Slavs and Tatars and the award-driven arc of their practice
Published on 06/18/2026 at 16:59 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Slavs and Tatars operate as an art collective dedicated to the cultural and political space between Berlin, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Their installations, lectures and publications repeatedly examine how language, script and translation shape identities from the former Soviet sphere to the Middle East.
Award history as a trajectory
Over the past decade, Slavs and Tatars have accumulated an award history that maps neatly onto the growing institutional interest in research-based practices. In 2014 they received the Preis der Nationalgalerie shortlist recognition in Berlin, underlining their early resonance within German institutions.
The collective later won support from the Vera List Center for Art and Politics in New York, which highlighted their sustained engagement with political discourse, contested histories and minority languages in Eurasia. Awards and fellowships of this kind have enabled them to expand large-scale installations and ambitious publishing projects without relying solely on the commercial gallery system.
Recognition across regions and formats
Recognition for Slavs and Tatars has come from different geographies and formats, from European museum nominations to North American research fellowships. This spread mirrors the way their work crosses disciplines, sitting between contemporary art, area studies and comparative linguistics.
Alongside formal prizes, invitation-based institutional projects function almost like awards, since they usually follow curatorial vetting and peer recommendation. When major museums or kunsthallen dedicate space to their installations, this institutional trust signals similar validation to a prize or grant, but with a more public-facing dimension.
All news and background on Slavs and Tatars
Those who follow the work of Slavs and Tatars can track further exhibitions, institutional projects and critical responses via the AD HOC NEWS archive.
The core of their practice
Slavs and Tatars describe themselves as a 'faction of polemics and intimacies,' emphasizing both political research and everyday ritual. Their work often focuses on language politics, from vocalization to alphabet reform, and the ways phonetics and script carry ideology.
Installations and reading rooms are frequently paired with publications, lecture-performances and book launches. Work groups such as Friendship of Nations, Lektor, Not Moscow Not Mecca and Mirrors for Princes show how they translate archival material and religious texts into sculptural, graphic and performative forms.
Where the collective stands now
Overall, Slavs and Tatars hold a stable position as a mid-career research collective whose award history and institutional collaborations continue to underpin new installations and publications, even without a freshly announced prize in the immediate calendar.
Slavs and Tatars in key facts
- Artist: Slavs and Tatars
- Medium / Genre: Installation, text-based art, research-driven practice
- Place(s) of practice: Studio structure with a long-term base in Berlin and projects across Eurasia
- Active since: Mid-2000s, with international visibility growing in the 2010s
- Key work groups: Friendship of Nations, Not Moscow Not Mecca, Mirrors for Princes, Lektor
- Current/last exhibition: Collective practice presented in recent years in major museums and kunsthallen across Europe and North America
- Major collections: Works and editions held in leading public collections in Europe and the United States
- Awards: Recognition including shortlist status for the Preis der Nationalgalerie (2014) and research-oriented fellowships such as the Vera List Center for Art and Politics support
- Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Slavs and Tatars
What defines the practice of Slavs and Tatars?
Slavs and Tatars focus on the region between what they describe as the former Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China, working with language politics, translation, devotional objects and everyday rituals.
Which media do Slavs and Tatars primarily use?
The collective combines installations, sculptural objects, graphics, sound, lecture-performances and essayistic publications, often bringing these elements together in reading rooms and immersive environments.
How important are awards and fellowships for Slavs and Tatars?
Awards and fellowships, from museum-linked prizes to research center support, have allowed Slavs and Tatars to scale up complex, long-term projects that cut across art, politics and area studies, beyond the constraints of short exhibition cycles.
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