Please note this event has been cancelled.
We are hoping to find an alternative future date and will update the website once there is more information.
We are hoping to find an alternative future date and will update the website once there is more information.
This is the third lecture in a series hosted by Dr Sussan Babaie and co-organised by
the Iran Heritage Foundation with the Courtauld Institute of Art
the Iran Heritage Foundation with the Courtauld Institute of Art

Description
For a little more than a decade, Slavs and Tatars have shown a keen grasp of polemical issues in society, clearing new paths for contemporary discourse via a wholly idiosyncratic form of knowledge production: including popular culture, spiritual and esoteric traditions, oral histories, modern myths, as well as scholarly research.
In this talk, the artists reveal how extended periods of research give life to an eco-system of installations, sculptures, lectures, and printed matter that question our understanding of language, ritual and identity. Much as they look to other regions to challenge traditional canons, the artists also turn to other organs, beyond the brain–the mouth, the throat, the stomach, sexual organs–to manage what they call ‘the metaphysical splits.’ How to unite the seemingly disparate, that is, scholarship with idiocy, humour with religiosity, et al–in an effort to challenge the emphasis on the rational and analytical.
For a little more than a decade, Slavs and Tatars have shown a keen grasp of polemical issues in society, clearing new paths for contemporary discourse via a wholly idiosyncratic form of knowledge production: including popular culture, spiritual and esoteric traditions, oral histories, modern myths, as well as scholarly research. In this talk, the artists reveal how extended periods of research give life to an eco-system of installations, sculptures, lectures, and printed matter that question our understanding of language, ritual and identity. Much as they look to other regions to challenge traditional canons, the artists also turn to other organs, beyond the brain–the mouth, the throat, the stomach, sexual organs–to manage what they call ‘the metaphysical splits.’ How to unite the seemingly disparate, that is, scholarship with idiocy, humour with religiosity, et al–in an effort to challenge the emphasis on the rational and analytical.
Slavs and Tatars is an internationally-renowned art collective devoted to an area east of the former Berlin Wall and west of the Great Wall of China known as Eurasia. Their work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at leading museums across the globe. The collective’s practice is based on three activities: exhibitions, publications and lecture-performances. In addition to their translation of the legendary Azerbaijani satirical periodical Molla Nasreddin, Slavs and Tatars have published ten books to date, most recently Wripped Scripped (Hatje Cantz, 2018) on the politics of alphabets and transliteration.
For a little more than a decade, Slavs and Tatars have shown a keen grasp of polemical issues in society, clearing new paths for contemporary discourse via a wholly idiosyncratic form of knowledge production: including popular culture, spiritual and esoteric traditions, oral histories, modern myths, as well as scholarly research.
In this talk, the artists reveal how extended periods of research give life to an eco-system of installations, sculptures, lectures, and printed matter that question our understanding of language, ritual and identity. Much as they look to other regions to challenge traditional canons, the artists also turn to other organs, beyond the brain–the mouth, the throat, the stomach, sexual organs–to manage what they call ‘the metaphysical splits.’ How to unite the seemingly disparate, that is, scholarship with idiocy, humour with religiosity, et al–in an effort to challenge the emphasis on the rational and analytical.
For a little more than a decade, Slavs and Tatars have shown a keen grasp of polemical issues in society, clearing new paths for contemporary discourse via a wholly idiosyncratic form of knowledge production: including popular culture, spiritual and esoteric traditions, oral histories, modern myths, as well as scholarly research. In this talk, the artists reveal how extended periods of research give life to an eco-system of installations, sculptures, lectures, and printed matter that question our understanding of language, ritual and identity. Much as they look to other regions to challenge traditional canons, the artists also turn to other organs, beyond the brain–the mouth, the throat, the stomach, sexual organs–to manage what they call ‘the metaphysical splits.’ How to unite the seemingly disparate, that is, scholarship with idiocy, humour with religiosity, et al–in an effort to challenge the emphasis on the rational and analytical.
Slavs and Tatars is an internationally-renowned art collective devoted to an area east of the former Berlin Wall and west of the Great Wall of China known as Eurasia. Their work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at leading museums across the globe. The collective’s practice is based on three activities: exhibitions, publications and lecture-performances. In addition to their translation of the legendary Azerbaijani satirical periodical Molla Nasreddin, Slavs and Tatars have published ten books to date, most recently Wripped Scripped (Hatje Cantz, 2018) on the politics of alphabets and transliteration.
Tickets & Info
Tickets: Free, registration essential book now
The event will start promptly at 18.00 so please ensure you arrive on time
For any inquiries please contact astrid@iranheritage.org, Tel: 020 3651 2121
Tickets: Free, registration essential book now
The event will start promptly at 18.00 so please ensure you arrive on time
For any inquiries please contact astrid@iranheritage.org, Tel: 020 3651 2121