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RHISOMA
non -profit
DESIGN
LAB
Open art, design, architecture and education lab made to communicate groups, communities and nationalities through collaboration over socially and environmentally valuable projects
Curated and supported by the layers.archi design studio
Supported by the EU
Supported by the EU
SEASON I
REPORT
2022 we started from the dream to somehow invlove and integrate Belarusian creative migrants into Georgian creative landscape, both to give back for the Georgian hospitality and to save displaced Belarusian creatives from overwhelming anxiety and total loss of their own relevancy in the new and terrible circumstances.

Soon we understood that our project, aimed to include and build connections, shouldn't be exlusive and address only Georgians and Belarusians: to achieve our goals, we have to address any group and design special strategies to be as incusive as it possible.

Our project has been supported by the European Union, embraced by local institutions such as CCA Tbilisi, and, thanks to the strategy of maximal inclusivity, Belarusian creatives, united with various migrants and Georgian cityzen, created an amazing model of possible future of pro-bono creative collaboration.

We've build strong and continuous connection with the Center for contemporary art Tbilisi (CCA Tbilisi), and together we've designed a great mutual program for the second season of Rhisoma works. Which means, that during the 7 month of the first Rhisoma season, thanks thanks to a comprehensive non-linear strategy, we achieved the initial goal of the project: to include displaced and endangered creatives from Belarus into Georgian creative community and into wider international context.
SEASON II
>12
Projects done
>150
Visitors attended events
>70
Creatives in the resulting network
Concept
Rhisoma space
Uplistsikhe residency
Education
Place for your ideas
Open call
/1
/2
/3
/4
/5
/6
FEATURED PROJECTS
01/Forest university
Exploring the basic question beyond the Rhisoma lab, we joined the CCA Tbilisi initiative to scale their artistic exploration of the topic of community design through 1-month educational workshop - exhibition dedicated to decolonial, non-hierarchical complex structures such as forest, instead of colonial hieararchical structures.
02/Form of democracy
Architecture sometimes survives longer than political model it represents. How can future reconstruction of multiple post-soviet and colonial government buildings help us to explore, express and design bettter, less-hierarchical governance?

We explored this topic for the Tbilisi institute for social research.
03/PermaCulture
We've designed an art residence, resilient agriculture and damaged landscapes regeneration lab to for CCA Tbilisi, to scale and expand their projects outside Tbilisi. It sits on the high bank of Mtkvari (Kura) river, facing the ancient cave city of Uplistsikhe, and deals with the devastated reality of former green river valley.
04/Zambia
While Gropius was active at the Bauhaus, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe led the modernist architect movement.
05/Women in arch
He became the vice president of the German Werkbund, and became the head of the Bauhaus from 1930 to 1932.
06/Recycling design
Inspired by the De Stijl movement in the Netherlands, he built clusters of concrete summer houses and proposed a project for a glass office tower.
TBILISI
UNIVERSITY
Forest univercity

Dnipro
1977

Photo:
Sasha Pleshco
Expocenter of Ukraine Kyiv
1975

Photo:
Marjan Blan
Typical Panelka

Ukraine
1972

Photo:
Sasha Pleshco
FOREST
VISIT VIRTUAL GALLERY OF FOREST UNIVERCITY
How can the art (non-?) institution become a model for a future less-hierarchical, cross-culture and cross-species dialogue - driwen world?

- Theory and discussion beyond the Forest univercity (season 0)
“Fallingwater is a remarkable structure of concrete slabs suspended over a waterfall, perfectly uniting architecture and nature” — Marcus Favroe
/ Explore more
/ Read More
Team X and the 1953 International Congress of Modern Architecture
“Fallingwater is a remarkable structure of concrete slabs suspended over a waterfall, perfectly uniting architecture and nature” — Marcus Favroe
/ Read More
/ Read More
FORM OF
DEMOCRACY
Louis Sullivan
Housing designer in the Johnathan Hay Centre that provided a "culturally specific living" for laborers and migrants from the countryside.
1986
Architecture for less hierarchical world
Research performed for Tbilisi institute for social research
emory... Traces of modern history has not to be erased, so it have to be memorised, explained and become multy-perspective narrative as a basis for any dialogue: open museum = institute of modern history and conflictology.

