net profit of 1.1 billion GEL. The remaining amount was allocated to reserves.

Though these transfers are legal procedures, the IMF found a bigger risk: the lack of legal safeguards against discretionary financial support to the government beyond profit-sharing. While the

NBG is legally obstructed from directly lending to the government, it can still channel funds under alternative frameworks, a risk to its operational independence.

“Reforms are urgently needed to limit such discretion and clearly separate the central bank’s finances from the government’s fiscal operations,” the IMF stated, recommending legal amendments to prohibit all forms of discretionary transfers.

The appointment of a new governor and the hiring for vacant board seats were acknowledged as steps forward but the IMF stressed that deeper institutional reforms are needed to safeguard the central bank’s independence.

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY JULY 25 - 31, 2025

3

Ukraine Latest: Ukraine, Russia Hold 3rd Round of Peace Talks in Istanbul despite Ongoing Drone Strikes COMPILED BY ANA DUMBADZE

U

krainian and Russian delegations met in Istanbul on July 23 for a third round of peace talks, which lasted under an hour. The meeting followed earlier negotiations held on May 16 and June 2, marking a renewed, though strained, attempt at dialogue after over three years without formal contact.

During the talks, Ukraine proposed a summit between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of August, said Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council and head of the Ukrainian delegation.

"We are focused on priority issues— people, a ceasefire, and a meeting of the leaders," Umerov said afterward.

Both sides reportedly agreed to a humanitarian exchange involving over 1,200 individuals. Zelensky has previously emphasized the return of abducted Ukrainian children and an immediate ceasefire as critical goals.

On the Russian side, Putin’s aide and chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said Moscow proposed the creation of three online working groups to address political, military, and humanitarian concerns.

Medinsky noted that any potential summit between leaders would require prior agreement on key topics.

Ukraine’s delegation also included Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak, First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, and deputy military intelligence chief Vadym Skybytskyi. Before the talks, Umerov’s team met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

Despite limited progress, both sides

have negotiated several prisoner swaps since talks resumed. However, while Zelensky remains open to direct dialogue, Putin continues to avoid personal participation, sending lower-level officials in his place.

The talks have been overshadowed by widening gaps between the two countries' demands, now complicated by growing international pressure. On July 14, US President Donald Trump warned that unless Russia agrees to end the war within 50 days, his administration would impose severe tariffs.

Moscow has dismissed the threat.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed that Russia’s war objectives remain unchanged, signaling no readiness to scale back its demands.

Ukraine has called for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire—an initiative supported by the United States—but Russia has rejected the proposal. Kyslytsya, speaking to the Kyiv Independent on July 7, criticized Moscow’s approach as ultimatums, not genuine negotiations.

Amid the diplomatic efforts, Kyiv’s drone campaign continued. On July 22, Ukrainian drones struck targets in Novocherkassk, a key city in Russia’s Rostov Oblast, reportedly damaging infrastructure tied to the Russian military-industrial complex.

Ukrainian official Andrii Kovalenko said the attack targeted a railway hub essential for transporting Russian military supplies and personnel to the Ukrainian border. The city also hosts facilities of the 1061st Material and Technical Support Center of Russia’s Southern Military District.

Rostov Oblast Governor Yuri Slyusar confirmed multiple drone strikes, which triggered fires across Novocherkassk and injured three people. Local Telegram channels suggested that the city's railway

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan chairs the third round of renewed Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, Turkiye on July 23, 2025.

Source: Turkish Foreign Ministry / Handout /Anadolu via Getty Images

station and power plant may have been among the targets.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have downed 33 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight, including 11 over Rostov Oblast, though it did not confirm any damage to strategic sites. Ukraine has not publicly commented on the strikes, and independent verification remains difficult.

In a separate development, Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told The Washington Post that Russia had suffered 80,000 casualties during Ukraine’s cross-border operation in Kursk Oblast. While Ukraine's own losses were not disclosed, Syrskyi said Russia's were significantly higher.

The operation, launched in August 2024, saw Ukrainian forces seize 1,300 square kilometers of Russian territory in the early months, aiming to divert Russian troops from eastern Ukraine and disrupt a potential invasion of Sumy Oblast.

Russia has since recaptured most of the territory and launched a counteroffensive—reportedly aided by 12,000 North Korean troops. Open-source analysts at DeepState confirm Ukraine still holds a narrow strip of Russian territory

near the border.

Despite its initial success, the Kursk campaign has drawn mixed reviews.

Critics argue it failed to halt Russia’s push in Donetsk and should have ended earlier to avoid prolonged losses. Nonetheless, Ukrainian leaders continue to highlight the toll it inflicted on Russian and North Korean forces.

Elsewhere, Russian forces have intensified a new offensive launched in May, aiming to penetrate Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts. Despite fierce Ukrainian resistance, Moscow continues to leverage its larger reserves and manpower.

Ukraine’s position is further complicated by its evolving relationship with Washington. While Trump has threatened tariffs and pledged new weapons— such as Patriot air defense systems—his proposed 50-day ceasefire deadline has sparked debate among Ukraine’s allies.

EU Foreign Affairs Chief Kaja Kallas called the move a "strong stance" but warned that "50 days is a very long time when civilians are dying."

Kremlin insiders, speaking to The Guardian, said Putin remains unfazed

by Trump’s threats and sees them as an

opportunity to push his maximalist goals.

A former senior official noted that while Moscow once hoped for better relations with Trump, Putin's vision of the Ukraine war as an existential battle takes precedence.

Meanwhile, Belarus may reverse its earlier decision to move the upcoming Zapad-2025 military drills inland, citing growing NATO activity near its borders.

Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Muraveika said exercises could return to areas closer to Poland and Lithuania if the "aggressive narrative" from the West continues.

Set for mid-September, the drills will involve around 13,000 troops and are among the largest joint exercises between Belarus and Russia. NATO and Ukrainian officials have expressed concern about the timing of the drills amid the ongoing war.

Muraveika cited recent NATO maneuvers near Grodno and the movement of Lithuania’s Iron Wolf brigade as potential reasons to reallocate troops. While Belarus has not deployed its own forces in combat, it has provided crucial support to Russia, including launching areas for early missile strikes in 2022.

Continued on page 4

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POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

JULY 25 - 31, 2025

From Zmiinyi to Kursk: The Untold Horrors Faced by Ukraine’s “Snake Island Hero”

BY VAZHA TAVBERIDZE

F

ew moments in Ukraine’s modern history are as seared into the national memory as the words broadcast from Zmiinyi Island on the first morning of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“Russian warship, go f*** yourself” — the defiant response from a tiny garrison to an enemy that many still assumed would swallow Ukraine whole in days.

Behind that iconic phrase was a garrison of around 80 men. Among them was Vladyslav Zadorin, who would become one of the most famous Ukrainian prisoners of war. When the smoke cleared, Zadorin and his comrades were initially presumed dead. Instead, they had been captured alive and taken deeper into Russian territory, pawns in a grotesque hostage game that would stretch on for almost two years.

