08_Roadside supra
2024
In the center of Tbilisi, Georgia, on the embankment of the Mtkvari River, there is an old abandoned building of the central bus station, covered in graffiti and partially hidden behind overgrown bushes. The sidewalk in front of it and the road both serve only as transitional spaces, and while passing by, you can suddenly notice the arches peeking out from the greenery. The building has existed in this condition for at least 10 years. Now, part of the territory behind the station is occupied by a car service, while the rest is occasionally used by elderly men, drinking and playing backgammon.
In the spring of 2024, I read that there are plans for the redevelopment of the embankment area, specifically the part where the old bus station is located. In the schematic visualizations, it was replaced by a multi-story commercial building (surprisingly, the bus station is not considered cultural heritage). This news was quite disappointing to me, so I started thinking about ways to do something. At some point, I came up with the idea of placing benches on the curb of the sidewalk in front of the station, Zabeiki-style. With both cars and people currently only passing by the building, there is no place to stay for long. Therefore, by creating a spot to sit, we could change the scenario of this place, creating a new situation that could draw attention to the bus station behind us, even if only for one day.
At the same time, this idea reminded me of Strugatsky’s Roadside Picnic, with its themes of trespassing, alienation, and desolation, which resemble both our emigrant experience in this country and the Soviet influence in Georgia, as seen in the station’s architecture. And so, the picnic part on the freshly built curb-benches, with a tablecloth placed directly on the asphalt, was added to the program, and the event was called “Roadside Supra” (supra in Georgian means both feast and tablecloth).
The Roadside Supra took place on Saturday, August 3, at 15:01, starting at Giga Lortkipanidze Park, where we assembled curb-benches and other spontaneous types of curb-furniture, followed by the supra in front of the station.
tools: saw, screwdriver, sandpaper
materials: plywood, timber, found materials, slats, boards, screws
