Slavs and Tatars, between biennial presence and Eurasian linguistics
Published on 08/21/2026 at 14:59 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Slavs and Tatars have built a distinctive position by treating the geography between the former Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China as both subject and method. Their work moves between installations, publications and lecture-performances, with a sustained focus on language, transliteration and belief systems across Eurasia.MoMA project description
Biennials and regional platforms
Slavs and Tatars appear regularly in biennial formats, where their research-heavy practice is adapted to specific geographies. The 7th Mardin Biennial SKYground, running from May 15 to June 21, 2026 in the Turkish city of Mardin, lists the collective among 41 participating artists and collectives, spanning installation, performance and sound art.My Art Guides background
Coverage of the Mardin edition emphasizes how invited artists respond to historical urban sites and religious architecture, aligning with Slavs and Tatars’ longstanding interest in the role of script, ornament and liturgy within contested public spaces.Canvas biennial report
Exhibition cycles anchored in Eurasian scripts
Institutional exhibitions have given Slavs and Tatars room to stage entire cycles of work built around specific linguistic or religious constellations. The collective’s project Beyonsense at MoMA’s Projects 98 framed Slavic and Turkic alphabets as engines for revolutionary thinking, extending their broader cycle The Faculty of Substitution, which studies how sacred vocabularies and syncretic practices can disrupt secular narratives.MoMA project description
More recent exhibition announcements show the collective continuing to work with museums on long-form presentations. Fenix in Rotterdam positions the forthcoming show Mouthfool as the first major solo exhibition by Slavs and Tatars in the Netherlands, focusing on language migration and oral transmission across generations and borders.Fenix exhibition announcement
News and background on Slavs and Tatars
Further reports on Slavs and Tatars in exhibitions, biennials and collections can be found in the AD HOC NEWS archive and on the collective's institutional project pages.
The work core and media range
Slavs and Tatars operate as a collective rather than a single author, moving between sculpture, installation, graphic design, text-based works, publications and performance. Their self-description foregrounds the region 'east of the former Berlin Wall and west of the Great Wall of China' as a lens to study translation, alphabet politics and devotional practices.Slavs and Tatars studio site
Work cycles such as Friendship of Nations, Beyonsense, Pickle Politics and Mouth to Mouth have been presented in institutions from MoMA and Tate Modern to regional spaces in Vilnius and New Taipei. The collective often pairs sculptural displays with reading rooms, transliteration charts and lecture-performances that unpack the historic layers of their source material.CAC Vilnius exhibition page
Where the artist stands now
Slavs and Tatars sustain an active program of exhibitions and commissions across Europe and beyond, with recent biennial participation in Mardin and long-form museum projects such as Mouthfool in Rotterdam extending their Eurasian language research into new institutional contexts.
Key facts on Slavs and Tatars
- Artist: Slavs and Tatars
- Medium / Genre: Installation, sculpture, text-based art, lecture-performance
- Place(s) of practice: Studio practice across Eurasia, with long-term work in Berlin and other European cities
- Active since: mid-2000s, with international institutional exhibitions from around 2010
- Key work groups: Friendship of Nations, Beyonsense, Pickle Politics, Mouth to Mouth
- Current/last exhibition: ? (?? / who) are you?, Rossi & Rossi, Hong Kong, through May 9, 2026
- Major collections: Work presented at institutions including MoMA (New York), Tate Modern (London) and other European museums
- Awards: Various curatorial invitations and institutional commissions; the practice is framed more through projects than prize listings
- Next date: No specific date within a 30-day window is publicly highlighted by primary sources as of August 21, 2026
Frequently asked questions about Slavs and Tatars
Where can Slavs and Tatars be encountered in recent exhibition programming?
Their work features in biennial and institutional contexts, including the 7th Mardin Biennial in 2026 and long-form museum projects such as the upcoming Mouthfool exhibition at Fenix in Rotterdam.Fenix exhibition announcement
How would one describe the core of Slavs and Tatars’ practice?
The collective works across installation, text and performance to investigate how language, transliteration and devotional practices shape political imaginaries in the region they call Eurasia, often combining sculptural environments with reading spaces and public programs.Slavs and Tatars studio site
Which work cycles are central to understanding Slavs and Tatars?
Key cycles include Friendship of Nations, which revisits political poster culture, Beyonsense, which studies sacred language as revolutionary force, and Pickle Politics, which connects culinary metaphors to satire and historical literature.
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.