Zadorin spent 678 days in captivity, shuffled through seven prisons, labor colonies and holding cells across occupied Crimea and Russia proper: Sevastopol, Kursk, Shebekino, Stary Oskol, Valuyki, Alek-

seyevka, and back to Kursk again. He watched some of his fellow Snake Island defenders get exchanged within weeks — commanders and officers mostly. For those like Zadorin, the “ordinary boys,” the wait was excruciating.

“One of us is still in there,” he said after he stepped back onto Ukrainian soil in January 2024, weighing barely half of what he did when he left. “We know where he is now — they found him in a penal colony in Tula. Took forever to find him. But at least we know.”

Zadorin’s own ordeal reads like a cold rebuke to any illusions about Russia’s conduct of war. Ukrainian prisoners often tell stories of harsh conditions.

Zadorin’s memories go beyond that — it’s the stuff of nightmares.

“The first time they took me out for an exchange was New Year’s Eve 2022. I was taken out, all ready, but at the last moment my swap fell through. Only me.

The others went, I stayed. They took me back to Kursk. I remember sitting there in my cell thinking: tonight I’ll do it.”

By “it” he means suicide. He tried twice.

“The first time, I planned to hang myself with a bedsheet on the cell bars. My cellmates stopped me. Later, when the

wait for the swap was just killing me, I smashed the light fitting. Took a shard of glass from the bulb and tried to cut my wrists. Again, the guys stopped me.

They saved my life twice.”

When asked about the worst he saw, the torture he describes is as harrowing as it gets.

“I escaped rape myself, but others didn’t.

They brought out men and let criminals rape them after bribing the guards. It happened all the time. They beat us on the genitals. They used cattle prods to electrocute us. They castrate prisoners in some places — not just cut, but surgically remove everything. They know what they’re doing. The guards and interrogators are sadists. You could see it in their eyes. They enjoyed it.”

The physical toll on his health was monstrous too. Vladyslav Zadorin had always been big — a burly twenty-something who tipped the scales at 120 kilos when he stepped onto Snake Island’s rocky outcrop. By the time he stumbled out of Russian captivity in January this year, he weighed just 60 kilos.

“They starved us on purpose,” he says matter-of-factly. “In some colonies, you’d get something to eat, but in Kursk they

gave us only three lumps of black bread.

You’d bite it and feel sand, sawdust.

Sometimes it was raw, mouldy, wet. So we ate soap. We ate toilet paper. Snails, worms — whatever we could find. Once, we even tried to catch a pigeon, but it got away. We hunted mice and ate them.”

Hope came in strange forms. Information was precious — and they often had none.

“At first we knew nothing. The guards told us Odessa had fallen, Kyiv, Lviv too — they said Russia had won. But if Russia had won, why were we still locked up? New guys came in with scraps of news. That’s how we pieced things together.”

Inside the cells, twelve men huddled in the dark, talking to stay sane. “If you sat in silence, you’d lose your mind. So we talked about anything: cars, girls, our hometowns. They tried to break that.

They’d move us every few weeks so you never got close to your cellmates. But it didn’t always work.”

He even tried to fight back, literally.

There was a plan to break out.

“We planned to do it on 9 May — Victory Day. The guards get drunk then. We knew where the keys were, the pistols,

the exits. We had been made to clean the cells, clean the corridors, so we knew every corner. But there was always a rat in every cell, someone who snitched. On 3 January, they swapped me out. I never found out what happened to the plan. But the rats told the guards, I’m sure of it.”

There is a question Ukrainians ask each other quietly, but rarely on the record — is forgiveness possible? Zadorin does not hesitate, doesn’t mince his words.

“My hatred’s in my DNA now. I’ll pass it to my kids, my grandkids. If I’m honest — I’d like to pour concrete over the whole of Russia. Seal it in epoxy resin.

Let foreigners come on guided tours and see how not to live. That’s my dream. I want revenge. I know who tortured me.

One day, revenge will find them. None of us will forgive. None of us.”

Yet behind the rage there’s a flicker of stubborn defiance — the same defiance that echoed through the radio that cold February morning off Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. If there is one thing Zadorin is sure of, it’s this: he is alive. And the war that Russia thought it would win in three days is still raging more than three years later — and its hopes of winning it are more remote than ever.

Kobakhidze Questions Economic Benefits of Visa-free Travel

BY MARIAM RAZMADZE

P

The Patriarchate in Tbilisi. Source: FB

Georgian Patriarchate Criticizes EU Recommendations, Defends Traditional Values

BY TEAM GT

T

he Georgian Patriarchate has released a statement strongly criticizing the latest recommendations from the European Council, expressing concern that they place the country’s aspirations for European integration in direct opposition to Georgia’s traditional family values and laws protecting minors from LGBT propaganda.

“Unfortunately, the latest recommendations of the European Council now openly present an incompatible position, pitting support for family traditions and the protection of minors from LGBT propaganda on one side against the prospect of the country’s aspirations toward Europe on the other, causing disappointment among a significant portion of Georgia’s population,” the statement reads.

According to the Patriarchate, these recommendations have sparked serious concern among both the Orthodox Church and Georgian society. The criticism is focused on proposals that call for the repeal of laws aimed at preserving what the Church considers the sanctity of the family and protecting minors from nontraditional lifestyle propaganda.

The statement emphasizes that during numerous meetings with His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, European diplomats

and officials had repeatedly assured Church leaders that Georgia’s integration into European structures would not come at the cost of its traditional and Christian values.

“It was always clearly stated,” the Patriarchate notes, “that no categorical demands or obligations contradicting our traditions would be imposed on the country’s path to European integration.”

The Patriarchate stresses that the European path can and should be pursued without compromising on religious principles. His Holiness Ilia II is quoted as having consistently underlined that Georgia’s alignment with Europe should not include the promotion of teachings that run counter to divine doctrine, including non-traditional lifestyles.

Referencing past dialogue, the Patriarchate highlights that the Georgian Orthodox Church had previously welcomed legislative measures protecting family values and youth, viewing them as essential for fostering a healthy society. The faithful community, according to the statement, continues to support these laws and sees them as aligned with both national identity and Christian morality.

In closing, the Patriarchate reiterates its disappointment with the new EU recommendations, asserting that they betray prior assurances and threaten to alienate a large segment of the Georgian population that upholds Christian and traditional family values.

rime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has disregarded the notion that Georgia’s visa-free travel with the European Union significantly contributes to economic growth, calling such claims ‘pure speculation.’

“Visa liberalization is a technical issue,” Kobakhidze stated. “It simply determines whether you have to wait in a visa queue or not. Any expert will confirm it has no bearing on the economy.”

Addressing growing public concern over a potential suspension of Georgia’s visa-free regime, the prime minister instead talked about its role in encouraging emigration. He referenced the Baltic states, claiming that visa-free travel

A Georgian passport. Source: JAM News

contributed to steep population declines: “Lithuania lost 600,000 people and Latvia 400,000. Without visa liberalization, more Georgians would’ve stayed in the country, bolstering our labor force and economy.”

