On September 10, 2025, the new installation The Knight at the Crossroads by Georgian artist David Apakidze will open at KVOST – Kunstverein Ost. The exhibition is part of this year’s KVOST Residency and the Claus Michaletz Prize, and explores queer migration through the lens of choice, identity, and uprooting in a post-socialist context.
Image above: Courtesy of KVOST and the artist
KVOST is pleased to announce that Georgian artist David Apakidze (b. 1998) has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 KVOST Scholarship and the Claus Michaletz Prize, endowed with €10,000. The artist was chosen from a pool of 203 applications.
At KVOST, Apakidze will present his newly developed installation The Knight at the Crossroads. At the center of the narrative is a queer migrant portrayed as a modern-day knight. In many ancient tales, the crossroads symbolize a place where the hero must choose between diverging paths. This exhibition draws on that tradition but places the moment of decision in a modern, dystopian context where the outcome remains uncertain. Unlike the traditional hero who triumphs and returns home, this knight is caught in a state of perpetual movement and uprootedness. The work reflects the experiences of many queer individuals—especially from Georgia—who are forced to leave their homeland in search of safety due to rising homophobia and political violence.
David Apakidze was born in Poti and lives in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is a visual artist and curator, as well as co-founder of the Fungus Project—one of the first queer art platforms in the Caucasus region. Apakidze studied art history at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, where his engagement with medieval Orthodox art left a lasting influence on his artistic vision. His work has been shown in 2024 at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw (PL) and Art House Gorgi (GEO); in 2023 at the National Gallery in Tbilisi and the Open Out Festival in Tromsø (NOR). In 2025, he participated in an artist residency at MeetFactory in Prague (CZE).
This year’s jury consisted of Tereza de Arruda (art historian and curator), Anna Ehrenstein (artist), and Andrea Pichl (artist), as well as Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher (curatorial team specializing in Eastern and Southeastern Europe), Dr. Silke Manske and Corinna Reuter (Secco Pontanova Foundation), and Stephan Koal (curator and director of the art association).
In addition to the KVOST Scholarship—an artist residency in Berlin followed by a solo exhibition at KVOST during Berlin Art Week 2025—David Apakidze will receive the Claus Michaletz Prize, endowed with €10,000. In memory of the publisher and founder of the Secco Pontanova Foundation, the prize has been awarded annually since 2020 to artists from Eastern Europe. The full amount of the prize money goes directly to the scholarship recipients.
The Kunstverein Ost – or KVOST for short – was founded in 2018 and is dedicated to supporting artists from Eastern and Central Europe or those whose life paths and artistic practices have been shaped by experiences from the former Eastern Bloc.
WHEN?
Opening: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Exhibition duration: not specified
WHERE?
KVOST – Kunstverein Ost e.V.
Leipziger Straße 47 / Entrance via Jerusalemer Straße
10117 Berlin
