Slavs and Tatars

Slavs and Tatars is an art collective devoted to an area East of the former Berlin Wall and West of the Great Wall of China, termed Eurasia. Their practice is primarily based on three activities: exhibitions, books and lecture-performances. With a heady mix of high and low brow humor, the artists turn to sculptures, installations, and text to excavate and explore a geography that is equally imagined as it is political. Employing an archeological spirit, Slavs and Tatars uncover layers of language, politics, tradition and ritual; opening new paths of contemporary discourse, the artists consider the hybridization of a region, shared cultures and poignant questions of identity in the present day.

Since 2006, the collective’s work has been exhibited at major museums and biennials internationally, including Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, 58th Venice Biennale, 10th Sharjah Biennial, 8th Berlin Biennial, 3rd Thessaloniki Biennial, and 9th Gwangju Biennial. 

Their work has also been the subject of solo exhibitions at the MoMA, New York (2012); Secession, Vienna (2012); Künstlerhaus, Stuttgart, Germany (2013); Kunsthalle Zurich (2014); Dallas Museum of Art (2014); Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2015); Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, USA (2016); Salt, Istanbul (2017); Albertinum, Dresden (2018); and most recently The Contest Of The Fruits, Basement Roma, Rome, Italy (2023).

Slavs and Tatars has published several books: Kidnapping Mountains (Book Works, 2009), Not Moscow Not Mecca (Revolver/Secession, 2012), Khhhhhhh (Mousse/Moravia Gallery, 2012), Friendship of Nations: Polish Shi’ite Showbiz (2nd edition, Bookworks, 2017), as well as their translation of the legendary Azeri satire Molla Nasreddin (now in its 2nd edition with I.B. Tauris). On the occasion of a mid-career survey in 2017, the collective’s first monograph was published by König Books. 

The collective's lecture-performances are hosted by leading art spaces and prestigious universities around the globe, including Stanford University, Yale University, Princeton University, the University of Warsaw, NYU Abu Dhabi and the Royal College of Art, London.

Their works are in important public and private collections including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Pinakothek der Modern, Munich; The Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin and The Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE, among others.

In 2018, Slavs and Tatars launched a residency and mentorship program for young professionals from their region. In 2020, the collective launched Pickle Bar, a Slavic aperitivo bar as project space a few doors down from their studio.