His comments demonstrate a shift from his 2017 position. At the time, while serving as Speaker of Parliament, Kobakhidze had praised visa liberalization as the right step in Georgia’s path toward EU integration.

Ukraine Latest: Ukraine, Russia Hold 3rd Round of Peace Talks in Istanbul despite Ongoing Drone Strikes Continued from page 3 Meanwhile, for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, widespread protests have erupted across Ukraine, this time not against foreign aggression, but against President Zelensky himself.

The protests, which have drawn thousands to the streets of Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Odessa, were sparked by the recent passage of a controversial law that places Ukraine’s key anti-corruption institutions under the authority of the Prosecutor General’s Office—an office directly appointed by the president. Critics argue the legislation undermines the hard-won independence of bodies like the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), long viewed as central to Ukraine’s democratic reforms and EU aspirations.

Since the outbreak of war in 2022, President Zelensky has enjoyed immense domestic and international support as a wartime leader. This week’s demonstrations, however, mark a shift—signaling public discontent with what many see as a dangerous consolidation of power

under the guise of wartime necessity.

The law passed swiftly through parliament and was signed by Zelensky, despite vocal opposition from civil society organizations, legal experts, and some members of his own Servant of the People party. International partners, including the European Union, also expressed concern, warning that the changes could jeopardize Ukraine’s path toward EU membership.

In a televised statement, President Zelensky defended the new legislation as necessary for streamlining investigations and protecting institutions from foreign infiltration—specifically Russian efforts to destabilize Ukraine’s justice system from within.

“We cannot afford paralysis in our institutions during wartime,” Zelensky said. “We are not dismantling anti-corruption. We are strengthening its capacity to respond swiftly and securely.”

But the president’s assurances have not quelled growing unrest. Anti-corruption watchdogs warn the reform effectively places independent investigations under political control, a move they describe as a return to the centralized practices of Ukraine’s pre-Maidan era.

The protests come amid mounting signs of war fatigue among the Ukrainian population, which has endured more than three years of brutal conflict, displacement, and economic hardship. With the battlefield largely at a stalemate and reconstruction efforts lagging, attention is increasingly shifting toward issues of governance, transparency, and the integrity of democratic institutions.

“The fact that people are willing to take to the streets in the middle of an ongoing war speaks volumes,” said Ilya Berkovych, a political analyst in Lviv. “It shows that democracy still matters deeply to Ukrainians, even in the face of existential threats.”

Some observers say the current protests could evolve into a broader political movement—especially if international donors or EU institutions begin to apply pressure or suspend financial aid in response to the legislative changes.

If not reversed or amended, the legislation could complicate Ukraine’s efforts to position itself as a credible candidate for EU membership—a key goal for the post-Maidan political generation and a strategic priority amid the ongoing war.

BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY JULY 25 - 31, 2025

5

Lemonade Natakhtari is Celebrating its 20th Anniversary with New Packaging them to the Georgian market and the brand’s culture. The main goal of the redesign was to modernize the packaging while ensuring the brand design remains within the lemonade category.”

The main message of Lemonade Natakhtari’s communication campaign is ‘Embrace Georgian,’ which emphasizes the sense of Georgian identity and the brand’s unique character.

“What’s Georgian is ours. And what we know is ours – we are proud of it.

Lemonade Natakhtari is exactly the kind of brand we should embrace. We believe that the new packaging of everyone’s favorite Natakhtari will now brighten both everyday life and special moments even more,” notes the Marketing Manager of Non-Alcoholic Beverages of EFES Georgia.

The campaign was built around this message, with the creative concept created by the agency Betterfly in collaboration with film director Giorgi Meshveliani, three video series were produced that visually and playfully convey the idea.

As a reminder, Lemonade Natakhtari is not only the leader in the local market, but is also successfully represented internationally – the product has been exported since 2006 and is currently sold in 23 countries around the world.

BY TEAM GT

L

emonade Natakhtari, which has been the leader in the lemonade category in Georgia for two decades, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a refreshed look. The new packaging of everyone’s favorite brand is now available on the Georgian market, offering consumers a new design that stands out for its distinctive and modern look.

“The 20th anniversary is an important milestone for our brand, and to mark this occasion, we decided to upgrade our product packaging. Our consumers’ wishes are extremely important to us, so first, we conducted research on the existing packaging to understand what changes our consumers would like to see. Based on the preferences identified through the research, we developed a new design, which was created in collaboration with an international agency,” said Guranda Nemsadze, Marketing Manager of Non-Alcoholic Beverages of EFES Georgia.

The redesign process proved to be especially engaging and diverse for the team: “While working with foreign partners, it was essential to fully introduce

EU: Georgia’s Economy OP-ED: “A Moment of Opportunity: Supercharging the Clean Energy Age” to Slow But Stay Strong;

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations

OP-ED BY ANTÓNIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

E

nergy has shaped humanity’s path – from mastering fire, to harnessing steam, to splitting the atom. Today, we’re at the dawn of a new era. The sun is rising on a clean energy age.

Last year, nearly all new power capacity came from renewables. Investment in clean energy soared to $2 trillion – $800 billion more than fossil fuels.

Solar and wind are now the cheapest sources of power on Earth, and clean energy sectors are creating jobs, boosting growth and powering progress -despite fossil fuels still receiving far greater subsidies.

Countries that cling to fossil fuels are not protecting their economies, they are sabotaging them – undermining competitiveness, and missing the greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century.

Clean energy also delivers energy sovereignty and security. Fossil fuel markets are at the mercy of price shocks, supply disruptions, and geopolitical turmoil, as we saw when Russia invaded Ukraine.

But there are no price spikes for sunlight, no embargoes on wind, and almost every nation has enough renewable resources to be energy self-sufficient.

Finally, clean energy spurs development. It can reach the hundreds of millions of people still living without electricity -- quickly, affordably and sustainably, particularly through off-grid and small-scale solar technologies.

All this makes the clean energy era unstoppable. But the transition is not yet fast or fair enough. Developing countries are being left behind. Fossil fuels still dominate energy systems, and emissions are still rising when they must plummet to avoid the worst of the climate crisis. To fix this, we need action on six fronts.

First, governments must fully commit to the clean energy future. In the coming months, every country has pledged to submit new national climate plans – known as Nationally Determined Contributions – with targets for the next decade. These plans must align with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, cover all emissions and sectors, and lay out a clear path to clean energy. G20 countries, responsible for around 80% of global emissions, must lead.

Second, we must build 21st century

energy systems. Without modern grids and storage, renewable power can’t fulfill its potential. But for every dollar invested in renewable power, just 60 cents go to grids and storage. That ratio needs to be one- to-one.

Third, governments must aim to meet the world’s surging energy demand with renewables. Major tech companies must also play their part. By 2030, data centres could consume as much electricity as Japan does today. Companies should commit to power them with renewables.

Fourth, we must embed justice in the energy transition. This means supporting communities still dependent on fossil fuels to prepare for the clean energy future. And it means reforming critical minerals supply chains. Today, they’re riddled with rights abuses and environmental destruction, and developing countries are trapped at the bottom of value chains. This must end.

Fifth, we must make trade a tool for energy transformation. Clean energy supply chains are highly concentrated and global trade is fragmenting. Countries committed to the new energy era must work to diversify supplies, cut tariffs on clean energy goods, and modernize investment treaties so they support the transition.

Sixth and finally, we must drive finance to developing countries. Africa received just two percent of renewables investment last year, despite having 60% of the world’s best solar resources. We need international action – to prevent debt repayments sucking developing country budgets dry, and to enable multilateral development banks to substantially increase their lending capacity, and leverage far more private finance. We also need credit rating agencies and investors to modernise risk assessments, to account for the promise of clean energy, the cost of climate chaos, and the danger of stranded fossil fuel assets.

A new energy era is within reach – an era where cheap, clean abundant energy powers a world rich in economic opportunity, where nations have the security of energy autonomy, and the gift of electricity is a gift for all.

This is our moment of opportunity to supercharge the global shift. Let’s seize it.

Business Confidence Hit

by Political Turmoil

BY TEAM GT

G

eorgia’s economy is expected to decelerate after a year of exceptionally strong growth, but maintain a solid pace of expansion at 5-6% in 2025 and 2026, based on the European Commission’s latest European Economic Forecast. The report attributes continued momentum to robust domestic demand and the country’s strategic position amidst geopolitical shifts driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

In 2024, Georgia’s GDP surged by 9.4%, powered largely by rising private and public consumption, fueled by wage hikes, employment gains, and growing consumer lending. Investment also grew sharply, supported by favorable business lending conditions and strong public infrastructure spending. However, net exports contributed negatively to growth as rising imports outpaced export gains.

The Commission notes that Georgia continues to benefit from the reallocation of services and trade routes away from Russia, including a notable influx of Russian migrants—particularly highskilled professionals in sectors like IT. Despite the expected slowdown in growth, the economic outlook remains positive, with private consumption forecasted to remain the primary driver, backed by ongoing real wage increases and dynamic consumer credit. Public investment is set to stay strong, though business confidence has weakened significantly in early 2025, reflecting the country’s escalating political tensions.

INFLATION AND EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK Inflation, which fell to 1.1% in 2024 due to prudent monetary policy and subdued imported inflation, is expected to rise to an average of 4% in 2025, before gradually easing back toward the National Bank’s 3% target in 2026. The current price uptick is driven by wage pressures,

exchange rate depreciation, and base effects.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s labor market showed notable improvement. Unemployment dropped from 16.4% in 2023 to 13.9% in 2024, and is forecast to decline further, though at a slower rate. The employment rate rose by 2.5 percentage points to 47.1%, and real wages jumped by 15%—a result of both economic expansion and rising living costs, particularly housing.

EXTERNAL AND FISCAL POSITION Georgia’s current account deficit narrowed to 4.3% of GDP in 2024, supported by stronger service exports—especially from tourism—and a lower net outflow of investment income. However, the deficit is expected to widen slightly in the coming years, as strong import demand is projected to outpace export growth, despite continued gains from tourism.

On the fiscal front, the government posted a 2.1% of GDP deficit in 2024— below the 2.5% budgeted level—thanks to a surge in tax revenues, including increased income tax, gambling fees, and banking sector levies. Although public expenditure also rose, particularly on salaries and interest payments, the overall budget balance remained within the fiscal rule ceiling. The general government deficit is forecast to stay near 2% of GDP in 2025–2026, while the public debt-to-GDP ratio, which stood at 36.1% at the end of 2024, is expected to continue declining.

RISKS REMAIN While the economic outlook remains broadly positive, the report warns of “unusually high uncertainty” stemming from domestic political developments and regional geopolitical tensions, which may negatively impact business sentiment and consumer confidence.

Source: European Economic Forecast, Spring 2025 – European Commission

6

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY

JULY 25 - 31, 2025

From “Ugly” to Iconic: Why the “Rike Tubes” Must Be Preserved Continued from page 1

And they were designed by none other than Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, architects of global acclaim, whose oeuvre includes the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport Terminal 3, the Zenith Music Hall in Strasbourg, and the Milan Trade Fair towers. These are not disposable assets: they are part of an international architectural lineage.

The Rike Tubes were commissioned in 2011 under the administration of thenpresident Mikheil Saakashvili as part of a broader agenda to modernize Georgia’s capital. They were meant to house a concert hall for 600 people and a contemporary art and exhibition space—two civic institutions that Tbilisi has long lacked at scale and accessibility.

The choice of the Fuksas Studio—a rare move toward integrating Tbilisi into the sphere of European avant-garde architecture—was deliberate. The design echoes deconstructivist traditions, but refuses chaos. The asymmetrical steel curves converse with the mountainous skyline; the polished surfaces reflect the light and dust of the Caucasus in ever-changing hues. In other words, the Tubes were meant to be modern, yes—but modern in a way that bends toward Tbilisi’s unique spatial and historical character.

The architectural language used is that of movement: the metallic forms spiral, curve, and lean into each other like bodies in dialogue. This is not aesthetic excess: this is sculpture-as-architecture.

The fact that the buildings have remained inaccessible should not lead to their misrecognition as “non-functional.” The problem lies not in design, but in governance, political discontinuity, and urban mismanagement.

Over €30 million were invested in the Rike project before 2013. Its completion stalled due to political shifts and changing urban priorities. Subsequent governments—eager to distance themselves

from the Saakashvili era—chose symbolic rupture over continuity. In 2016, the site stood completed externally but unfinished within. By 2020, it had been auctioned off in a series of failed attempts, until it was finally sold for a fraction of its cost to businessman Davit Khidasheli.

Since then, the structure has suffered from neglect, speculation, and tragedy.

The tragic death of a teenager who fell into a pit at the neglected site this January is not an indictment of the architecture, but of the absence of maintenance and the abdication of responsibility by successive stakeholders.

The failure to utilize the “tubes” does not make them worthless. On the contrary, they have come to symbolize a type of suspended potential that is rare and valuable in any city: they are unfinished, yes, but not failed. They embody a moment when Tbilisi dared to imagine itself as part of a contemporary global cultural scene. Why would a city destroy its dream merely because it has not yet awoken?

Across the world, buildings once decried as eyesores have become iconic. The Centre Pompidou in Paris was derided as an “oil refinery” when it opened in 1977. Today, it’s an indelible symbol of French artistic life. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao—a shining titanium fish by Frank Gehry—was once thought absurd for an industrial city in decline.

Today, it has not only redefined Bilbao’s economy but global conversations about what cultural architecture can do.

Tbilisi stands at a similar crossroads.

Will it repeat the old provincial reflex of rejecting what it does not immediately understand, or will it take the harder, wiser road of rehabilitating and adapting? Demolishing the Rike Tubes would not be an act of urban renewal, it would be an act of amnesia.

There have already been proposals— serious ones. Wine museums, digital art spaces, international conference halls.