On the other hand some scars may be symbolically healed and transformed, becuase transformation is a way to overcome trauma and adopt the new way which prevents the recurrence of the situation led to this trauma
ialogue is a basis for any sustainable transformation. Number of participants, geometry of the space, it’s comfort, inclusive accessibility and symbolical semantics may sufficiently affect the quality of the dialogue.

Transparency, both on practical, physical, digital and symbolical levels is necessaty to sustain the dialogue inclusive and multy-prespective.
.M
.DT
tart-up ecnomy. Economy is what sewes together any developments in the real world, start-ups, both pointed global mareket and especially local ones, expanding local agricultural, touristic, cultural, industrial potentials may become keys to the real changes. Complex has to incorporate local startup infrastructure interconnected with education, lawmaking, banking and investement, starting from pre-seed start-up hub through massive conference facility to the representatives of global social nad business investement funds.

Own sustainability of the complex has to be based on commercial rental areas, restauraunts and hotel.
ducation. Successfull transformation needs structural change in knowlege transmission, higher education and production of a new knowledge. Less hyerarchical, multy-perspective, inclusive and dialogue-based governance needs tons of new educated experts.

Mutual visibility and presence of students and youth for government and vice versa is the basis of transparency of power, srinking the Power distance index and development of democracy. That’s why using of excessible space of the complex for the first block of future univercity campus is the best use for them.
.S
.E
FULL PROJECT
If a building becomes architecture, then it is art
LEARNING
Learning sustainable design for warm and hot climate from African experts
GLOBAL
SOUTH
Rhisoma lab community was invited to share our ideas and expertise and to learn from local architects who create lean, affrodable, sustainable zero-energy public buildings from local materials
From
ZAMBIA
CULTURAL HUB
While our submission was mentioned and selected for the last tour of competition, the key outcome was a set of design solutions from affordable local materials which was later implemented in the design of the art residency, research and community center at Uplistsikhe (Georgia)
WOMEN > IN ACRH
For Georgia
~ Movement towards gender equality in such prestegious creative spheres as architecture is very important for Georgia today; and it is a unique opportunity for successful female architects, originally from Belarus, who've established their own bueraus in another countries, to become role models for Georgian collegues.
See lectures online
~ In this cycle of lectures persperctive and successfull female architects, designers and scientists, originally from Belarus, tell short stories about challenges to find their place global world. It is important to share such stories and tools used, to open possibilities for other female creatives fom Belarus to survive and empower.
For Belarus
Lectures performed online
For everyone
and for the globe
~ True stories of the Belarusian female architects who became succesfull creatives, researchers and buerau founders in the global world, shows significance of mobility and community insfrastructure, such as Rhisoma or EU projects, for more equal, just and creative world. Important projects they're working on shows the great potential of vulnerable, endangered, displaced persons who's origin is in problematic country, for the creative solution of the global challenges, such as just transition and climate change.
" More equal people - more creative solutions for largest local and global challenges"
RHISOMA
SPACE
HOW TO ATTEND?
All cross-cultural events, synchronised with Rhisoma values, may use Rhisoma space for free. You can submit your project via Rhisoma lab instagram, and we'll chedule a meeting to discuss your project (lecture, exhibition, workshop etc), criterias, resources and limitations of the Rhisoma space.
Near the Rustaveli metro station, Tbilisi
Working in Tbilisi since March 2023, our open cross-cultural creative space took on board multiple educational events, workshops and exhibitions.
RIGHT
SPACE
Forest university

