Opening program

After four years of the full restoration, the State Silk Museum will be officially opened on October 9, 2024. The date is symbolic, because the foundation of the museum building was laid exactly 135 years ago, on October 9, 1889. As one of the oldest museums of the Caucasus, it is a unique institution that preserves and develops the accumulated knowledge about silk production in Georgia.

The opening event, supported by the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF - Association internationale des maires francophones), will pay special attention to the heritage of the museum and its modern significance. Together with the Tbilisi Development Fund, AIMF is the co-sponsor of the museum building restoration.

The State Silk Museum preserves the historical and cultural heritage of sericulture and develops it with a modern interpretation. For the ceremonial opening, an updated exposition of historical collections and thematic temporary exhibitions will be presented, which will introduce the visitors to the important research projects carried out in parallel with the museum's restoration.

 From October 9th to 11th, entry to the museum will be free of charge.
 October 9 - Museum opening - 18:00-21:00
 On October 10, the museum will be open from 11:00 to 20:30
 From October 11, the museum's working hours will be 11:00-18:00.
 The museum will be closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Program

October 9, 2024, 18:00-21:00

After 4 years of the full restoration, the State Silk Museum opens its doors to the visitors again. The museum will celebrate this important moment in a renovated space with invited guests. Representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Tbilisi City Hall and Tbilisi Development Fund will be invited.

19:00-19:30

- Welcome speech of the museum director - Nino Kuprava;

- Speeches by invited guests.

Exhibitions - display of the research-based projects

Opening of the museum's historical, permanent collection

The public will be able to view the museum's main permanent exhibition, which, among others,  includes restored museum collections from the 2023 Europalia International Festival in Liege, Belgium.

In the central hall Tamuna Chabashvili's installation "Traveling Stories" from the series "Boundaries of Vulnerability" (2023) will be temporarily shown, which  took part in the Europalia exhibition "Silk" together with the museum. The work will be exhibited in an adapted form and echoes the silk museum's archive and the industrial textiles preserved in the museum's textile collection.

Temporary Exhibition:

Silk Chronicles: From Padua to the Soviet Era

Within the framework of the Horizon Europe ARACNE project

Second floor, temporary exhibition hall

The exhibition presents rare infographics from the Italian city of Padua of the beginning of the 20th century and propaganda posters printed in Georgia during the Soviet period of the 1950s. Visual materials created at different times and places served educational purposes in the field of sericulture. This collection, exhibited for the first time, brings together historical moments and issues of design, politics, education.

"Casting an  Echo: The Architecture of Sericulture"

First  floor, temporary exhibition hall

State Silk Museum glass plate negative collection digitization was an important project, which was carried out with the support of the German artist Olaf Nicolai and the curator Nina Akhvlediani. The coordinator of the project was Salome Phachuashvili, museum collection curator. The exhibition presents the digitization process as well as the documentation of the publication "Seri (A)" developed in parallel with it. The exposition contains materials of the exhibition "Casting an Echo: The Architecture of Sericulture" held at the Goethe Institute in 2023.

"Taxonomies of Power: Photographic Encounters at the State Silk Museum, Tbilisi"

Curators: Alaina Claire Feldman, Mariam Shergelashvili

Shown at New York's Mishkin Gallery in the spring of 2024, this exhibition will move to the State Silk Museum's renovated exhibition space with the support of the show co-curator, Mishkin Gallery Director Alaina Claire Feldman. The exhibition will present biology of the silkworm depicted in the museum's glass plate negative collection. The exhibition at the intersection of science and art presents how the museum collection engages the broad themes of power, identity and cultural production through photography.

Public events

October 10, 2024

Tours of temporary exhibitions

17:30-18:30

Casting an  Echo: The Architecture of Sericulture - Nina Akhvlediani, Olaf Nicolai; Presenting all three editions of Seri(a).

"Taxonomies of Power: Photographic Encounters at the State Silk Museum, Tbilisi"

Curators: Alaina Claire Feldman, Mariam Shergelashvili - book presentation

Project in focus

18:30-19:30

"Texts as Cultural Treasures"

Library project, supported by the US Embassy in Georgia.

Curators: Lydia Matthews, Nino Kuprava, Mariam Shergelashvili;

Participating artists - Nino Kvrivishvili, God Era (Nino Goderidze), Mariam Zaldastanishvili, Stacey Steers and John Romano, Mary Tsiongas and Jim Roeber, GE Patterson.

19:30-20:30

Presentation of the architectural project.

Nino Tchachkhiani, architect, author of the restoration project