David Chikhladze: Georgian Poetry of the 1900s and Its Origins

The article briefly examines modernist and avant-garde tendencies in Georgian poetry from the early 20th century to the present day, discussing the connections, similarities, and differences in this tradition, rooted in the symbolism of the Tsisperkantselebi (Blue Horns) group, the simplified ashugh song poetics of the Tbilisi Guilds, and the radical futurist experiments of Ilya Zdanevich and Nikoloz Chachava, and, as a distant echo, analyzes Georgian free verse of the 1970s and neo-avant-garde or postmodern poetry of the 1980s–1990s.

David Chikhladze, Georgian Poetry of the 1900s and Its Origins (download here)

Poet and theater director David Chikhladze was born in 1962 in Tbilisi. His poems and critical essays have been published in Georgian literary periodicals since 1981. He has published several poetry collections: “8 Haiku” (1992), “Wandering Drops” (2001), “December Nights” (2008), “Книга реальности” (The Book of Reality, 2004, in Russian), as well as the novel “Feminine/Feminine” (2007).

His poems have been included in numerous anthologies and collections, including “An American Avant Garde: Second Wave” (Ohio State University, 2002, USA), the journal “Salz” (2004, Austria), “Emergency Gazette” (2000, USA), “Three Green Tea” (2004, USA), “Sanzona Girls” (2015, USA), “Dagbladet” (Norway), “Stroker, Missivves” (France), “Beorama” (Yugoslavia), and “Dekorativnoe Isskustvo; Gumanitarni Fond” (Russia), among others.

In 1989, he founded Tbilisi’s first independent “Alternative Art Gallery,” which was reviewed extensively in the United States the same year (Kim Levin, Connoisseur, 1989). Since 1994, he has led Margo Korablyova’s Performance Theater in Tbilisi. In 2000–2001, he presented theatrical works at the legendary New York theater Collective: Unconscious. From 2002 to 2004, he collaborated with the New York theater Repetti Chocolate Factory during its formative stage.

His video design for the performances “Audit, Drowning Man” and “Fundamental” received positive reviews in the New York theater press. In 2006, he presented his own “lexicon method” of electronic poetry writing at the City University of New York (CUNY). In 2006–2007, he trained with Richard Foreman in the Ontological-Hysteric Theater production “Wake Up Mr. Sleepy! Your Unconscious Mind Is Dead!”.

In June 2025, four selected performances from the 1990s were restaged with 13 reconstructions in Switzerland, in collaboration with American artist Sir Serpas, as part of the Art Basel week, during his exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel.