Tsulukiani vs Zurabishvili
The Georgian Ministry of Culture ordered a general inspection in the administration of the country’s President Salome Zurabishvili, allegedly to return five artworks from the Palace of Arts that were temporarily handed over to the Presidential Administration.
“One of the pieces has very little damage; it will be restored, and then it will be discussed whether it should be returned to the Presidential Palace or not,” said a representative of the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Culture.
background
On February 4, at the exhibition “Self-Portrait with a Mirror” in the National Gallery, artist Sandro Sulaberidze removed his own work from the wall and wrote in its place the sentence “Art is alive and independent”.
The police sued the artist under the article about theft, which caused significant damage.
The head of the exhibitions department, Alexander Gabunia, said that it doesn’t matter to the law who exactly removed the work from the exhibition. According to Gabunia, he himself reported the incident to the police because “if someone picks up Pirosmani tomorrow, you’ll be the first to ask me about it, and you’re right.”
An artist rally was held near the National Gallery on February 12, to which President Salome Surabishvili responded on her Facebook page:
“Twenty police cars in the backyard of the Blue Gallery… Can an artist pose such a threat to the state???? It reminds us of another era and really puts modern Georgia to shame!”
Policemen in front of the National Gallery
Protest in front of the National Gallery. Photo: Gvantsa Jobava
After the post of Georgia’s culture minister was taken over by Tea Tsulukiani, one of the country’s most influential officials, officials in that department have complained about political purges and attempts to introduce censorship and interference in the creative process.
This is not the first conflict between Minister of Culture Tea Tsulukiani and the President of Georgia. On July 25, 2022, Tsulukiani stated that Zurabishvili had interfered with her and the country as a whole while considering a lawsuit against Russia in the Strasbourg court.
Tsulukiani says the president did not help her, only hindered her, when she defended Georgia’s interests as justice minister and state representative in Strasbourg.
Since January 2022 there have been protests against the culture minister in Georgia. Among other things, cultural workers started an online petition in which they called for Tsulukiani’s resignation.
The reason for this were several scandalous decisions by the Ministry of Culture. For example, the decision to demolish the old building of the art museum and the dismissal of employees of the museum who were critical of the regime, as well as the scandal surrounding a book published by the literature museum.
