Poetry in Motion: Erekle Deisadze, Traveler's Angel

The Tbilisi Public Art Fund is pleased to present a new initiative, Poetry in the Metro, and its first collaboration, Traveler’s Angel, with poet and musician Erekle Deisadze.

Within the framework of the project, the artist shares his research on Georgian poetry of the 1990s–2000s, focusing on three authors: Karlo Kacharava, David Chikhladze, and Shota Iatashvili. Excerpts selected by Erekle Deisadze from these poets’ works will be displayed inside Tbilisi Metro carriages, transforming the metro’s everyday functional space into a literary field where poetry temporarily leaves the pages of books and merges directly with the rhythm of the city and the experience of its passengers.

Poetic texts appearing in metro carriages replacing commercial advertising acquire new meanings within the contemporary urban environment. In this way, the project creates a dialogue between past and present, between personal and collective memory, and presents poetry as something living, moving, and accessible to all.

Erekle Deisadze: “The poets presented here, beyond being children of the same era, defined the poetic landscape of that period through their individual voices and distinct forms—a landscape that, over time, managed to gain legitimacy within culture. Today, these texts allow us to assess that reality from a distance, the people of that time with their challenges and emotions.”

The Fund began its collaboration with poet and musician Erekle Deisadze within the framework of its educational program, when the artist presented a series of author-led lectures titled Georgian Poetry Revisited to senior students at various public and private schools in Tbilisi. Georgian Poetry Revisited focused on the work of twentieth-century Georgian poets and aimed to develop students’ artistic skills and to open up new ways of reading and engaging with the school curriculum.