KVOST – Kunstverein Ost – is delighted to announce Georgian artist David Apakidze (b. 1998) as the recipient of this year’s KVOST scholarship and Claus Michaletz Preis 2025, endowed with €10,000. Apakidze was selected from a pool of 203 applicants.
As part of the residency, Apakidze will present a new installation titled “The Knight at the Crossroads” at KVOST. The work centres on a queer migrant depicted as a modern-day knight. Drawing on ancient storytelling traditions in which crossroads symbolise a hero’s moment of decision, the installation transposes this motif into a contemporary, dystopian setting where outcomes remain uncertain. Unlike the traditional hero who triumphs and returns home, Apakidze’s knight is caught in a state of constant motion and displacement. The work poignantly reflects the experiences of many queer individuals, especially from Georgia, who are forced to flee their homeland in the face of growing homophobia and political violence.
David Apakidze was born in Poti and lives in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is a visual artist, curator, and co-founder of the Fungus Project, one of the first queer art platforms in the Caucasus. He studied art history at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, where his engagement with medieval Orthodox art left a lasting impact on his artistic approach.
His recent exhibitions include Galeria Zachęta in Warsaw (PL) and Art House Gorgi (GEO) in 2024, as well as the National Gallery in Tbilisi and the Open Out Festival in Tromsø (NOR) in 2023. In 2025, he completed an artist residency at MeetFactory in Prague (CZE).
The 2025 jury comprised Tereza de Arruda (art historian and curator), Anna Ehrenstein (artist), Andrea Pichl (artist), Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher (curators with a focus on Eastern and Southeastern Europe), Dr. Silke Manske and Corinna Reuter (Secco Pontanova Foundation), and Stephan Koal (curator and director of the Kunstverein).
In addition to the Berlin-based residency and upcoming solo exhibition during Berlin Art Week 2025, Apakidze will receive the Claus Michaletz Preis. Awarded since 2020 in memory of the publisher and founder of the Secco Pontanova Foundation, the prize supports artists from Eastern Europe.
