“Culture is 
an important language”

Typical of my everyday life as the Georgian Ambassador to Germany is that it is in fact untypical: I lead a multifaceted and exciting life in view of the fact that I can be active in the most diverse fields – politics, economics, culture. At the embassy we organize numerous readings, concerts and exhibitions because we regard culture as an important language for achieving closer ties between different countries. I am very familiar with German culture. I am an Austrian who grew up in Bavaria and studied art in Munich. But I have also known Georgia for some time now. My relationship with this country developed through art. In my capacity as a sculptor, I visited an exhibition there in the 1990s and was later granted Georgian citizenship for my work Rose Monument. I have had a professorship at the Art Academy in Tiflis since 2001, but due to my diplomatic obligations that post is now in abeyance. Nevertheless, art still figures prominently in my life: things are quiet on the political scene in Berlin at the weekends, so I am able to spend some time in my studio.