The Rike Tubes. Source: georgianholidays

The location in Rike Park, just steps from the Peace Bridge and the old Presidential Palace, makes the Tubes ideally positioned for a multi-functional public and cultural use.

Rather than replacing them with a hotel—yet another unmemorable structure driven by real estate speculation— why not engage in a public competition for adaptive reuse? Why not invite Georgian and international artists, curators, and architects to imagine their futures

within the existing frame? Why not let the very process of saving the Tubes become a new kind of public urban ritual?

Architecture is not merely infrastructure. It is narrative. It is memory. It is projection. The Rike Tubes are part of a story about Tbilisi’s turn toward the future in the early 21st century. To destroy them would be to erase a chapter, to insist that the future has no place here unless it conforms to the lowest com-

mon denominator of profitability.

Yes, the Tubes have been mismanaged.

Yes, they have stood unused. But cities are allowed to make mistakes. The mistake is not in building them. The mistake would be in destroying them now.

Because, in the end, the Tubes are more than structures. They are a test. Of taste, of memory, of urban courage. Let Tbilisi pass that test with imagination, not demolition. Let the Tubes Speak. They’ve waited long enough.

Photographic Time Travel BLOG BY TONY HANMER

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nter a dream world. See what is normally invisible or unnoticed, but no less real nonetheless.

Recently I wrote here about various experimental photographic and video processes with which I have played.

One of these is the timelapse video, which I want to explore more.

In a timelapse, you are shooting much less than the roughly 28 frames per second which go into a normal-speed video.

It can be any number. I usually go with 1 frame per second for my landscape videos. Then you run the set of frames (usually collected as a video already) at normal speed, and in effect watch a greatly sped-up film of what you were shooting. Typically, your camera is fixed in place, but there are also more complicated setups which move it slowly during the shooting process as well.

You’ll also want, at minimum, a full battery, and at best, mains power to make sure that your device doesn’t run its battery to zero during shooting!

With clouds in a landscape, the effect is hypnotic. You are seeing how each layer of altitude has its own direction of cloud motion, often flowing past each other in different or opposite ways.

Clouds can also form and disappear from and into thin air. And their shadows on the land below will highlight its form as they race across it, especially if it isn’t flat. I have shot many videos straight

Etseri, Svaneti. Photo by the author

from one of our upstairs windows looking at the “mountain wall” across from us, in various weathers and times of day.

The shortest of these are about 30 seconds, representing about an hour of real time; the longest, my masterpiece so far, is nearly 3 minutes from about 6 hours’ footage, actually 6 separate clips which I was able to join seamlessly. I usually simply prop the phone on the windowsill, stabilizing it with a block of wood, doing my best to shelter it from both wind and rain, not even using a tripod.

I also have a list of other places and subjects I want to try, especially iconic Mt. Ushba moving into sunset. For these I’ll have to travel, and have plenty of time and an external battery on my hands,

plus likely the tripod.

Plants growing, and flowers unfolding, are another popular subject. These can be shot indoors or in nature, and typically need much less than 1 frame per second, as their motion is usually slower.

Light can change dramatically, and must be considered.

One thing of which I really want to try a timelapse video is rust forming on flat sheet steel in a slightly damp environment, as still shots of this are a favorite genre of mine already. For this week-long (or longer) process, shooting maybe a few frames per DAY, I’ll need a dedicated camera in a space with the steel which won’t be disturbed the whole time, in which power is provided and light doesn’t

change. Also, the damp must not be a problem for the equipment! Challenging.

But it might never have been shot before, by anyone, so is worth considering.

Advanced timelapse processes move from day to night, bringing in the element of the earth’s rotation and stars moving, often in a direction different from whatever cloud motion there is.

More magic; more challenge as the light levels drop, with additional noise and exposure change to deal with. Add a slowly moving camera to this, and you’ve really got a project on your hands.

The opposite extreme from timelapse video is slow-motion, which shoots many MORE than 28 frames per second of a fast-moving subject. This, too, needs

special setup. But it’s a whole other kind of “time travel,” revealing even more of the unseen or unnoticed world to us.

Even my iPhone 12, with which I shoot the timelapses, can shoot this, at 60 frames per second; more advanced models can shoot at 120. More than that calls for specialist equipment, typically.

There are whole YouTube video channels just for these two and other types of exotic filming; worth seeking out to dazzle your eyes. In the meantime, try it yourself. The thing to realize with all types of experimental photography is its unpredictability. You might start your timelapse shoot with the clouds a certain way; but who can say how they will be 5 minutes from now, let alone 5 hours?

You CAN predict the changes in shadows as the earth rotates, though. So there’s a mix of expected and surprising built in. Have fun with it.

Here is a Google Drive link to my 6-hour/3-minute timelapse, my best yet, a few frames of which go with this article: h t t p s : / /d r i v e . g o o g l e . c o m / file/d/1y3GPHY3risKS2IA4DXRV_0V6 jioSOpv7/view?usp=drive_link Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/ SvanetiRenaissance/ He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti

8

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY

JULY 25 - 31, 2025

Tensions Rise During Eviction on Tvalchrelidze Street Despite Safety Concerns

BY TEAM GT

I

n Tbilisi, tensions flared on Tvalchrelidze Street Thursday during an ongoing eviction process, where three individuals were reportedly detained following a protest. The confrontation was sparked by the arrival of a moving truck, which demonstrators attempted to block from entering the yard of the residential building. Despite repeated instructions from law enforcement to clear the area, the protesters resisted, leading to their removal by patrol officers. It remains unclear whether the individuals were officially detained or simply escorted from the premises.

The scene remained volatile, with heated confrontations and raised voices between local residents and police. The visible police presence only heightened unrest in the area, where residents continue to voice opposition to the eviction.

The National Bureau of Enforcement (NBE) has released a detailed statement regarding the enforcement proceedings at Tvalchrelidze Street No. 1. According to the Bureau, the buildings in question are fully depreciated and present a significant threat to public safety. An expert report from the Samkharauli Forensic Bureau confirms that the load-bearing walls in five residential buildings are severely damaged, posing an imminent risk of collapse.

“The enforcement proceedings were initiated by the National Bureau of

Enforcement on June 11, 2024, following a decision by the Tbilisi City Court,” the statement reads. “In an effort to reach an amicable settlement and protect the interests of all parties involved, the eviction process has been postponed twice through mediation.”

The Bureau emphasized that, in addition to enforcement police, social workers and representatives from its Department for Protection of Parties’ Interests and Mediation have been actively involved. Dozens of visits were made to assess the needs and living conditions of the residents. Requests were submitted to relevant state agencies to provide necessary services and support.

Negotiations with the creditor party have reportedly been ongoing. The creditor, along with state agencies, has offered temporary housing to families residing illegally in the buildings. However, some of these families have declined the assistance.

The Bureau urged all occupants to voluntarily comply with the court’s decision and accept the available support, warning that failure to do so would result in mandatory enforcement measures to uphold property rights and the rule of law.

