Baia Gallery Gallery in Tbilisi
Mtatsminda · Contemporary programme
Editorial Profile
Founded in 1992 by Baia Tsikoridze together with a small circle of artist-friends under the original name Orient, Baia Gallery is the first private gallery of the post-Soviet period in Georgia to remain continuously active. Its emergence amid the civil war and the collapse of Soviet cultural infrastructure positioned it as something more than a commercial venture — a working platform for the generation of artists who came of age in the 1980s and who were associated with the Georgian Trans-avant-garde. The gallery operates across two spaces in Tbilisi: a venue in Mtatsminda on Ingorokva Street devoted to twentieth-century cultural heritage, encompassing Modernism, Avant-garde and Social Realism, and a second location in Vake focused on contemporary practice. This dual structure shapes its identity as both archive and active stage, anchoring it firmly within the wider ecosystem of galleries in Tbilisi.
Programming moves between historical research and current production, with sustained engagement around figures such as Merab Abramishvili and Irakli Parjiani — for whom the gallery has produced monographic catalogues — alongside contemporary painters and installation artists including Guranda Klibadze, Temo Japaridze and Keti Benashvili. Practices on view range from painting and works on paper to site-specific installation, often framed by curatorial readings that connect Georgian modernism to present-day positions. The gallery maintains an archival database of Georgian art and acts as an art advisor to private and institutional collectors, with collaborations spanning Bonhams, Sotheby's London, the National Gallery and Tbilisi MOMA, contributing meaningfully to the field of institutions in Tbilisi. Its international footprint extends through editions of Tbilisi Art Fair and a 2023 presentation in Abu Dhabi, situating contemporary art in Tbilisi within a broader regional and European dialogue.
Selected Artists
Merab Abramishvili
Georgian
Irakli Parjiani
Georgian
Guranda Klibadze
Georgian
David Kakabadze
Georgian
Lado Gudiashvili
Georgian
Elene Akhvlediani
Georgian
Tutu Kiladze
Georgian
Keti Benashvili
Georgian
Selected Exhibitions
Painting – A Secret Hieroglyph
Temo Japaridze
Transparent Memory
Merab Abramishvili
The Knight in the Panther's Skin on Ceramic Tiles
Tutu Kiladze
The Map of Georgian Art II
Vakho Bugadze, Nino Kipshidze, Zaza Berdzenishvili, Kote Sulaberidze, Keti Benashvili, Kako Topouria, Zurab Gikashvili, Levan Kharanauli
Flow
Keti Benashvili
Collection – XX Century. Avant-garde and Modernism
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A local guide to Tbilisi, with links to its galleries, institutions, and wider Georgia art context.
