Casting an Echo: Architecture of Sericulture

The State Silk Museum archival collection of the glass plate negatives was fully digitized in 2021 with the support of the  Goethe-Zentrum Baku, initiated by German artist Olaf Nicolai and curator Nina Akhvlediani. The artist Olaf Nicolai has responded to an invitation to work in the Silk Museum’s archives and proposed the development of a platform SERI(a) for the institution’s various publishing activities. In light of the fact that Georgia no longer has a silk industry, researching and studying the country's sericultural past has gained an even greater significance. Photographs presented from the Silk Museum’s recently digitized collection constitute a precious resource through which to explore cultural, economic and social references related to Silk production in the South Caucasus. 

The exhibition presents the archival material selected through the digitization process, along with the documentation of the SERI(a) publication developed in parallel. The exposition also includes materials from the exhibition Casting an Echo: Architecture of Sericulture held at the Goethe-Institut Georgia in 2021, adapted to the museum space. Noteworthy is the photographic work of Italian photographer Giovanna Silva, which captures the museum’s interior and exterior prior to the start of the rehabilitation. After the complete renovation and restoration of the museum building, this material has become an invaluable archive.

Concept: Nina Akhvlediani and Olaf Nicolai

Curator: Nina Akhvlediani 

Photographs: Giovanna Silva 

Exhibition design: Helmut Völter in collaboration with Nina Akhvlediani and Olaf Nicolai

Posters: Olaf Nicolai in collaboration with Helmut Völter