Lecture: Guia Rigvava,

The Tbilisi Public Art Fund is pleased to present a series of author lectures by artist Guia Rigvava and the first event, titled 'A Work of Art and its Price.'

The lecture will explore how, when, and under what conditions the price of an artwork was formed. It will examine how and when the creation of an artwork, as a professional activity, became separated from other forms of labor. What changes followed this separation, and how the artwork came to be defined as a distinct and exceptional product, along with the corresponding mechanisms of evaluation.

The discussion will also address what constitutes the price of an artwork today — where and how it is formed, transformed, and stabilized. Finally, it will consider the role played by the key institutions of the art system in these processes.

Free Admission

Multimedia artist Gia Rigvava (b. 1956, Tbilisi) works across painting, video, performance, and media art. He received his education at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (1978) and the Surikov State Academic Art Institute (1986).

Since the 1980s–90s, Rigvava has been actively involved on the contemporary art scene in the post-Soviet context. His early works were often connected to independent cinema and experimental media, reflecting themes of social transformation and cultural identity during a transitional era.

His works have been exhibited at major institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Berlin, and the National Gallery 'Jeu de Paume' in Paris. The artist’s creative practice has been supported by numerous prestigious fellowships and residencies, including a visiting scholar position at the University of California, San Diego, as well as grants from the Jürgen Ponto Foundation and the Soros Foundation.

His works are included in important publications dedicated to contemporary and video art, including Art in Europe 1990–2000 (Skira Editore, Milan, 2002) and Fresh Cream (Phaidon Press, 2000).

Since 2006, Gia Rigvava has been living and working in Vienna, where he continues to explore the language of contemporary art, culture, and perception through various media.