Slavs and Tatars. Made in Dschermany

The artists’ collective Slavs and Tatars investigates reciprocal relationships between supposedly disparate cultural spheres. In its research-based works, it focuses on the “region east of the Berlin Wall and west of the Great Wall of China known as Eurasia” where Slavic, Caucasian and Central Asian influences intermingle. The installations, lecture performances, public interventions and artist’s books produced by Slavs and Tatars address such issues as faith, tradition and intercultural understanding and their respective political dimensions. The significance of language, foreignness and cultural translation have also been central themes in the exhibition.
In the exhibition "Made in Germany" the artists’ collective Slavs and Tatars focused on language and its ambiguities. The presentation has been the largest exhibition of the artists’ collective ever staged in Germany. Language – how it arises, develops and is used in its emotional and political roles – is the driving impulse behind the works of the artists. This aspect is evident in the numerous publications in which Slavs & Tatars have developed their ideas. In addition to spatial installations, acoustic works, sculptures, videos and tapestries displayed in the Lipsiusbau, the artists have staged a series of lecture performances. Visitors were able to view other works by the artists’ collective in the form of interventions at the Albertinum, the Porcelain Collection and the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon at the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD). An extensive accompanying programme featured tours highlighting the group’s artistic practices, discussions with art scholars and a concluding one-day symposium entitled “Sum, ergo Cogito”.

Artistic director: Kathleen Reinhardt
Artists: Slavs and Tatars