A Condition, Not an Absence

Geography of Emptiness contends that emptied spaces in the post-socialist world—such as abandoned villages, depopulated regions, and half-built developments—are historically produced and politically managed. The biennial examines how the collapse of Soviet-era industry and collective farms, labour migration, war, and ecological disaster have depopulated entire regions. At the same time, contemporary urban development creates new forms of emptiness, with apartments built and sold as financial assets rather than homes, resulting in cities filled with buildings but lacking residents.

In Georgia, the programme examines the impact of emptiness in villages and peripheral regions affected by labour migration and infrastructural decline, in areas experiencing forced eco-migration after earthquakes and landslides, and in war-affected zones where buildings remain but are disconnected from the lives they once housed.

Architecture as the Built Form of Emptiness

The biennial also considers architecture as a physical record of rupture. It traces the evolution from pre-Soviet vernacular buildings—self-organising, climate-adapted structures shaped by local knowledge and social structure—through Soviet-era standardisation, to the post-Soviet trend of "Eurorepair" (evroremont): informal, fragmented home renovations using imported aesthetics of cleanliness and uniformity. The biennial presents Eurorepair as visible emptiness in built form, with interiors that appear Western but lack local spatial knowledge, while noting that home extensions often retain the spatial logic of the rural houses left behind.

Geography of Emptiness presents vernacular architecture not as nostalgia, but as a body of spatial intelligence—knowledge of climate, materials, and community—that offers a viable alternative to today’s placeless, capital-driven architecture.

Programme and Participation

Geography of Emptiness will feature exhibitions, talks, workshops, and site-based interventions in Tbilisi. The full programme will be published in August 2026.