About

Nino Surguladze Scenographer • Costume Designer • Visual Artist • Curator

Nino Surguladze

Scenographer • Costume Designer • Visual Artist • Curator

Nino Surguladze is a Georgian scenographer, costume designer, visual artist, curator, and cultural producer whose practice bridges theatre, visual arts, film, and international cultural initiatives. For more than two decades she has created scenography and costume designs for over 100 theatre productions, collaborating with many of Georgia’s leading theatres and directors while representing Georgian contemporary performance design internationally.

She graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, Faculty of Film & Television Design (Professor Dimitri Takaishvili’s studio), and also studied Painting at Jakob Nikoladze College of Fine Arts. She continued her studies in stage design at New York University (NYU Tisch School of the Arts) and studied and lectured in painting at the University of Tennessee (1993–1994).

Since 2004, Surguladze has maintained a long-standing artistic collaboration with acclaimed Georgian director Levan Tsuladze, first at Theatre Basement on Rustaveli Avenue and later at the Kote Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre, where she designed costumes and scenography for many of the theatre’s most significant productions. Together they have also collaborated on international projects in the United Kingdom and Italy, including productions presented at Shakespeare’s Globe and Teatro del Sole in Bologna.

Her artistic collaborations extend beyond her partnership with Tsuladze and include productions with directors Sandro Eloshvili, Kato Sharikadze, Temur Kuprava, Giorgi Kaviladze, Guram Vashakidze, Anna Sanaia, Avto Diasamidze, Davit Chkhartishvili, and other leading Georgian theatre makers.

Her selected theatre works include As You Like It, Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Decameron, Tartuffe, King Stag, Exit the King, The Trial, After the Rehearsal, Doubt, The Glass Menagerie, The Rose Tattoo, Kreutzer Sonata, Bakula’s Pigs, Navigator, Letters of a Madman, Begalut, A Christmas Carol, Sea Theatre, Melodies of Vera District, Mulan, Amarcord, The Nose, Holy Monsters, Lovers, Qvarqvare, and numerous other productions for Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre, Theatre Factory 42, Gori State Drama Theatre, Rustavi Theatre, Theatre Basement, and independent companies.

Alongside theatre, Surguladze has worked as production designer for short and documentary films and has presented solo exhibitions dedicated to theatre costume and visual art.

Her work has been presented internationally at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, where she represented Georgia in 2015 and 2019. She was one of the representatives of the Georgian National Pavilion Women’s Voice and participated as an invited speaker in the Emerging Artist Forum.

In 2024, she received the Tbilisi Biennale of Stage Design Award for her installation Ophelia.

Surguladze is one of the founders and organizers of the Tbilisi Art Fair (TAF) and the founder and artistic director of the Tbilisi Youth Art Market (TYAM), an international platform dedicated to supporting emerging artists and fostering collaboration between artists, galleries, institutions, collectors, and the public.

Her costume designs have received international critical recognition. Reviewing As You Like It, The Telegraph described her costumes as “extravagantly rich,” praising their imaginative theatricality and visual sophistication.

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Selected Director Collaborations

Levan Tsuladze

* As You Like It
* Othello
* Hamlet
* Decameron
* Tartuffe
* Romeo and Juliet
* A Christmas Carol
* King Stag
* Kreutzer Sonata
* Letters of a Madman
* Bakula’s Pigs
* Navigator
* Begalut
* Oscar
* Eugenia Balboa
* Figaro
* The Invisible Hat
* Raspberry
* Kote Marjanishvili
* Unnamed Star
* Departure
* The Turtle
* A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sandro Eloshvili

* Sea Theatre
* Melodies of Vera District
* Exit the King
* Qvarqvare
* See You in Paradise

Kato Sharikadze

* Romeo and Juliet

Anna Sanaia

* Mulan

Temur Kuprava

* Hamlet
* The Trial
* After the Rehearsal

Giorgi Kaviladze

* The Rose Tattoo
* Lovers
* Darispan’s Troubles

Guram Vashakidze

* Doubt
* Beautiful Sunday

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Film (Production Designer)

* The Road (Director: Anna Sarukhanova, 2011)
* Pirni (Director: Davit Kemkhadze, 2012)
* Bevreti (Director: Davit Kemkhadze, Award-winning Documentary, Austria, 2013)

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Selected Solo Exhibitions

* Costume Exhibition, Writers’ House, Tbilisi (2015)
* Costume & Sketch Exhibition, Kote Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre (2014)
* White Gallery, Tbilisi (1993)

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International Exhibitions, Festivals & Recognition

* Winner – Tbilisi Biennale of Stage Design, Ophelia Installation (2024)
* Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (2015)
* Georgian National Pavilion – Women’s Voice (2015)
* Representative of the Georgian Pavilion, Prague Quadrennial (2019)
* Invited Speaker – Emerging Artist Forum, Prague Quadrennial (2019)
* Organizer – Tbilisi Art Fair (TAF) (2018–2019)
* Photo Project “Hamlet 21”, Tbilisi International Theatre Festival (2019)

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Professional Practice

* Scenography
* Costume Design
* Exhibition Design
* Installation Art
* Production Design for Film
* Curatorial Projects
* Cultural Management
* Artistic Direction
* International Theatre Collaborations