1 Ketevan S. Kintsurashvili The Peacock's Tail Modernism, Georgian Performance 1912-1936 "A world without art would be blind to itself. It would be confined within the boundaries imposed by simplistic rules. This is why totalitarian regimes, when they rise to power, set out to censor, prohibit and burn. This is how they destroy ideas, dreams, memory, and the expression of differences, which are the fertile soil from which artists spring." Dan Frank (7, p. XI) "The stupid minute will come And everyone will be dragged to the graveyard, So let the peacock's tail, the peacocks tail Blaze up brighter than tinder!" Sergey Gorodetsky (1, p. 21) Since the moment it emerged, Modernism has had both fanatic supporters and sworn enemies. In both cases the reason was probably its aspiration for renovation, which gives rise to the sentiments of admiration and yearning in some and those of fear and threat in others. It is here that the "difficulty" that is believed to be one of the features of Modernism originated from, being associated with something alien and different (6, p 4). Each era has its own demands and each era gives rise to new tools that people use in their lives and activities. The 20th century brought particularly numerous novelties, which determine a variety of new forms in arts. The term you will most frequently see in this article - Futurism - is associated first and foremost with Fascism. There were supporters of Fascism and Communism among the representatives of other trends. Finally, Modernism became a target of these regimes. However, no matter what ideology specific artists shared on specific stages, the artistic forms reflected the authors' vivid reactions and free thinking. They were waves that reached far-away shores, and as many representatives of Modernism ultimately fell victim to this idea, it is nevertheless associated with freedom of thinking. Modernism was successful in Georgia like one big successful performance. Any artistic product or event linked to it was public, the cast of characters were well-known with their images (as was poet Titsian Tabidze with his red dianthus, for instance), and each of their moves had the overtones of playing on the stage. Men were authors and women were their muses. These "actors" often chose the names of theatrical characters for themselves. This major performance is preserved in the shape of artefacts and legends. The beginning was much more inoffensive than in any other country, but the end emerged from quite a different reality. It lost contact with the stories of Pierrot and Columbine and the participants in the fantastic performance of yesterday turned into the heroes of a mercilessly clear reality - a tragic end. In general, Modernism is not a convenient topic when discussing the identity of a nation. On the contrary, it is universal in nature and reflects an era, effectively disregarding national originality. However, it was born in Western Europe and is justly associated with Western culture. At the same