Bouillon Group
APT8
Established 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia
Teimuraz Kartlelishvili
Born 1982, Tbilisi, Georgia
Ekaterina Ketsbaia
Born 1980, Sokhumi, Georgia
Vladimer Khartishvili
Born 1985, Vladikavkaz, Russia
Zurab Kikvadze
Born 1985, Tbilisi, Georgia
Konstantine Kitiashvili
Born 1985, Tbilisi, Georgia
Natalia Vatsadze
Born 1978, Tbilisi, Georgia
Live and work in Tbilisi, Georgia
Bouillon Group is a collective of six artists from Georgia who produce performances and participatory videos. They take their name from a broth of multiple ingredients, reflecting their determination to blur the boundaries between art, politics and daily life. In their humorous Religious aerobics 2010–13 they combine devotional movements into a repetitive exercise routine and invite viewers to take part.
Located between Western Asia and Eastern Europe, Georgia is a complex mix of cultures and histories, with influences from Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Aerobics developed as a highly commercialised form of self-improvement, based on a series of repetitive movements devoid of meaning and aimed primarily at physical fitness and beauty. Combining devotional movements imbued with deep significance into commercialised exercise of aerobics forms a light-hearted critique of the increasing fundamentalism found in Georgia in the post-Soviet era.
Bouillon Group / Est. 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia / Religious aerobics 2010–13 / Performance at 'Kamikaze Loggia', Georgian Pavilion, Arsenale, Venice 2013 / Photograph: Bobo Mkhitar / Image courtesy and © The artists