This eviction comes just a week after a fatal cornice collapse at Station Square, which claimed the lives of two people and reignited public concern over neglected and unsafe residential infrastructure across the city. Authorities have since faced growing pressure to act decisively on buildings deemed hazardous.

Evictions at Tvalchrelidze Street, Tbilisi. Source: 1TV

Kutaisi Airport Faces Sharp Decline if Visa-free Travel is Revoked

Old Town Tbilisi. Source: Advantour

Tourism Rises in Georgia as EU and Israeli Visitors Lead in Spending

BY MARIAM RAZMADZE Kutaisi Airport. Source: 1TV

BY MARIAM RAZMADZE

G

eorgia’s visa-free travel agreement with the European Union has played particularly important role in passenger growth at Kutaisi International Airport, and that progress may now be at risk.

Lasha Berekashvili, founder of Travel

to Georgia, has warned that the airport could lose up to 1 million passengers annually if the EU decides to suspend Georgia’s visa-free regime. “If visa-free travel is canceled, we could see an immediate 76–80% drop in passenger numbers,” Berekashvili stated, emphasizing the potential side effects on tourism, regional employment and airline operations.

Before Georgia gained visa-free access to the EU in 2017, Kutaisi Airport served just 400,000 passengers annually. By

2024, that number had grown to 1.7 million, data from the Association of Georgian Airports shows. This dramatic rise positioned Kutaisi Airport among the top five medium-sized European airports for post-pandemic recovery last year, with passenger traffic up 97% and flights increasing by 76% compared to 2019.

Berekashvili warned that without visafree access, the airport’s rapid growth could reverse and its long-term sustainability may be in jeopardy.

T

he National Bank of Georgia reported that the country earned $1.97 billion from international tourism in the first half of 2025, a 3.8% increase compared to the same period in 2024.

The number of foreign visitors also rose, reaching 2.81 million between January and June. On average, each visitor spent $701 per trip.

Russian tourists accounted for the largest share of revenue, generating $308 million from 581,000 visits. However, visitors from the European Union and Israel outpaced others in per-person spending.

EU travelers spent an average of $1,371 during their stays in Georgia, across 202,000 visits. Israeli tourists topped the list, averaging $1,412 per trip.

In contrast, spending was significantly lower among regional visitors. Armenian tourists spent an average of just $169 per visit, while Turkish visitors spent $484.

Georgia Cures 87,000 Hepatitis C Patients, Expands Hepatitis B Program

BY MARIAM RAZMADZE

H

ealth Minister Mikheil Sarjveladze announced that Georgia’s national Hepatitis C elimination program has successfully treated over 87,000 patients. Calling it a ‘life-saving achievement,’ the Minister emphasized that the program has not only stopped the spread of the disease, but also significantly improved

public health outcomes.

“This means their lives were saved.

The disease stopped spreading, and this is a success,” said Sarjveladze.

He credited the program’s impact to the dedication of medical institutions involved, particularly the Tengiz Tsertsvadze Infectious Diseases, AIDS and Clinical Immunology Research Center, which played a central role in patient treatment and care.

Building on the success of the Hepatitis C initiative, the Georgian government is now intensifying efforts to

A blood sample. Source: Charles B. Wang Community Health Center

manage Hepatitis B. While the disease cannot be completely cured, Sarjveladze noted that with proper care, it can be pushed into remission, significantly reducing health risks.

“Each patient will receive safe treatment, fully financed by the state,” he said, encouraging individuals with Hepatitis B to seek help through the national program. The Minister added that ongoing improvements have been made to treatment protocols and the quality of medication provided.

CULTURE

GEORGIA TODAY JULY 25 - 31, 2025

9

When Sound Resists: TKESHI 2025 and the Poetics of Media in Exile cognitive space. The immersive quality of his performance came not from scale, but from calibration. In a venue with no fixed stage, no seating, and fluctuating crowd density, his piece became a kind of environmental software — shaping the conditions of perception rather than dominating them. This is what media theorist Matthew Fuller calls media ecologies — environments shaped not by content but by process.

REVIEW BY IVAN NECHAEV

T

KESHI 2025 does not take place in the pine-scented sanctuary of Kojori. It takes place in exile. It takes place across the fractured surface of Tbilisi, scattered between rooftops and basements, radio stations and nightclubs. And yet, this year’s edition of Georgia’s foremost new media and experimental sound festival may be its most important — because it stages not only art, but defiance. Denied access to its natural site by Tbilisi City Hall under the vague language of “safety concerns,” TKESHI re-emerges as a nomadic organism, a moving constellation of frequencies and projections, resisting cultural silencing through multiplication.

The transformation of space — from immersive woodland experience to the charged atmospheres of urban soundrooms — reconfigures the festival’s language. In the absence of the forest, the sonic becomes the terrain. The body of the listener is the site. The curatorial gravity of TKESHI 2025 leans into the presence of international artists who function here not as guests, but as coconspirators. Their works, imported across borders, resonate with the local tension and amplify the deeper frequency of unease, vulnerability, and resistance.

NO FOREST, NO PROBLEM? THE POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUND There’s no way to separate TKESHI’s programming from the political climate in which it unfolded. Georgia’s new “foreign agents” law, the shrinking space for independent institutions, and the general sense of institutional inertia have made cultural production in the country increasingly precarious. The fact that a media art and experimental music festival proceeded at all this summer felt like a kind of quiet provocation.

But rather than leaning on overtly activist gestures, TKESHI worked more subtly. The relocation from nature to city — from forest installation to club system — transformed the festival’s media logic. Sound became the medium of spatial critique. The fragmentation of venues (Mutant Radio, Left Bank, TES, Tbili orgia) mirrored the fragmentation of public trust. The program’s layering of ambient, drone, AV performance, and collaborative sets articulated less a genre than a shared orientation: toward decentralization, complexity, and attention.

A number of international artists provided structural weight and texture to the two-day event — not as headliners, but as reference points in an ongoing conversation between local and global experimental practices.

WHAT THE LOCAL SCENE IS ACTUALLY DOING

Photo by the author.

MIZU: CELLO AS DISLOCATION DEVICE MIZU, a cellist and sound artist from New York, doesn’t make ambient music in the traditional sense. Her sound, constructed from multitracked cello, electronic processing, and spatial reverb, lands closer to contemporary chamber music disassembled in real time.

Performing at Tbili orgia just past midnight, she brought something rare to the festival’s otherwise mostly digital ecology: emotional proximity. Her work unfolded in slow gestures, micro-resonances, and momentary climaxes that never overstayed. And yet it never felt sentimental. Her cello wasn’t lyrical — it was architectural, mapping spaces through resonance.

What made MIZU’s performance relevant wasn’t just its sonic palette but its social temperature. It modeled another kind of public intimacy — one rooted in vulnerability and attention. In a time when institutions are failing and language feels depleted, that’s not a side effect: it’s function.

ILPO VÄISÄNEN: THE ANTISPECTACLE AS FORM For audiences familiar with Pan Sonic, Ilpo Väisänen’s performance at Mutant Radio likely carried historical weight.

