Latest Articles:
May 2023 White Hot Magazine Interview with curator and community activist Vida Sabbaghi
May 2023 White Hot Magazine Review Bob Thompson at 52 Walker
April 2023 XIBT Magazine, Berlin Hot Coffee with an Artist: Devra Fox
March 2023 Berlin Art Link ‘Just Above Midtown’ Revisited at MoMa- A Model to Replicate
March 2023 Flash Art Magazine Gordon Matta-Clark & Pope. L “Impossible Failures” 52 Walker, New York
February 2023 XIBT Magazine, Berlin Hot Coffee with an Artist: Sebastian Maas
January 2023 White Hot Magazine Probing Gravity: Interview with Rachel Mica Weiss
January 2023 Hyperallergic On the Limits of Healing: Exhibition at Gropius Bau, Berlin
January 2023 XIBT Magazine, Berlin Hot Coffee with an Artist: Oleksiy Sai
December 2022 XIBT Magazine, Berlin Digital Art Week 2022 in Tokyo: Interview with Yoichiro Kurata and Warren Wee
December 2022 XIBT Magazine, Berlin Hot Coffee with an Artist: Brandon Tellez
December 2022 XIBT Magazine, Berlin Hot Coffee with an Artist: Marc Andre
November 2022 Brooklyn Rail, New York Culture as Strategy of Survival: Imperial Erasure of Culture in the Eastern European Context
November 2022 XIBT Magazine, Berlin Hot Coffee with an Artist: Rusudan Khizanishvili
October 2022 XIBT Magazine, Berlin Hot Coffee with an Artist: LAW
October 2022 JANE Magazine, Australia Performance As Activism from Tbilisi to Berlin (print-only, PDF on request)
October 2022 XIBT Magazine, Berlin Vessel for Spirits: Miwa Komatsu in conversation with Nina Mdivani
September 2022 Curatorial text for Aleksandra Sidor‘s show Unreliable Narrator at Eastcontemporary, Milan, Italy
September 2022 JANE Magazine, PRIVEÈ Fourth chapter Interview with Rusudan Khizanishvili: Landscape Inside Her Head
August 2022 Hyperallergic Ukrainian Women Artists Upend the Male-Centered War Narrative
July 2022 JANE Magazine, PRIVEÈ Second chapter– Essay and interview with Samira Abbassy: The Individual Becomes Universal
July 2022. Issue 3/2022 XIBT Magazine of Contemporary Art, Berlin– As Expected. The Whitney Biennial 2022.
June 2022 The White Hot Magazine, New York– The Shrink and the Patient Are One and The Same: Louise Bourgeois Paintings at the Met
May 2022 The Art Newspaper – How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Will Reshape the Eastern European Cultural Scene
May 2022 JANE Magazine Australia – Fighting for Ukrainian Independence Through Art (print-only, PDF on request)
March 2022 The Brooklyn Rail – Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Oral History in Seven Voices
ABOUT NINA MDIVANI :
I am Tbilisi-born and New York-based curator, writer and researcher. My undergraduate degrees are from Tbilisi State University in International Relations, Mount Holyoke College, both in International Relations and Gender Studies; Master of Arts in Museum Studies from the City University of New York. My previous working experience includes United Nations, Columbia University as well as various nongovernmental organizations, with focus on political or sociological research.
Over the last five years I have been invited to participate in various projects with the focus on contemporary painting and photography, women artists, gender imbalance. My first book, “King is Female,” telling the story of three acclaimed female Georgian artists and their journey inside the male-dominated world of societal and artistic traditions was published by Wienand Verlag in Berlin, October 2018 in conjunction with Kornfeld Gallery, Berlin and launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair. You can find more information about the book in My Books section of this website.
From March 2019 to May 2020 I have been selected and worked as Curator-in-Residence at Kunstraum, Brooklyn-based art hub that serves as a multidisciplinary platform for daring and envelope-pushing curatorial initiatives. As a resident curator I worked on putting together exhibitions as well as overseeing additional programming for this alternative space. My residency culminated in the two-part exhibition New York Meets Tbilisi: Defining Otherness that cumulatively presented nine Georgian and five New York-based artists in visual dialogue with each other. Exploring phenomenon of Otherness in various aspects through artworks and finding correspondences as well as contrasts was challenging and exciting. This exhibition project was selected by New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA) for fiscal sponsorship.
Among my publications: “Anna Valdez: Natural Curiosity” (Paragon Books, Berkeley, CA 2019), “Lechaki: Photography of Daro Sulakauri” (ERTI Gallery, Georgia 2018), “The Science, Religion, and Culture of Georgia A Concise and Illustrated History” (NOVA Science Publishing, New York 2017). My articles have been published in Flash Art Magazine, Hyperallergic, The Art Newspaper, The Brooklyn Rail, JANE Magazine Australia, NERO Editions Italy, White Hot Magazine of Contemporary Art, Arte Fuse, XIBT Magazine of Contemporary Art Berlin, Arte & Lusso Dubai, East European Film Bulletin Berlin, Coeur Et Art Berlin, Art Spiel New York, Indigo Magazine Tbilisi, Heinrich Boell Foundation South Caucasus blog.
My current and ongoing focus as a researcher and curator is discerning and studying alternative narratives within dominant cultures. My research involves intersection of the art history, museum studies, critical theory and decolonization studies. You can see my recent reviews, essays, and articles in My Articles section of the website and see installation photos from exhibitions I have curated in Curatorial section.
CURATED PROJECTS & EXHIBITIONS:
April 2022 Limited time representation of Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin at Expo Chicago
March-April 2022 Co-curator Impact: Artists in Support of Ukrainian Refugees. Uniting 150 artists, hosted by Artsy in cultural partnership with the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago.
