Oli’s interviewv’s
Georgian version
ოლის ინტერვიუ ანდრო დადიანთან
author: Oli Kvateladze
Artist Andro Dadiani started his creative career in 2017. His works are mainly devoted to the study of social topics and reflect on current events in the country, acute political or public dilemmas. The artist describes himself as a performance artist and a poet and works in a variety of media including installation, photography and sculpture.
Andros’ works are often exhibited in Georgia and abroad, including Open Space, Tbilisi State Academy of the Fine Arts, Tbilisi Oxygen, Tbilisi Online Biennale, Warsaw Gallery Weekend. Since 2020, the artist has been creating a series of performances, ‘Worker’, in collaboration with Kunsthalle Tbilisi. In 2021, Andro published his first collection of poems, ‘Purgatorio’.
Tell us a bit about yourself, how did you arrive to performance art, is it in relation to your profession?
My profession is to observe life carefully, constant examination and therefore, perpetual spiritual tension, so, slowly, life takes shape by itself. A profession is a means of technical implementation of a thought, but I cannot even guess which profession I should have studied and what faculty I should have applied to. Every idea of an artwork dictates itself which technique or material to use.
Andro Dadiani is a pseudonym, you hide your name and face on purpose, you use different masks during the performances, when did you decide to hide your identity and what does it relate to?
The world is overwhelmed and tired of remembering faces, names and surnames. I wanted to be anonymous, Andro Dadiani was to be a conditional sign and not a specific one. It also had other reasons too, but I have said it many times already and I will not repeat myself.
Out of gallery
Your performances often reflect on the current social or political events, for example: ‘Silence kills’, ‘Thicker Skin’, ‘Crossed Fingers’. What role does contemporary art play in the correct perception of events?
Does anyone know what is right and wrong? Or if there is such a thing, who has decided imperatively that the artist should serve the correct perceptions? My attempt is to articulate my own opinion, which suggests that there may be other opinions in the world, and if someone else’s opinions do not match mine, there is a spark of thought and new existence; consent implies passive pursuit and is boring.
How long do you need to prepare a performance, what is the purpose of the environment where it takes place, and are there any risks related to holding performances open air?
Outdoor performances, which impulsively adapts to the environment, have their charm. This is always a dangerous process, there is always a risk of failing. It is exactly in these tensions, mistakes and unforeseen nuances that true art is revealed.
Tell us a bit about the works at the gallery.
“Dear, it’s wonderful, wonderful …” – is dedicated to the longing for my two lost friends, which expressed the desire to restore the relationship at all costs, with different emotions – denial, slackness, powerlessness, longing, regrets, irony. The work can be considered to be a sketch for the performance ‘Preservation is a Verb’, literary an outline for this work.
‘Plaster middle finger in plaster’ – this sculpture is a play on words and materials, a broken middle finger is put in plaster, which is made of plaster, the material is plaster, the concept, the form, in short, – plaster is in plaster.
I am interested in your opinion on modern poetry, in today’s world it has become less relevant, what do you think is the reason for this and what influences does poetry have to this day?
In ancient times poetry had a function of a courier, messenger; both ancient Greek philosophers and playwrights used the form as a simple vessel for conveying information; great poetic works that have survived were commissioned to glorify. Then the poets were charged with spiritual upbringing of a man; then the politicians appointed poets to control the masses, in the service of propaganda. Throughout this historical process, poetry has seldom been conditioned by the meaning of its own inevitable poetic feeling. And this time is new, it is no longer the object of mass consumption, poetry is plunging into its head today, it is preoccupied with self-discovery and exploration, today it is as much research-based as science and thus arguably now is the best moment for the medium.