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Museum of Modern Art opens Slavs and Tatars exhibition

Museum of Modern Art presents Projects 98. Slavs and Tatars on view August 15–December 10, 2012.


Slavs and Tatars, Long Live The Syncretics, 2012. Painted steel, 145 11/16 x 74 13/16″ (370 x 190 cm). The Third Line, Dubai.

Slavs and Tatars is a collective whose installations, lectures, publications, and multiples focus on relationships between Western cultures and the Eastern world. At MoMA, the group presents the new installation Beyonsense, which takes its title from a translation of zaum—the term used to describe abstract language experiments undertaken by artists and authors in the early 20th century—celebrates twists of language across cultures, histories, and geographies. The project was developed, in part, from their study of the Museum’s collection of more than 1,000 Russian avant-garde illustrated books. For MoMA, they have designed a reading room of an unconventional sort, featuring their text pieces and artist’s books, which incorporate a multitude of languages (Farsi, Russian, English, and Hebrew) and scripts (Latin, Cyrillic). Stressing an attitude of discourse and hospitality within the museum setting, Slavs and Tatars encourage visitors to linger in the space, leaf through the publications, and encounter the installation. The exhibition is organized by Gretchen L. Wagner, The Sue and Eugene Mercy, Jr., Assistant Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books. www.moma.org

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