Slavs and Tatars and the award and prize record in recent years
Published on 08/27/2026 at 13:28 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Slavs and Tatars have, over two decades, turned a research-driven practice into a fixture of the international institutional circuit. Their works, ranging from sculptural installations to lecture-performances and publications, track the entanglements of language, belief and power across a broad Eurasian geography.
Award trajectories through exhibitions
Slavs and Tatars’ visibility in major museums and kunsthalles forms the precondition for many of the accolades and invitations attached to their name. The collective’s institutional biography includes solo projects such as Projects 98 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where their cycle Beyonsense was presented as part of MoMA’s long-running commissioning program for emerging and mid-career artists.
More recently, Slavs and Tatars have been invited to develop large-scale projects at museums that increasingly act like award platforms by commissioning ambitious new work. Museo Jumex in Mexico City is presenting the installation Samovar Swell in 2026, a project that The Third Line describes as a significant solo presentation that anchors their engagement with hospitality, reading cultures and collective gathering in Latin America. The Third Line news overview
Award & prize recognition patterns
While Slavs and Tatars are not primarily associated with headline art prizes like the Turner Prize, their recognition often takes the form of curated invitations and funded programs that function as de facto awards. The Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) describes their exhibition The Contest of the Fruits as a funded project, positioning the collective among artists whose work is supported for its engagement with language, politics and minority cultures. ifa project description
Specialist press frequently underlines this pattern of recognition as a cumulative effect of sustained institutional collaboration. Open-access art media point to their presence at platforms such as La Biennale di Venezia and Tate Modern as key markers of status, even when no single grand prize defines their trajectory, emphasizing instead the ongoing commissioning and programming that keep the collective in circulation.
All news and background on Slavs and Tatars
Our internal search bundles further coverage on Slavs and Tatars, from exhibitions and commissions to institutional collaborations and critical reception.
The core of the artistic position
Slavs and Tatars define their field of interest as the geography between the former Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China, approaching this zone less as a map than as a discursive field. Their self-description highlights work across installations, printed matter, lectures and performances that focus on linguistic shifts, transliteration practices and ritual. Slavs and Tatars about page
Current state of the work
Slavs and Tatars maintain an active studio-based and research-based practice with ongoing institutional collaborations across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Slavs and Tatars at a glance
- Artist: Slavs and Tatars
- Medium / Genre: Installation, lecture-performance, publication-based practice
- Place(s) of practice: Studio-based collective working between Europe and Eurasia
- Active since: Early 2000s, with international institutional presentations from around 2006
- Key work groups: Beyonsense, The Contest of the Fruits, Samovar Swell, Régions d’établissement
- Current/last exhibition: Samovar Swell, Museo Jumex, Mexico City, 2026
- Major collections: Selected works held in major international museums including MoMA (New York) and institutions in Europe and the Middle East
- Awards: Participation in funded institutional programs such as ifa’s The Contest of the Fruits project
- Next date: No announced date in the 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Slavs and Tatars
Where can I currently encounter works by Slavs and Tatars?
Works and installations by Slavs and Tatars are present in ongoing collection displays and dedicated exhibitions in institutions such as Museo Jumex in Mexico City and major museums in Europe, reflecting their sustained institutional presence.
What defines the award and prize profile of Slavs and Tatars?
The collective’s recognition reflects long-term institutional collaborations, funded projects and curated invitations, rather than a single headline prize, positioning their practice within a network of museums and cultural institutes that support research-heavy, discursive work.
How do Slavs and Tatars combine installations, texts and performances?
Slavs and Tatars integrate sculptural and spatial installations with publications, reading rooms and lecture-performances, often foregrounding transliteration, devotional practices and the politics of language across Eurasia, which has become a key reference point for contemporary curatorial discourse.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
