3 - 18 May
Gathering and Window Project are pleased to present Sports Illustrated which integrates artworks by Tamara K.E and Gia Edzgveradze, taking the interpolation of competition and play in the realm of sports as its starting point.
Both Tamara K.E and Gia Edzgveradze are vital representatives of Georgia’s art scene, spanning two generations. While K.E. moved to Europe as a teenager and studied at art academies in Munich and Dusseldorf, starting her career in the early 2000s and Edzgveradze emerged onto the international art scene following the fall of the Berlin Wall, becoming a significant figure within Independent Georgia’s cultural sphere, they both represented Georgia at the Venice Biennale, Edzgveradze in 1997 and K.E. in 2003. In the 2000s, alongside former Georgian and Western students of Edzgveradze, the couple initiated the artist collective “Everything is Alright,” successfully staging happenings and performances in Western Europe. Edzgveradze humorously describes the dynamic of the group’s amalgamation: “We aimed for truth as our guiding principle through art but unintentionally found commercial success under the beneficial influence of the Western art world.”
Beyond their shared involvement in the emergence of Georgia’s contemporary art scene following the collapse of the Soviet Union, K.E. and Edzgveradze are life partners. Sports Illustrated will mark their first two-person exhibition. Fittingly, the dynamics that operate beneath the surfaces of sport and play—power, desire, negotiation, and creativity— are essential to the maintenance of close relationships. Viewing the work of the two artists and partners side by side prompts us to consider the ways in which competition and play act as microcosms of the entanglements of eros, ambition, and social structures fundamental to our interpersonal relationships.
Drawing an ironic parallel with the eponymous magazine known for its celebration of athletic prowess as well as its infamous annual swimsuit issue, Sports Illustrated ventures beyond the surface to unravel the patterns of competition, success, power and desire that underpin the world of sports. At the very heart of these drives lies the primal force of eros and its manifestation, libido, compelling every living being to compete for space, recognition, and superiority. Across the spectrum of living things, at the heart of the struggle to live, is the struggle to win - whether it’s the fight for territory among plants or the pursuit of glory among competing athletes. The approach to life as a zero-sum game acts as a foundation for the patriarchal structuring of our world, fuelled by the innate urge for self-affirmation and self-preservation.
Within the intensity of competition, one of the ideas of the exhibition is to propose a counterpoint: the notion of play. When transforming competition into play, the focus shifts from the pursuit of victory to the joy of engagement. It celebrates the process rather than the outcome – emphasising the inherent pleasure found in the act of play itself. It challenges the notion of competition as the sole driving force behind human behaviour, suggesting that joy and creativity are even more fundamental to our existence than competition. By embracing play, new possibilities and modes of interaction are opened, transcending the limitations imposed by competitive ideologies.Play is characterised by spontaneity, creativity, and a sense of liberation from the constraints of competition. It invites participants to explore, experiment and express themselves freely, unburdened by the pressure to win or succeed. Through Sports Illustrated, the viewers are invited to confront the complexities of human ambition and societal structures, challenging conventional narratives while offering a vision of liberation and renewal.