Dnipro
1977

Photo:
Sasha Pleshco
Expocenter of Ukraine Kyiv
1975

Photo:
Marjan Blan
Typical Panelka

Ukraine
1972

Photo:
Sasha Pleshco
USE
HOW DOES THE SPACE WORK?
Due to the partnership with the CCA Tbilisi, Rhisoma lab may perform 1-2 huge collaborative exhibitions during the year; thank to the support and time-sharing with the architectural studio of George Zaborski layers.archi, Rhisoma space continues it's work and receives creative and educational projects of Georgians and Belarusians for free.
...
UPLI-
Resilient landscape, agriculture,
community
and art center
STSI-
KHE
Supported by the EU
UPLISTSIKHE
LAB
We designed the Center and developed strategy for community development nad local-global communication between farmers and global resilient agriculture expertise, assisted and mediated by artists for and together with Center for contemporary art (CCA) Tbilisi

Lab / residency is situated 1 Km from ancient cave city Uplistsikhe, and inherits it's formal elements, while, due to the formal solutions and green roof, doesn't affect the view from Uplistsikhe - and have to become a pattern for neighbouring buildings.

Standing on the high bank of the Mktvati (Kura) river, it have to collect, explore, reflect, conceptualise and share local or suitable practices of construction, land management, resilient agriculture and reforestation for the Mktvari river - former "botanical garden" and the backbone of the biodivercity framework of Transcaucasus - now devastated by special anti-guerilla deforestation during colonial wars of XVIII - XX centuries and soviet massive, landscape - unaware agriculture.
RESIDENCY
AND
Plastic
For recycling
Parki ar Minda is Tbilisi-based non-profit organisation which works towards recycling, or, to be precise, recirculation of secondary resources such as glass, plastic of various types, metal, fabric, clothes, etc.

It deals with an important lack of effective solutions for waste management and recycling in Georgia and working both as a direct practice and educational and promotion project. While being sufficiently effective in receiving separated resources from sustainability-aware persons and families, Parki ar Minda, experiences lack of recycle bins suitable for schools, offices and institutions.
Rhisoma lab has received Parki ar Minda submission for the design solution for recycling containers for various kinds of materials, and selected it as an important and scalable design and prototyping challenge.
During the research period, in collaboration with the Parki ar Minda team, we've invented modular, flexible system of containers, which can be tuned for various location - for example, more volume for paper in office buildings, more plastic at schools, etc.

Scale of each module is designed according to the weight of specific kind of recource, to help volounteers who epmties them into the "Parki ar Minda Taxi"
Containers
JOIN US > NEXT SEASON
Uplistsikhe lab
~ Second step of strategy, community building and design of sustainable building from local materials with CCA Tbilisi
1 Jan 2023 - 1 July 2023
Register
Construction workshop
~ 3 summer camps to explore practic aspects of construction from local naturam materials (stone, rammed earth, adobe brick, rough wood) and construction of green roof according to the traditional Georgian technology of XIV - XIX centuries and, also, to create permacultural garden. Outcome: early prototype of the small section of the Uplistsikhe lab.
late Jun, late July, late August
Register
Black Friday Offer
Forest university II
~ More of inclusive collective thinking, horisontal education and exhibition as a dialogue between Georgian, Belarusian an all the other artists, philosophers, performers and scientists from everywhere.
October 2024
Register
FINAL LECTURE
LAB
We designed the Center and developed strategy for community development nad local-global communication between farmers and global resilient agriculture expertise, assisted and mediated by artists for and together with Center for contemporary art (CCA) Tbilisi

Lab / residency is situated 1 Km from ancient cave city Uplistsikhe, and inherits it's formal elements, while, due to the formal solutions and green roof, doesn't affect the view from Uplistsikhe - and have to become a pattern for neighbouring buildings.

Standing on the high bank of the Mktvati (Kura) river, it have to collect, explore, reflect, conceptualise and share local or suitable practices of construction, land management, resilient agriculture and reforestation for the Mktvari river - former "botanical garden" and the backbone of the biodivercity framework of Transcaucasus - now devastated by special anti-guerilla deforestation during colonial wars of XVIII - XX centuries and soviet massive, landscape - unaware agriculture.
AND
RESIDENCY
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