The artist Zinaïda Tchelidze brings together different voices to celebrate the complex ritual of Georgian Supra – a traditional feast in her native country that has become an inspiration. 

Tchelidze is interested in what the elements of social gatherings can reveal when observed in different contexts. Using a performative table, she explores the phenomenon of hospitality and its different forms in relation to time and social conditioning. 

“Mastering Ceremonies” unfolds over time through the work of fifteen intergenerational Georgian artists who have woven their own expressions into this performative vessel with their “unique toasts”. Back in Belgium, Tchelidze sets the table in another cultural context, inviting performers who are not familiar with this tradition  to get involved, assume different roles and perform ceremonial acts.

Zinaïda Tchelidze (b.1982, Georgia) is an artist and educator, working mainly with sculpture and installation. She obtained an MA in printmaking and art in public space from the Royal Academy of Fine Art of Brussels. Tchelidze is interested in performative aspects of exchange and sharing. She engages with recurring gestures, intertwines them throughout installations to explore spatial constraints, notions of collectiveness and isolation. As part of her collaborative practice she works with craftspeople, scientists, and artists to test the boundaries between creativity and (not)knowing. Inspired by the traditional Georgian feast (supra), she has been organising the “Rubeli” performative table questioning the phenomenon of hospitality and exchange, and their different forms in relation to time and social conditioning.

Tchelidze lives and works in Brussels. She has exhibited at various venues such as Art Antwerp fair for the representation of the FW-B (2022); SB34-Clovis, Brussels (2022); Het Paviljoen, Ghent (2021); Morpho, Antwerp Art Weekend (2021); DuflonRacz, Brussels (2019, 2020); Vanderborght Building, Brussels (2019); CENTRALE for contemporary art, Brussels (2019); World Trade Center, Brussels (2018), among others.

Performers: Ivan Cheng, Anouchka Oler Nussbaum, Marjolein Schepers. 
Artists: Lia Bagratioini, Uta Bekaia, Sophie Ko Chkheidze, Irine Djibuti, Andro Eradze, Merab Gugunashvili, Mari Kalabegashvili, Lado Lomitashvili, David Natidze, Grigol Nodia, Juri Svanidze, Sophia Tabatadze/Nona Otarashvili-Becher, Tamuna Chabashvili/Nona Otarashvili-Becher, Lasha Zambakhidze.

In the frame of Europalia Georgia
Withe the support of the National Wine Agency Georgia