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In the Studio: Tamara Kvesitadze, Kinetic artist

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Tamara Kvesitadze - Kinetic Artist

23/04/2019 GMT

Tamara Kvesitadze, Kinetic artist

BBC World Service - In the Studio, Tamara Kvesitadze, Kinetic artist

Georgian sculptor Tamara Kvesitadze on Sigh, her large-scale installation set for China

We follow the story of Sigh, a 60 foot kinetic sculpture by Georgian artist Tamara Kvesitadze, due to be installed in the Chinese city of Wuxi later this year.

Tamara Kvesitadze, a kinetic artist from Georgia, is best known for Man and Woman, a 26-feet tall moving sculpture located in the coastal city of Batumi. Each evening, along the seafront, the two huge steel figures move closer together, and momentarily merge, before passing through one another.

Tamara’s large scale kinetic sculptures often combine elaborate moving mechanisms with evocative imagery, and her latest project, Sigh (also known as Buddha's Smile), is no exception. Due for installation at a Buddhist resort in the Chinese city of Wuxi, Sigh has been commissioned to be a reflection on the country’s traditional philosophy, as well as the more progressive thinking of modern-day China. The installation features a human figure which stands in the water at nearly 60 feet tall. The sculpture then splits into eight exotic trees which come back together to reform the figure, completing the cycle. The grand size and movement of the work is intended to symbolise the beginning and the end of human experience and - to chime with the Buddhist philosophy - the surpassing of it.

Natalia Golysheva follows the story of Sigh by joining Tamara as she works on the project across several months, taking her from London to Georgia and back, and searches for the perfect way to balance the modern and the traditional.

Presenter / Producer: Natalia Golysheva (Geyser Media) for BBC World Service

(Image: Tamara Kvesitadze, Georgian artist. Credit to Robert Presutti)

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