Considering themselves as “”archaeologists of the everyday,”” the collective focusses on the interplay of religion, power, language and identities. They investigate mentalities, myths, traditions and transitions through a combination of scholarly research, polemics and lowbrow humour.
While the roll-out of new alphabets has often accompanied the rise and fall of empires, the artists attempt to liberate not so much peoples and nations but rather the sounds and letters that make up language. Chapters include a look at the phoneme [kh] as a sacred perspective in the Hebrew, Arabic and Cyrillic alphabets; Germany’s relationship with Orientalism through the tetragraph [dsch]; and a study of nasal phonemes in constructing Polish and Turkish identity.
About the Artists
Slavs and Tatars is an art collective devoted to an area East of the former Berlin Wall and West of the Great Wall of China known as Eurasia. Their practice is based on three activities: exhibitions, books and lecture-performances.
The collective’s PraySway (brown) (2015) is part of the Art Jameel Collection and was exhibited as part of the Second Hand exhibition at Jameel Arts Centre from July 3 to November 23, 2019.
About the Publisher
Based in Berlin, Germany, and established in 1945, Hatje Cantz is one of the leading publishing houses for art, photography, design and architecture books with a focus on contemporary art.
