Installation view of MAYATEPEK, Galerie Nordenhake Mexico City, 2025
Slavs and Tatars
One of the most renowned art collectives of the 21st century, Slavs and Tatars is 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.
Payam Sharifi, founding member of the collective, on Slavs and Tatars' artistic practice and their exhibition MAYATEPEK at Galerie Nordenhake Mexico City
Creep and Steep, 2025, wood, galvanised metal 210 x 180 x 40 cm. Commissioned for Columna Rota at Museo de la Ciudad de México.
Installation view of Live Streaming, 2025, screenprinted on silver mirror cardboard, 91 × 65 cm, at Columna Rota, Museo de la Ciudad de México
Detail of Live Streaming, 2025, screenprinted on silver mirror cardboard, 91 × 65 cm, at Columna Rota, Museo de la Ciudad de México
False Friends (El tosco), 2025, glazed ceramic, 45 x 30 x 30 cm, 17 3/4 x 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
Detail of False Friends (El barco), 2025, glazed ceramic, 45 x 30 x 35 cm, 17 3/4 x 11 3/4 x 13 3/4 in
The Alphabet (Uyghur kril yéziqi), 2021, vacuum-formedplastic, acrylic paint, 64 x 91 cm, 25 1/4 x 35 7/8 in
Bazm u Razm (Joint 4), 2015, dichroic glass, branch, 50 x 90 x 45 cm, 19 3/4 x 35 3/8 x 17 3/4 in
Installation view of MAYATEPEK, Galerie Nordenhake Mexico City, 2025
Installation view of MAYATEPEK, Galerie Nordenhake Mexico City, 2025
Dark Yelblow, 2023, hand blown glass, bulbs, canvas cables, electrical fixtures, 20.3 x 16.5 x 16.5 cm, 8 x 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 in
Dark Yelblow, 2023, hand blown glass, bulbs, canvas cables, electrical fixtures, 33 x 19.7 x 19.7 cm, 13 x 7 3/4 x 7 3/4 in
Installation view of 胡 ( هو / who) are you? at Rossi & Rossi, Hong Kong
Dark Yelblow, 2024, Hand blown glass, bulbs, canvas cables, electrical fixtures, 16.5 x 18 cm, 6 1/2 x 7 1/8 in
Installation view of 胡 ( هو / who) are you? at Rossi & Rossi, Hong Kong
Installation view of Samovar Swell at Museo Jumex, Mexico City. Photo courtesy of Museo Jumex
Installation view of Samovar Swell at Museo Jumex, Mexico City. Photo courtesy of Museo Jumex
Installation view of Samovar Swell at Museo Jumex, Mexico City. Photo courtesy of Proceso
Alphabet Abdal, 2015, woolen, yarn, 190 x 495 cm, 74 3/4 x 194 7/8 in
Installation view of Alphabet Abdal, 2015, woolen, yarn, 190 x 495 cm, 74 3/4 x 194 7/8 in
Installation view of False Friends (té) and False Friends (señor), 2025, reverse screen print, acrylic paint, mirror, wooden frame, 120 x 160 cm, 47 1/4 x 63 in
Installation view of wallpaper with Frida Orupabo, Smoking dog, 2024, collage: pigment print on acid-free cotton paper mounting tape split pins mounted on aluminium, 76 x 134 cm, 29 7/8 x 52 3/4 in, at Zona Maco Booth C103 Galerie Nordenhake
Installation view of False Friends (La migración), 2025, glazed ceramic, 49 x 36 x 30 cm, 19 1/4 x 14 1/8 x 11 3/4 in with Iñaki Bonillas, En esto ver aquello: Galería de los espejos, 2026, print on william turner 190g paper, set of 2 pigment print on alpha-cellulose paper, 36 x 53 cm each 14 1/8 x 20 7/8 in each at Zona Maco Booth C103 Galerie Nordenhake