But it would be a mistake to see his appearance as legacy booking. Väisänen’s set — raw, analog, dub-adjacent — was as much a critique of festival aesthetics as it was a performance.

Working with custom electronics and no-frills signal chains, Väisänen deliv-

AMELIE DUCHOW: AV AS COGNITIVE EXPERIMENT Amelie Duchow, performing at Left Bank under the Goethe-Institut’s cultural program, brought a rigorously conceptual approach to audiovisual media. Her work, grounded in microsound, generative structure, and perceptual play, wasn’t easy to digest. That was the point.

Her performance invited slow cognition. Sounds hovered at the edge of audibility. Visuals emerged as if from peripheral vision. The work wasn’t designed to entertain but to recalibrate — your hearing, your attention span, your assumptions about what a performance is supposed to do. Duchow’s inclusion also pointed to a broader, often overlooked aspect of media art: its ability to model epistemological alternatives.

At a time when official narratives are collapsing and information systems are being manipulated, a practice rooted in ambiguity and layered perception becomes politically legible.

GRISCHA LICHTENBERGER:

DIGITAL MATERIALISM AND EMOTIONAL LAG Grischa Lichtenberger’s set at TES was perhaps the most explicitly philosophical. A longtime affiliate of Raster, and trained in philosophy and art history, his work is often described as “difficult” — fragmented, glitch-heavy, and emotionally oblique.

But at TKESHI, that difficulty became a mode of clarity. In a venue with unpredictable lighting and improvised acoustics, his materials (disrupted loops, partial melodies, algorithmic edits) spoke directly to the condition of the festival itself. Lichtenberger’s sound didn’t pretend to be finished. It exposed its scaffolding. There’s something useful in that.

Amid a cultural sector where surface polish is often mistaken for professionalism, Lichtenberger’s aesthetic of damage — of things breaking, recovering, repeating — felt honest. Not performatively so, but functionally.

MONOCOLOR: IMMERSION WITHOUT IMMERSIONISM Vienna-based MONOCOLOR filled the TES main stage with a fully immersive audiovisual set built on generative processes. His work — award-winning, meticulously coded, algorithmically evolving — had all the hallmarks of what media art often tries (and sometimes fails) to be: hypnotic, precise, spatially expansive.

But MONOCOLOR’s genius lies in his restraint. His visuals didn’t overwhelm.

They unfolded. His sound design — modular, spatial, paced — respected

THE MEDIUM IS THE SITUATION One of the quiet successes of TKESHI 2025 was how well it functioned as an implicit critique of media infrastructure.

The whole event read like a case study in how cultural practice adapts when public institutions fail.

Take the venues themselves: independent, semi-formal, embedded in the city’s nightlife circuit but not reducible to club culture. Take the artists: working across live coding, AV, drone, glitch, and sitespecific installation. Take the audience: neither mass nor niche, but something in-between — a distributed community organized more by interest than identity.

In the absence of funding, security guarantees, or even stable electricity in some cases, the TKESHI team managed to produce a temporary public. And not just any public: one attuned to nuance, error, duration.

FESTIVALS WITHOUT STAGES

RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI: MEMORY AS FREQUENCY A longtime figure in ambient and drone music, Rafael Anton Irisarri is often described in visual terms — oceanic, cinematic, immersive. But what he delivered at Left Bank on July 17 was something more tactile. His compositions, layered from bowed guitar, tape loops, and degraded field recordings, didn’t just wash over the crowd. They pressured it.

What made his set resonate in the context of TKESHI wasn’t the usual ambient vocabulary of softness or slowness. It was the way his music enacted a kind of sonic archaeology — a method of excavation. His textures felt built on buried signals, half-erased messages, shared atmospheres that refused to resolve. In a post-Soviet space where architecture itself often seems haunted by interrupted futures, Irisarri’s music didn’t offer escape.

It offered fidelity — to loss, to duration, to the low hum of structural decay.

ered one of the most materially grounded sets of the weekend. There was no drama, no arc, no gesture toward climax. Instead, the music did something subtler: it occupied the room, reconfiguring audience attention around texture, pulse, friction.

In a festival that had just lost its venue due to government intervention, this anti-spectacular mode felt like more than an aesthetic choice. It felt like a theory of presence — showing up, staying low, making noise anyway.

If international guests gave the festival legibility, Georgian artists gave it direction. This year’s edition suggested that the local experimental scene has become less about genre identity and more about methods: distributed authorship, improvisational curation, and collaborative forms of technological literacy.

Artists like Nikakoi Atlas, Mariam Songulashvili, Idealproblems, and Progenol appeared in multiple constellations — sometimes solo, sometimes in hybrid sets. This recombinatory logic isn’t just pragmatic (in a scene with limited resources, artists necessarily wear multiple hats); it’s also aesthetic. The emphasis is on process, not brand. Sound as practice, not product.

The sprawling multi-artist lineup at Tbili orgia, particularly on July 18, functioned less like a party and more like an ecosystem. What happens when twenty artists, many of them emerging or experimental, rotate through a two-floor space with overlapping time slots and shared gear? Something less like a performance and more like a distributed composition.

At its best, it felt like collective media — not in the utopian sense, but in the sense of shared constraint.

Photo by the author.

The real story of TKESHI 2025 is not the forest it lost but the network it built. And perhaps this is the more durable form. When a festival is forced to operate without a central stage, it becomes a kind of laboratory — for how music circulates, how people gather, how art responds to the texture of the present.

In the language of media theory, TKESHI has moved from being a “site-specific” event to a “situation-specific” one. It responds not to location but to condition. And this condition — one of aesthetic experimentation amid civic uncertainty — may be the defining context for cultural production in Georgia for the foreseeable future.

TKESHI doesn’t offer solutions. It offers forms. It tests whether a media festival can be both locally embedded and globally coherent, politically aware without being dogmatic, and artistically ambitious without being self-serious. That it managed all this — in a moment of overt repression and logistical chaos — is its most important accomplishment. And that it sounded, at times, quietly brilliant — that’s just a bonus.

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CULTURE

GEORGIA TODAY

JULY 25 - 31, 2025

Inmates of Georgia in ‘Don Quixote of La Mancha’

Gocha Kvichia

REVIEW BY NUGZAR B. RUHADZE

T

his sensational event took place less than a week ago at the Kote Marjanishvili State Academic Drama Theater in Tbilisi. The house was packed to capacity, and the atmosphere was charged with anticipation.

Local theatergoers could hardly wait to see regular prisoners take the stage in the famous roles of Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, Dulcinea del Toboso, the imaginative Rocinante, and others. Convicts appearing as thespians has been a common occurrence in various parts of the world for some time now, but seeing them on a prestigious stage like Marjanishvili was both surprising and, to many, previ-

ously unimaginable.

