Slavs and Tatars and the work cycles between Eurasia and Berlin
Published on 08/22/2026 at 15:42 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael MĂŒller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Slavs and Tatars have spent the last two decades turning the linguistic and political frictions of Eurasia into dense, witty installations and reading rooms. Their long-term cycles such as Régions d’établissement and Mouthfool have anchored the collective on the international exhibition circuit.
Work cycles between text and tongue
In many projects Slavs and Tatars start from script and phonetics, treating alphabets as material that can be stretched, misread or literally chewed. The collective describes its field of interest as the territory between the former Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China, foregrounding translation and mistranslation as productive engines of form.
The ongoing body of work Mouthfool uses speech therapy techniques, tongue twisters and transliteration to test how bodies carry language across borders. The forthcoming solo presentation Mouthfool at Fenix in Rotterdam is announced as the first major solo exhibition by Slavs and Tatars in the Netherlands, centering on the migration of words from mouth to mouth and generation to generation.
The Eurasian focus over the years
The cycle Régions d’établissement looks at Eurasia through publications, sculptures and installations that splice archival material with pop-cultural graphics. A recent article on the Hamburger Bahnhof group show A Thousand Times Berlin highlights how works from this cycle appear there as part of a survey of the city’s artistic communities.
Earlier projects such as Beyonsense, realized for the MoMA exhibition Projects 98: Slavs and Tatars, already combined Slavic and Turkic references with the visual language of propaganda and devotional objects. Across these iterations, the artists build an idiosyncratic research practice that moves from library to street, then back into sculptural display.
All news and background on Slavs and Tatars
For further coverage of exhibitions and critical responses to Slavs and Tatars, the AD HOC NEWS archive offers additional reports on institutional shows, publications and collaborations.
The work core and materials
Slavs and Tatars usually combine sculpture, graphic design, performance and printed matter into compact environments. A single project might include a custom typeface, a carpet functioning as both furniture and text carrier, and a performative lecture that reframes research into shared pronunciation exercises.
Where the collective stands now
Slavs and Tatars continue to expand their long-running cycles with new institutional presentations and commissions, keeping their focus on Eurasian languages, belief systems and the slippery politics of translation.
Slavs and Tatars in overview
- Artist: Slavs and Tatars
- Medium / Genre: Installation, sculpture, text-based research
- Place(s) of practice: Studio base in Berlin
- Active since: mid-2000s, with institutional projects consolidating in the early 2010s
- Key work groups: Régions d’établissement, Mouthfool, The Faculty of Substitution, A Thirteenth Month Against Time
- Current/last exhibition: A Thousand Times Berlin, Hamburger Bahnhof - Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin, since June 12, 2026 (group show including works from Régions d’établissement)
- Major collections: MoMA (New York), Tate (London), a range of further institutional lenders noted in exhibition credits
- Awards: Various research and residency grants noted in institutional biographies, reflecting sustained curatorial interest
- Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Slavs and Tatars
What defines Slavs and Tatars as a collective?
Slavs and Tatars work as a research-driven collective that focuses on the cultural, linguistic and religious entanglements of Eurasia, often using humor, transliteration and script-politics as formal and conceptual tools.
Which long-term work cycles are central to their practice?
Key cycles include Régions d’établissement, which looks at Eurasia through archival and graphic material, and Mouthfool, which experiments with tongues, accents and therapy techniques as sculptural and performative devices.
Where have Slavs and Tatars been institutionally visible?
The collective has presented work at venues such as MoMA in New York in the context of Projects 98: Slavs and Tatars and continues to appear in European museum shows including the survey A Thousand Times Berlin at Hamburger Bahnhof.
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.
