‘Slavs and Tatars’ Exhibit in Iran

The first exhibition of ‘Slavs and Tatars’ art group is currently underway at ‘Pejman Foundation: Argo Factory’ in Tehran.

‘Slavs and Tatars’ is an art collective, a faction of polemics and intimacies devoted to an area east of the former Berlin Wall and west of the Great Wall of China known as Eurasia. The group’s work is centered on three activities: exhibitions, books and lectures.

According to Pejman Foundation website, the exhibit, titled ‘Nose to Nose’, features sculptures, audio works and publications.

Slavs and Tatars’ insistence on metaphysical and intellectual mix marks their unique place in contemporary art.

The artists involved in the group have so far exhibited their works in major institutions across the globe, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Modern in London, Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane and the Center Pompidou in Paris.

Also at the exhibit, a Persian translation of David Joselit’s ‘On Aggregators’ has been unveiled. The book was originally published in October.

In the book, Joselit, a professor of art history at Yale University, poses an interesting and relevant argument on what the term ‘contemporary’ means today.

The same exhibition will take place at Salt Galata gallery in Istanbul this summer; at the Contemporary Art Center in Vilnius, Lithuania, in the fall; and Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, Serbia, in winter.

For the past ten years, since its founding in 2006, Slavs and Tatars art group has held shows in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Belgium, Georgia, Italy, Austria, Poland, Brazil, Australia, South Korea, Norway, Turkey, the UAE, the UK and the US. It also has over 10 publications including a translation of the legendary Azeri satire ‘Molla Nasreddin: the magazine that would’ve could’ve should’ve’, currently in its second edition.

The group artists work across cycles, where extended periods of research give life to an eco-system of installations, sculptures, lectures, and printed matter that question our understanding of language, ritual and identity. Imbued with humor and a generosity of spirit, their work commonly blends pop visuals with esoteric traditions, oral rituals with scholarly analysis in a way that opens new paths of contemporary discourse.

The group has four branches based in Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Stockholm and Connecticut.

The Tehran exhibit is made possible with assistance from the Embassy of Poland in Tehran and The Third Line art gallery in Dubai.

It is open to the public through July 14 at the foundation, a non-profit cultural institution located at No. 6, Behdasht St., Taghavi St., Ferdowsi Ave.