Richard Baxstrom is a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Houses in Motion: The Experience of Place and the Problem of Belief in Urban Malaysia (Stanford University Press 2008). With Todd Meyers, he is also the co-editor of anthropologies (Creative Capitalism 2008), a volume devoted to the outcomes of the convergences existing between art and anthropology. A member of the Baltimore-based art collective Creative Capitalism since its founding in 2005, Baxstrom has participated in gallery shows in the USA, the Netherlands, and Malaysia, has worked in a variety of capacities in several independent films, and has published in a number of journals and periodicals, including Esse: arts + opinions, Parachute: revue d’art contemporain, Rue Descartes, and Off the Edge. Baxstrom's latest book (with Todd Meyers), Realizing the Witch: Science, Cinema, and the Mastery of the Invisible, will be published by Fordham University Press in 2015.

GeoAIR collaborated with Richard Baxstrom in implementing the project and the workshop “Rhythm of the Everyday: Tbilisi Migrant Stories.” 

What are the boundaries, if any, between scientific and artistic works? Where and how do they intersect? What is the link between the practices of anthropology and contemporary art? How can we engage with the everyday of the urban environment, related social issues and communicate this knowledge through the visual?

These were some of the starting questions of the project. Thinking on the interdisciplinary practice, this workshop was conceptualized in the framework of “Cooking Imaginations: Tbilisi Migrant Stories” project. The theme of the workshop concerned the urban realm of Tbilisi, the “new” migrants living here and respective rhythm, rituals and everydayness of the city. Artists, researchers and other interested professionals in Georgia participated in the workshop. Two weeks of intensive work included readings, theoretical debates, film screenings and discussions, as well as fieldwork, evaluation of each other’s work progress and the making of short films constituting to the final work - Rhythm of the Everyday: Tbilisi Migrant Stories

The first public screening of the film took place on December 23, in the underground passage of the Rose Revolution Sqaure.

The residency and project was a part of ‘Cooking Imaginations: Tbilisi Migrant Stories’ project supported by thePrince Claus Fund.
Richard Baxstrom’s residency project was supported by CEC ArtsLink as part of their Global Art Lab program with support from the Kettering Family Foundation.