Cleansing of the Temple: Art, Faith, and Politics in Contemporary Georgia

• In Event: Liberating the Former East: Reassessing Collaborative Art Practices from East to West

Abstract

In January 2024, blue paint was splattered on the icon of Matrona Nikonova at the main
cathedral in Tbilisi, Georgia. The icon, a donation from a Russia-backed political party, incorporated the image of Stalin. On the one hand, the iconology of this case suggests that the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) represents the soft power of a neo-Soviet ideology of the Russian Republic. On the other hand, it positions the aesthetic realm as a battleground for confronting socio-political aspirations. Particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the GOC contributed significantly to the formation of national identity, synchronizing the concept of “Georgian” with that of “Orthodox Christian” to promote a version of religious nationalism countrywide. Activists have responded with more than blue paint: many have developed multimedia works to reveal, scrutinize, and neutralize the GOC’s political agenda. Intriguingly, these semi-artistic endeavors often incorporate religious iconography, leading to their classification as “blasphemy.” My paper provides a series of iconological interpretations of contemporary artworks, positioning the GOC as their addressee. Iconological interpretation will identify the significant characteristics of the works that contributed to the resistance or fell short in doing so.

Author

• Nikoloz Nadirashvili, U of Washington