Taus Makhacheva will be participating in The Travellers a group exhibition curated by Magdalena Moskalewicz at Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland. The exhibition looks at travel in a region where freedom to travel was, until recently, a luxury available only to very few. The revolution of 1989 and the subsequent opening to the world and globalisation processes allowed citizens of the former Eastern Bloc personal mobility on an unprecedented scale.
Opening on 14 May and running until 21 August, the show brings together works by 23 artists from 15 countries that narrate the stories of holiday trips as well as distant journeys and migrations, with a focus on the period from the mid-20th century until today, from the closed borders of the divided Cold War-era Europe to the capitalism-driven acceleration of the 21st century’s first decades.
Makhacheva will present her antique postcard collection Types du Caucase, 2013-ongoing. The postcards depict ‘pittoresque’ groups from various tribes, families or nationalities, or representatives of diverse professions and date back to the 19th century and are representative of the ‘popularised ethnography’ of the Russian Empire. The captions on the postcards are written in Russian and French, which designates them as being for the members of the elites of that time. This collection reflects the Caucasus as a travel destination as well as a place of conquest–reconquest and ongoing conflict.