January 2020-February 2022 Curator, Public Digital Art Fund, Moscow, LA. Resigned in support of Ukraine at the time of the Russian invasion.
January 2021-January 2022 Twelve video profiles of Georgian Female Artists available in English on Youtube (also in the corresponding section of this website), collaboration with The Georgian Association in the USA.
October 2021 The Border Project Space, Brooklyn Theater of the Absurd
June 2021 Kimpton La Peer Hotel, Los Angeles Social Experiment
May 2021 Ivy Brown Gallery, New York Defied Logic
March 2021 NARS Foundation, Brooklyn This Is Not My Tree, 14 artists on immigration
November 2020 Solo exhibition of Rusudan Khizanishvili at 68 Projects, Berlin Rooms & Beings
August 2020 Digital group project in collaboration with Joshua Goode, director of The Carillon Gallery on Tarrant County College South Campus 7 Days 7 Women 7 Narratives
May 2020 Ria Keburia Foundation, Georgia In a Room with a Wild Coyote (postponed)
March 2020 Kunstraum, Brooklyn New York Meets Tbilisi: Defining Otherness Part II
January 2020 Assembly Room, New York New York Meets Tbilisi: Defining Otherness Part I
September 2018 Kunstverein Villa Wessel, Iserlohn, Germany — King is Female: 3+1 (Kvesitadze, Khizanishvili, Grigalashvil, Iankoshvili)
June 2018 MoMa Tbilisi, Georgia –Natela Iankoshvili Centennial Exhibition, co-curated with Mamuka Bliadze
April 2018 Mark Rothko Foundation, Daugavpils, Latvia- Rusudan Khizanishvili: Conversion Device
January 2018 Tbilisi Museum of Literature, Georgia – Rusudan Khizanishvili: Conversion Device
VISITING CRITIC/JUROR:
February 2023 – New member jury, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, NY
June 2022– Studio visitor, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, NY
March 2022-Juror for 2022 New Work panel, Bronx Council on the Arts, NY
May 2021-Studio visitor, Residency Unlimited, Brooklyn, NY
March 2021-Juror for 2021 Border Project space open call, Brooklyn,NY
February 2021—Juror for 2021 New Work panel, Bronx Council on the Arts, NY
August 2020– Visiting critic for Art Omi artist residency program, New Ghent, NY
June 2020 – Visiting critic, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
May 2020—Juror/concept creator for COVID-19 grant initiative in partnership with Ria Keburia Foundation, Tbilisi, Georgia
February 2020—Juror for 2020 New Work, Bronx Council on the Arts, NY
June 2019 – Visiting critic, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
March 2019-Juror, exhibition open call, Kunstraum, Brooklyn,NY
February 2019 – Studio visitor, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY
PANELS AND CURATORIAL EVENTS:
January 2023- 30 Years of History: Panel of Georgian Association Presidents Georgian Association in the USA
November 2022- Lecture Culture as a Strategy for Survival Ria Keburia Foundation Residency Program, Georgia
May 2022-Lecture Georgian Female Artists: Look Back and Across. Bristol Tbilisi Association.
April 2022-Moderator Feminism in XXI century. Four artists: Julia Kissina (Berlin), Kati Vilim (Hungary), Hayoon Jay Lee (Korea), Ajuan Song (China). Lichtundfire Gallery, Lower East Side.
January 2022-Panel on Art Criticism with William Corwin, Jonathan Goodman, and Laura Horne Lichtundfire Gallery, Lower East Side.
November 2021-Artistk talk with Shiri Mordechay and Roberto Clemente De Leon Theater of the Absurd,The Border Project Space, Brooklyn.
June 2021-Panelist, Uprootedness & Hybridity: Researching Eastern-European Intergenerational Trauma in the Arts and Theatre, Counterpoint Arts as part of UK Refugee Week 2021
April 2021-Panel moderator, Connecting Ecosystem to Environment and Notions of Belonging
This is Not My Tree, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn.
March 2020-Panel moderator, Eastern European Art & the Age of Extremity, New York Meets Tbilisi: Defining Otherness Part II,Kunstraum LLC, Brooklyn.
February 2020– Artist talk with J.Cerqueira Leite, New York Meets Tbilisi: Defining Otherness Part I,Assembly Room
December 2019– Curatorial Walk-through, Cultural Focus Group, Kunstraum LLC, Brooklyn
October 2019– Panel moderator, The Lonely Eclipse, Kunstraum LLC, Brooklyn
October 2019-Artist talk with Anna Valdez, Natural Curiosity, Hashimoto Contemporary, NY
May 2019– Curatorial Walk-through, Serenity Later, Kunstraum LLC, Brooklyn
September 2018-Opening Speech King is Female: 3+1, Iserlohn, Germany
June 2018– Opening Speech Natela Iankoshvili Centennial Exhibition
TEACHING:
December 2021- Lecture Showcasing Women Artists in New York Art Business Academy, Kiev, Ukraine
March 2021 – 5-day remote seminar How to Read/Write About Art Ria Keburia Residency
GRANTS/AWARDS:
2020-NARS Foundation exhibition open call winner, Brooklyn
2019—New York Foundation for the Arts, Fiscal sponsorship for exhibition project “New York Meets Tbilisi: Defining Otherness”
2019-Assembly Room exhibition open call winner, NY
2019-Kunstraum, Brooklyn exhibition open call winner
2003-2006—Mount Holyoke College, scholarship for international students
Contact
Email: nina@ninamdivani.com
Instagram: @ninamdivani
ninamdivani.com 