Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze: Graft versus Host – Film Screening & Discussion

Thursday 5 November 2026, 19.00

On 5 November at 19.00, Rupert presents a screening and discussion of Graft versus Host by filmmaker Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze. The screening will be preceded by a short presentation by the artist, introducing the film’s speculative conceptual grounding and the personal circumstances that led to its creation. A moderated Q&A with the artist will follow the screening.

Graft versus Host is a 31-minute documentary-style film which premiered earlier this year at the 2026 Berlinale film festival in February. It combines archive footage, reflections and digital graphics that connect the artist’s diagnosis and treatment for a rare form of lymphoma with the conditions of Soviet collapse, the rise of economic corruption in the aftermath, and how cancer can serve as a useful corollary for how hypercapitalism impacts the organism of contemporary society, often suddenly and severely.

In the film, Gagoshidze postulates how a course of medical treatment – first suppressing cancer cells must precede treatment with aggressive therapy – illustrates how the radical political and economic changes of the 1990s were both essential yet whose time has passed and must also be contended with.

Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze (1983, Kutaisi GE) is an artist and filmmaker based in Berlin and Tbilisi. He studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Tbilisi (2001–07) and UdK Berlin (2012–16). He has presented his work at the 2026 Berlinale; the 2023 Taipei Biennial; the National Art Center, Tokyo JP; Sculpture Center, New York US; PACT Zollverein, Essen DE; Luleå Biennial 2020; Kunsthalle Wien; Steirischer Herbst 2019, Graz AT; and Konsthall Mint, Stockholm SE, amongst other locations.

Gagoshidze’s past film projects include Stone of Hell (2022), co-directed with Tekla Aslanishvili; Mission Accomplished: Belanciege (2019), co-directed with Milos Trakilovic and Hito Steyerl; and The Invisible Hand of My Father (2018).

Project and Programme Credits

This project is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and is part of the framework of Rupert’s 2026 Georgia International Study Visit Programme and the 2026 Alternative Education Programme. Rupert’s programmes are supported by Vilnius City Municipality. Rupert’s partner is INVL Family Office.

Curators: JL Murtaugh and Monika Lipšic
Communications: Kornelija Žvinklytė
Curatorial Assistance: Gyöngyvirág Agocs
2026 AEP Faculty: Viktorija Šiaulytė, Monika Lipšic, JL Murtaugh, Angeliki Tzortzakaki, Post Brothers, George Finlay Ramsay

Film Credits

Composers: Tete Noise, Mikk Madisson, and Giorgi Koberidze
Sound Mixer: Zach Hart
Color Grading: Sally Shamas
Director and Writer: Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze
Camera and Lighting: Andres Villarreal
Producers: DotComm Production and Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze