President’s administration accuses culture ministry of “attack”

The administration of the president of Georgia on Monday assessed the recent decision of the country’s culture ministry to take away five canvases of Svimon (Petre) Dadiani, which have been exhibited in the building for the past months, as a political attack. 

The adviser to the president on education, culture and science, Konstantine Natsvlishvili, on Monday responded to the visit of the employees of the general inspection of the ministry to the president’s office. 

In the previous information by the domestic media outlets, the canvases had been damaged and according to the signed agreement, the two-year period of the exhibition in the presidential palace also expired on November 30, 2022.

Rustavi 2 TV channel alleged three of the five canvases were damaged, although Elo Chichinadze, the guardian of the Fine Arts Foundation, noted that “only one work has a minor damage”.

“Our memorandum was before the end of the president’s term. The Orbeliani Palace is one of the most protected state buildings in Georgia, so I do not  see any danger or any problem as to how long these works would be exhibited here”, Natsvlishvili said, claiming the damage was “insignificunt” and it was hard to determine when it appeared – during the transportation to Georgia or later. 

Journalists also asked the advisor whether the incident could be related to president Salome Zourabichvili’s recent critical reaction to the police presence at the gallery in Tbilisi related to artist Sandro Sulaberidze, who on February 4 took down his work and in its place wrote the phrase on the wall with paint – “Art is alive and independent!”

The president responded to the ministry’s severe reaction to the move by saying “this “reminds us of another era, and it really puts modern Georgia to shame.”

“Any fact that is related to the president and represents an attack or attempted attack on the institution of the president is certainly political… I think it is an attack, that is why you are interested in this question”, Natsvlishvili told journalists.