Slavs and Tatars and the museum presence across Europe
Published on 08/19/2026 at 16:33 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Slavs and Tatars have spent the past two decades threading their work into major museum programs on both sides of Europe. Their projects span institutions including MoMA in New York, Tate Modern in London and a growing network of European museums that engage their Eurasian focus.
Museum paths across Europe
The collective’s institutional trajectory includes a dedicated Projects 98 presentation at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where their work Beyonsense formed part of a cycle on the revolutionary role of the sacred and syncretic. The museum describes their practice as centering on the landmass between the former Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China, a geography that anchors their recurring focus on language, belief and power.
In Europe, Slavs and Tatars have developed long-term relationships with museums that treat their installations as platforms for public debate. Their exhibition listings show recent and current projects in venues from Dallas Museum of Art to New Taipei City Art Museum under the title Of Thread and Stone, reflecting how institutions use their work to approach questions of translation and cultural memory.
Collections, archives and narratives
MoMA contextualizes Slavs and Tatars within its Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, positioning their contribution as a bridge between installation, text and graphic work. That institutional framing foregrounds how the collective’s output often operates simultaneously as sculptural environment, publication and discursive platform.
Their own exhibitions overview emphasizes recurring engagement with major collections and international programs, including Asia Now at Monnaie de Paris and regional museums that stage their research-driven installations. Against this backdrop, Slavs and Tatars’ museum presence functions less as a static holding of objects and more as a series of evolving constellations, where works are reconfigured to address local histories and audiences.
All news and background on Slavs and Tatars
For more reporting on Slavs and Tatars, including exhibitions, collections and critical reception, the AD HOC NEWS archive offers additional context and updates.
The work core and methods
Slavs and Tatars describe their geography of interest as stretching from the former Berlin Wall to the Great Wall of China, a zone they treat as both subject and method. Their projects weave together sculpture, text, sound and lecture-performances to probe how language, religion and ideology travel through bodies and institutions.
Where the collective stands now
Slavs and Tatars currently maintain an active institutional presence, with recent and forthcoming projects listed on their exhibitions page, and continue to expand their engagement with museums across Europe and beyond.
Slavs and Tatars at a glance
- Artist: Slavs and Tatars
- Medium / Genre: Installation, sculpture, text-based and research-driven practice
- Place(s) of practice: Studio practice focused on the region between the former Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China
- Active since: Collective practice active since the mid-2000s, with institutional exhibitions in leading museums such as MoMA and Tate
- Key work groups: Beyonsense, Of Thread and Stone, Mouth to Mouth, Pickle Politics
- Current/last exhibition: Ongoing institutional presentations including projects listed on the collective’s exhibitions overview, such as Of Thread and Stone at New Taipei City Art Museum
- Major collections: Presence in major museum programs including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and leading European institutions
- Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Slavs and Tatars
Where can I encounter Slavs and Tatars in a museum context?
Slavs and Tatars have presented projects at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and major European museums, where their installations often form part of ongoing programs on language, belief and geopolitics.
What kind of works do Slavs and Tatars bring into museum collections?
The collective produces installations, sculptural environments, publications and lecture-performances that often enter collections as hybrid constellations of objects and discursive formats, rather than standalone pieces.
How do museums frame the practice of Slavs and Tatars?
Institutions describe Slavs and Tatars as working across Eurasia’s cultural and political intersections, using humor, research and polyglot wordplay to address how ideologies are transmitted and transformed.
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.
