The first Georgian students took part in the courses in the summer semester of 2025. Prof. Tinatin Kldiashvili, Vice President, and Maya Kipiani, Head of the International Office at the Tbilisi Academy of Art, joined them for a joint working week.
The two countries, Germany and Georgia, share the common textile UNESCO World Cultural Heritage of blueprinting. The traditional Georgian blue tablecloth "Lurja Supra" ("Blue Table Cloth") and the blue print workshops in Lower Saxony and the rest of Germany are of particular importance. The week of the visit to Osnabrück University included a workshop lasting several days entitled "Inspiration from the Blue Table Cloth in Batik Technique", an excursion to a blue printing workshop in Jever, an exchange of ideas with the International Office of Osnabrück University and a tour of the Tuchmacher Museum Bramsche. "Such encounters are much more than cultural exchange - they show how joint artistic work builds bridges between tradition and the present," says Prof. Dr. Bärbel Schmidt, School of Cultural Studies and Social Sciences at Osnabrück University.
The Erasmus partnership between Osnabrück University and the art academy from Georgia is set to run for two years, with the vision of long-term cooperation. To this end, there will be a return visit by the Osnabrück textile design delegation in July, a planned guest stay by textile artist Prof. Nino Kvrivishvili and the sending of further Georgian students in 2026. "Our goal is to make textile design visible as a living cultural asset - across national borders," says Dr. Lucia Schwalenberg, also from the School of Cultural Studies and Social Sciences. Further funding opportunities are being explored to enable Osnabrück guest students to spend time in Tbilisi. A bilateral exhibition on the "Blue Table Cloth" is being planned using funds raised by the Schroubek Foundation.
Further information for the media:
Prof. Dr. Bärbel Schmidt, Osnabrück University
School of Cultural Studies and Social Sciences
baerbel.schmidt@uni-osnabrueck.de
Mareike Tudor, Osnabrück University
School of Cultural Studies and Social Sciences
mareike.tudor@uni-osnabrueck.de