What that segment of the Georgian people—some on stage, others in the audience—achieved together that evening transcended the ordinary routines of life. It was truly something exceptional: the theatrical expression exquisitely subtle, emotions elevated, and the applause uniquely resonant. The feeling was that all of us had reached a peak of humane elevation, marked by decorum, kindness, and sincerity. This cherished event sent a clear signal to the world that this land is a genuine part of civilization, presenting itself with unaffected authenticity.

Finally, the curtain rose, and the masterpiece unfolded before our eyes: perfectly crafted scenery, stunning costumes, enchanting music, and an outstanding performance. The next day, the internet was abuzz with commentary, showering

the actors, directors, designers, and backstage contributors with countless compliments. One comment stood out in particular: someone suggested that the Georgian Dream party had staged the show and falsely presented it as a performance by prisoners, when in fact the cast consisted of professional actors. Ironically, this laughable accusation serves as a real triumph for those talented inmates, whose masterful performances made it difficult to believe they weren’t professionals. Indeed, a couple of professionals were involved in the production, which only added further charm and authenticity to the event.

The project was the brainchild of Neli Badalashvili, a Marjanishvili Theater actress, who made it her professional and personal mission to bring inmates onto a professional stage. Incidentally, Neli

performed alongside the inmates, whom she now considers lifelong friends. She says she wants to continue working with them indefinitely.

Don Quixote of La Mancha was directed

by Gocha Kvichia, a convict himself and, interestingly, the grandson of the late Georgian comedian Ipolite Khvichia. As announced, this remarkable production is expected to remain in the repertoire for quite some time. In truth, Neli Badalashvili is the heart and soul of the entire endeavor. The idea was hers—she conducted the casting, found the director, and created every possible condition for him to work effectively. The results were immediate: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra—the eminent Spanish author widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world’s foremost novelists—is now represented on the Georgian stage, brought to life by this country's inmates.

The event stands morally, spiritually, socially, and politically justified, and this exceptional practice should be continued.

The audience responded with a standing ovation and several curtain calls. After the show, an elated public formed a corridor of honor through which the performers passed and were warmly celebrated. Immediately following the performance, the Minister of Justice of Georgia, Paata Salia, addressed both the audience and the actors. The Georgian Orthodox Church honored the perform-

Neli Badalashvili

ers with official commendations for their outstanding work and sincere dedication to art and the public—each signed personally by His Holiness Ilia II, CatholicosPatriarch of All Georgia.

Actress Neli Badalashvili was once again at the helm, elevating the entire event to the level of high art and the incident of truly national significance. Neli’s patriotism is no surprise to our people – she is an active member of the Queen Ketevan Society of Sakartvelo, founded by the Georgian historian and researcher Tamar Parchukidze. As a matter of fact, the friendship and cooperation of these two notable Georgian ladies have contributed to the effort of popularizing the described piece of Georgian culture.

CULTURE

GEORGIA TODAY JULY 25 - 31, 2025

11

From Auction Spotlight to International Stages: Catching Up with Natalia Lashki, BI Auction Winner and Rising Art Voice

Artwork by Natalia Lashkhi

Artist Natalia Lashkhi

borders and found resonance across continents.

BY TEAM GT

I

n our exclusive series spotlighting the winners of the BI Auction Competition “For Young Artists,” GEORGIA TODAY reconnects with standout talents who are shaping the future of contemporary art.

Organized by the BI Auction House, this unique annual platform has been instrumental in identifying and supporting Georgia’s emerging artists, offering them visibility among collectors and international art circles. The initiative goes beyond sales: it provides mentorship, recognition, and a career springboard for many. We continue our series with 2020–2021 BI Auction winner Natalia Lashki, whose expressive, thought-driven work has since crossed

YOU WERE THE BI AUCTION COMPETITION WINNER IN 2020–2021. LOOKING BACK, HOW DID THIS MOMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ARTISTIC JOURNEY? WHAT NEW OPPORTUNITIES AROSE IN GEORGIA OR ABROAD AFTER THAT PERIOD? BI Auction is truly a remarkable project that plays a vital role in supporting young Georgian artists. It provides a unique opportunity to present our art to a wider audience and encourages us to continue developing our creative vision. I am extremely happy to have participated in this auction over several years, and being the winner in 2020–2021 was an unforgettable experience.

At that time, I was still a student, so having the opportunity to exhibit and sell my artworks to respected art collectors was incredibly valuable. I’m deeply grateful for the platform and exposure it provided.

After 2020, my career has been quite dynamic. I’ve participated in solo and group exhibitions, and have been involved in international projects, plein airs, and artist residencies in Germany (Dresden), Malta (Valletta), and Lithuania (Neringa, Nida and Troškunai). My works are now part of private collections not only in Georgia but also in Germany, Austria, Turkey, the USA, UAE, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, and China.

Since 2024, I have taken on a new and important role as a lecturer at the Apollon Kutateladze Tbilisi State Academy of Art. Teaching and sharing my knowledge with students has become a deeply fulfilling aspect of my journey.

HOW DO YOU PERCEIVE THE CURRENT STATE OF CONTEMPORARY ART AND THE ARTIST’S ROLE TODAY? Contemporary art has become an inseparable part of everyday life. New artworks are being created every moment, constantly shaping and reshaping our visual

culture. For me, it’s about focusing inward: listening to my thoughts, diving deep into what matters most, and staying true to that exploration. That’s the only way to remain unique and create something truly meaningful.

very personal project, and I’m excited to share it soon.

In addition, one of my recent artworks has been selected by Ria Bid for a live auction this autumn. I'm looking forward to seeing how the piece resonates with new audiences.

WHAT UPCOMING PROJECTS OR EVENTS ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON? I’ve been working on several series over the past 4–5 years, and I’m currently preparing for a solo exhibition. The theme will center around existential issues, particularly reflecting on my inner state and emotional landscapes. It’s a

Archaeological Expedition Launched at Historic Rustavi Fortress Site tlement as early as the 4th century BCE, alongside other ancient cities such as Mtskheta, Uplistsikhe and Urbnisi.

An official ceremony was held in Rustavi, attended by Tea Oniani, Director General of the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia, and her deputy, Paata Gaprindashvili.

Rustavi Mayor Nino Latsabidze presented the project alongside Members of Parliament Irakli Shatakishvili and Aleksandre Dalakishvili. In her remarks, Latsabidze emphasized the expedition’s historical importance and how it can potentially help the city’s cultural narrative.

It was also emphasized that the project prioritized involving young people in cultural heritage efforts, with speakers mentioning the need to encourage youth engagement in archaeology.

BY MARIAM RAZMADZE

A

major archaeological expedition has began in Rustavi with the aim of studying the remains of a palace dating back to the 9th–12th centuries, recently discovered on the grounds of the city’s historic fortress.

The project is supported by Georgia’s Ministry of Culture and the Rustavi Municipality, and is set to become the biggest archaeological initiative in the city’s history.

The area surrounding Rustavi Fortress is known to be one of the oldest inhabited sites in the region, with traces dating back to the Middle Bronze Age. Historical records mention Rustavi as an urban set-

An official ceremony was held in Rustavi. Source: 1TV

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