Digital Solitude Assembly in Tiflis from October 21 to 24, 2022

The »Digital Solitude Assembly Tbilisi« is a project that emerged from the Digital Solitude network and its 2022 festival edition »Fragile Solidarity/Fragile Connections.« Untitled Gallery Tbilisi invites Digital Solitude and former web residents and imitator of the current call »Magical Hackerism«, Juan Pablo García Sossa, as well as artists from their community to foster exchange and dialogue between the Digital Solitude network and artist communities from the South Caucasian region.

The assembly takes place in the framework of the Tbilisi Architecture Biennale 2022, which focuses on post-Soviet »temporalities« surrounding living spaces, scarce resources, political instability, wars, or means of income. The Biennale addresses present circumstances that do not adhere to concepts of permanence and conceptual stability. Zhe assembly aims to respond to the themes of Tbilisi Architecture Biennale, adding a perspective of the possibilities/constraints of digital »built« environments and their temporality. Where do unstable temporalities stand in this period of transition of both political and digital systems? What is the role of the artists in constructing new utopias to overcome, hack, embrace, or work with those unstable patterns?

Since its founding in 2016, the Digital Solitude program has established a formidable network. The program acknowledges a lack of exchange with the South Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan), which is why it’s important for all partners to meet in Tbilisi and explore the possibilities of web-based projects such as Akademie Schloss Solitude’s Web Residency program. This residency brings together artists, researchers, and activists to develop new narratives and visions around digital media and technologies, and to promote works by South Caucasian artists working with digital media.

The assembly will kick off with a joint exhibition at Untitled Gallery Tbilisi at 7 pm on October 21, 2022, and will continue with discussions, talks, presentations, and joint working sessions for three more days.

With contributions by von Salina Abaza, Thomas Dumke, Vusala Hajiyeva, Ksenia Nam, Theodolous Polyviou with Jazmina Figueroa, Giorgi Rodionov, Juan Pablo García Sossa, Denise Helene Sumi, and Tatev Tsokolakyan (represented by Diana Sardaryan).

A collaboration between Digital Solitude, CYNETART Platform, and Untitled Gallery Tbilisi.

The project is supported by the Goethe-Institut Georgien, and the TMA Hellerau. It is cofinanced by Akademie Schloss Solitude and the CREATIVE Europe program of the European Union within the framework of the New Cross-National Temporality Project (NCNTP).