Slavs and Tatars, work cycles between languages and politics

Slavs and Tatars move between lecture-performance, sculpture and installation, focusing on language, Eurasian histories and humor-infused critique. This overview traces key work series and how the collective structures its long-term projects.

From the AD HOC NEWS Art Desk » Work Series & Retrospective Desk - The editors cover exhibitions, auctions, collections, prizes and artistic positions. Published: July 11, 2026 · Last checked: July 11, 2026, 10:03 PM

Slavs and Tatars have built a practice that turns language, transliteration and Eurasian politics into sculptural and performative material. Their long-running cycles of work move across installations, books and lecture-performances, often unfolding over several years and across multiple institutions.

Series-based practice over many years

From early projects in the late 2000s, Slavs and Tatars have structured much of their output as thematic cycles that run for roughly seven-year stretches. Each cycle often combines exhibitions, publications and public programs around a focused research field.

These cycles treat research in the same way other artists treat individual paintings or sculptures. Instead of a single iconic object, the core becomes a cluster of works, texts and talks that can be reconfigured depending on context.

Key work groups and recurring motifs

Among their better known cycles are bodies of work that address transliteration between alphabets, devotional practices and the languages along the former Silk Road. Titles such as Lektalog, Eurasia or projects centering on alphabet politics show how the collective organizes research into distinct yet overlapping strands.

These work groups frequently include floor-based sculptures, wall texts, reading rooms and performative lectures. The same motif may appear as a poster in one context and as a three-dimensional object in another, underscoring how medium remains flexible within each series.

The work core across media

At the center of the practice sits a sustained interest in how ideology travels through language. Sculptures and installations often stretch or distort written scripts, while performances and readings analyze jokes, proverbs and slogans from different linguistic traditions.

Books and printed matter function as parallel works rather than secondary documentation. Many projects exist simultaneously as installations in a gallery, as a lecture-performance in a theater and as a publication circulating in the academic and art worlds.

Where the collective stands now

Slavs and Tatars continue to develop long-term series that treat the region between Berlin and Beijing as both subject and method, with current projects extending their work cycles into new institutional and discursive contexts.

Slavs and Tatars at a glance

• Artist: Slavs and Tatars
• Medium / Genre: Installation, sculpture, lecture-performance, publishing
• Place(s) of practice: Primarily Europe and Eurasia-focused projects
• Active since: Late 2000s
• Key work groups: Lektalog, Eurasia, alphabet and transliteration-focused series
• Current/last exhibition: Long-term cycles presented at various institutions in recent years
• Major collections: Selected works in European and international institutional holdings
• Awards: Recognition through exhibitions, commissions and discursive programs
• Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window

Frequently asked questions about Slavs and Tatars

What defines the work cycles of Slavs and Tatars?
The collective structures its practice into multi-year thematic series, each combining installations, performances and publications around a specific linguistic or geopolitical research field.

Which media does the collective use most often?
Slavs and Tatars work with sculpture, installation, lecture-performance and books, allowing motifs and research findings to move fluidly between objects, spaces and printed matter.

How do humor and language intersect in their practice?
Many works analyze jokes, puns and everyday sayings, showing how humor both reinforces and destabilizes ideological positions embedded in different languages and scripts.

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.