FOOD & WINE: "Toque Verte", a high-end catering company established and run by the Georgia-bornn Tamar Makharadze in New York. (fusioncuisinenyc.com)

Dear Georgians and Lover of Georgia,

I am exceedingly happy to introduce "Toque Verte", a high-end catering company established and run by the Georgia-born, tremendously talented, and fiercely creative Tamar Makharadze. The New York City-based Chef Tamar is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and has extensive experience in various areas of the culinary industry, some of which, impressively, predate her formal culinary education.

Tamar's "Toque Verte" is a full-service catering company specializing in private cocktail events and private dinner parties, and provides services in the comfort and privacy of the clients' premises as well at the venues of their choice.

For more information, photos, and testimonials, please visit: www.fusioncuisinenyc.com

And please spread the word! :)

Contact: Toque Verte 

23 west 73rd street

New York, NY 10023

Tel: 1 347-688-0868

Tamar.Robinson@ToqueVerte.com

source: GeorgiaLovers@groups.facebook.com
This group is intended for efficient announcement of general news, upcoming events, and various notices related to Georgians living in the northeastern US, as well as of Georgian cultural happenings in the area. Hope this will serve as a great tool for the speedy and centralized dissemination of valuable information and will bring together many Georgians and Georgiaphiles in the virtual space. 

OPENING EXHIBITION: Group Show in New York with Azeri Photographer Rena Effendi in New York - Tomorrow, May 23rd (rauschenbergfoundation.org)

(rauschenbergfoundation.org) May 24–June 29, 2013
Rauschenberg Project Space
455 West 19th Street
11 am to 6 pm, Tuesday through Saturday

Free admission
Curated by Laurel Reuter, director of the North Dakota Museum of Art, the exhibition Songs for Spirit Lake will reflect the ongoing conversation between six artists who created artwork on or about the Spirit Lake Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.

The artists are Rena Effendi, Bill Harbort, John Hitchcock, Terry Jelsing, Mary Lucier, and Tim Schouten. Under the aegis of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation's Artistic Innovation and Collaboration Grant Program, this first in-progress exhibition allows each artist to create work that responds to their continuing conversations with the inhabitants of Spirit Lake.

Exhibition Theme
In November 2012, these artists were introduced to the Spirit Lake community through an exhibition of their own work. Installed in the gymnasium at the Cankdeska Cikana Community College in the village of Fort Totten, it was the first contemporary art exhibition ever mounted on the reservation.
North Dakota Museum of Art's exhibition encompasses work that each artist made in response to their conversations with each other and their experiences with the people and landscape of the reservation. In Songs for Spirit Lake, the artists explore how people live within the landscape; who the people are; and their patterns of intermingling the past and present in contemporary life through photography, painting, installation, and video. Additionally, the exhibition includes a live performance by musicians from the reservation who, for the first time, will play traditional drum songs together.

Exhibited in the context of New York City's Rauschenberg Project Space, Songs for Spirit Lake invites a new, broad audience to engage with the voices and traditions of the Spirit Lake community as conveyed through the eyes of the artists. This endeavor parallels not only the North Dakota Museum of Art's mission to address global concerns—ideas as relevant to people living on the Northern Plains as they are to people from around the world—but also the legacy of Robert Rauschenberg, who sought to create social and cultural awareness through artistic collaboration and innovation.

About the North Dakota Museum of Art
The North Dakota Museum of Art, a private, nonprofit institution, is located on the campus of the University of North Dakota. Founded as a contemporary art museum, it serves by legislative act as the official art museum of the State of North Dakota.

Songs for Spirit Lake will run May 24 through June 29, 2013, at the Rauschenberg Project Space located at 455 West 19th Street, New York City. The Rauschenberg Project Space is open to the public from 11 am to 6 pm, Tuesday through Saturday, and admission is free.
 
Please Direct All Media and Press-Related Image Requests To:
Christa Carr
Media Relations
CCarr@RauschenbergFoundation.orgTelephone: 203.275.7565

KULTUR: Kaukasische Sprachverwirrung. Unterschiede zwischen Europa und Amerika. Von Andreas Rüesch (nzz.ch)

(nzz.ch) Wer von Russland nach Amerika umzieht, was unter anderem Generationen von NZZ-Korrespondenten getan haben, muss bei kaukasischen Begriffen rasch einmal umlernen. Dass «Georgian food» nichts mit Chatschapuri und anderen Spezialitäten aus dem Südkaukasus zu tun hat, sondern die Küche eines amerikanischen Südstaats meint, ginge ja noch. Eher gewöhnungsbedürftig ist, dass man als hellhäutiger Schweizer in Amerika plötzlich als Kaukasier gilt. Das ist gleich doppelt verwirrend: Angehörige von Völkern aus dem Kaukasus werden in Russland abschätzig als Schwarze («tschornije») beschimpft – in den USA hingegen bezieht sich der Ausdruck «Caucasians» in der Amtssprache auf die Weissen. Woher kommt nur diese Konfusion?

Als Schöpfer des Begriffs gilt der Anthropologe Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, der 1795 fünf Menschenrassen unterschied und die Bewohner Europas und Westasiens als «Kaukasier» bezeichnete. Die Namensgebung begründete er damit, dass im Kaukasus die schönsten Vertreter dieser Rasse zu finden seien. Anders als in Europa machte der Begriff in Amerika Karriere. Da Weisse im 19. Jahrhundert im Einbürgerungsrecht noch privilegiert waren, stellte sich für die Justiz die Frage, wer überhaupt zu den Weissen gezählt werden konnte. Ein Bundesgericht wies 1878 den Einbürgerungsantrag eines hellhäutigen Chinesen zurück, indem es Blumenbach zitierte und Weisse als «Caucasians» definierte.

Rassenbegriffe wie «Negroide» und «Mongoloide» gelten längst als politisch inkorrekt, aber der «Kaukasier» als Synonym für einen Weissen taucht auf amerikanischen Formularen und in den Medien weiterhin auf. Der Begriffsverwirrung erlag kürzlich auch eine bekannte amerikanische Kolumnistin, als sie den Terrorakt von Boston kommentierte und auf den ethnischen Hintergrund des tschetschenischen Täterpaars zu sprechen kam: Hier sehe man wieder einmal, sagte sie sinngemäss, dass es keinen Zweck habe, bei der Terrorabwehr Angehörige fremder Rassen zu verdächtigen. Denn, wie man nun wisse, seien die beiden Täter ja Kaukasier gewesen.