(Im)permanent Circumstances Exhibition

Tbilisi, Georgia, 2022

Curated by Tbilisi Collective in collaboration with the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial, (Im)permanent Circumstances was a site-specific exhibition held at the Soviet-era Sanatorium Kartli, located near the Tbilisi Sea. The exhibition explored the psychological, spatial, and emotional dimensions of impermanence through photography, video, and installation, capturing the everyday realities of Georgia’s internally displaced people (IDPs) who have been living in the sanatorium for over 30 years.

The name of the exhibition references object permanence, a concept from developmental psychology describing the ability to understand that something continues to exist even when it cannot be seen. Drawing on this idea, the exhibition interrogated how the temporary nature of architectural space and its uncertain future shape personal identity, community, and resilience over time.

The curatorial process was deeply rooted in ethics of care and contextual research. For over a month, Tbilisi Collective worked closely with participating photographers and videographers, visiting Kartli regularly, and supervising the creative process.

The visual material was organized into thematic categories, allowing the audience to navigate both intimate and collective layers of life in Kartli. Equally intentional was the exhibition design: images were installed within the very structure they depicted. Portraits were placed in smaller, enclosed rooms to evoke intimacy and reflection, while communal and architectural scenes were displayed in open areas, emphasizing shared experience and spatial fragility. By using the building itself as both subject and exhibition space, we blurred the boundaries between archive and lived reality, highlighting the layered temporality of the sanatorium’s existence – one that is both vanishing and enduring.

Sanatorium Kartli, severely damaged and deemed structurally unsafe, is currently undergoing a relocation process for its remaining residents. Once this process is finalized, the building is scheduled for demolition. (Im)permanent Circumstances thus serves as a visual and emotional record of a community on the cusp of erasure, reflecting on the cycles of displacement, memory, and adaptation.

Thanks to the merits and great support of the residents of Kartli, who made this exhibition possible.

See more images from the exhibition on our Instagram: @tbilisi.collective