February 28–May 30, 2015
NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery
PO Box 129188
Saadiyat Island
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
New York University Abu Dhabi Art Gallery (NYUAD Art Gallery) presents a major solo exhibition of the art collective Slavs and Tatars, titled Mirrors for Princes, on view February 28 through May 30. The exhibition is their most ambitious, immersive installation to date, with new work occupying the 7,000-square-foot exhibition space at NYUAD Art Gallery.
JRP|Ringier is publishing a book titled Mirrors for Princes, commissioned by NYUAD Art Gallery and edited by Anthony Downey of Ibraaz. This hybrid of scholarly research and original artworks explores the artists’ current research topic: medieval guidebooks for rulers, shared among Christian and Muslim lands, with Machiavelli’s The Prince being the most famous example. In their cycle of Mirrors for Princes exhibitions, the artists look to this genre of advice literature as an urgent precedent; a case study of the balance between faith and state, between hospitality and critique, issues that continue to resonate today across the Middle East, North America, and Europe.
In the exhibition, visitors traverse three environments, each radically different from the next. First, a five-channel audio-sculpture installation excerpts an 11th-century Turkic “mirror for prince” called Kutadgu Bilig (Wisdom of Royal Glory) in five languages (Turkish, Uighur, Polish, German, and Arabic). Next, a dark, psychedelic gallery reveals a series of glowing, fetishistic sculptures around the text’s concern with grooming. Finally, visitors discover a serene teahouse and reading room, where the books available are curated by the artists from the NYU Abu Dhabi library collection. In preparation for the exhibition, the collective participated in an artist residency on the new campus of NYU Abu Dhabi.
Maya Allison, Gallery Director and Chief Curator of NYUAD Art Gallery, explains, “Slavs and Tatars link witty, irreverent, creative practice to scholarly and field research, so naturally they are ideal for a University gallery audience, and its surrounding community. In alignment with NYUAD’s curriculum, the artists explore the intersection of multiple histories, from Eastern Europe to Western China. Their projects resonate with the regional audience, and with the diverse community within NYUAD’s student body and faculty.”
About Slavs and Tatars
Slavs and Tatars, formed in 2006, is an art collective that describes itself as “a faction of polemics and intimacies devoted to an area east of the former Berlin Wall and west of the Great Wall of China known as Eurasia. The collective’s work spans several media, disciplines, and a broad spectrum of cultural registers (high and low.) They are best known for their use of a playful presentation style to disarm and engage viewers in the content of the research underlying their work. Their publications and art installations explore relationships among countries, visual cultures, and histories.
Exhibition cycle travel dates
Slavs and Tatars: Mirrors for Princes is a series of unique installations drawn from their research. The cycle manifests at five different venues. These include Kunsthalle Zurich (August 30–November 9, 2014); NYUAD Art Gallery (February 28–May 30, 2015); Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane, Australia (October 24–December 19, 2015); Blaffer Museum of Art, Houston, Texas (January 16–March 19, 2016); and the Museum der bildenden Künste (MDBK), Leipzig, Germany (November 15, 2016–March 3, 2017).
On Facebook (NYUAD Art Gallery), Twitter (@NYUADArtGallery), and Instagram (@NYUADArtGallery), use the hashtags #SlavsandTatars and #MirrorsforPrinces.
About NYUAD Art Gallery
The Art Gallery, which opened on November 1, 2014, and is located at the main entrance to NYUAD’s Saadiyat Campus, presents curated exhibitions of art and material culture across historical and contemporary topics, with a special emphasis on subjects of both regional concern and international significance. Through focused exhibitions, events, and publications, the gallery serves as a catalyst and locus of intellectual and creative activity, linking the University with the Abu Dhabi public and a worldwide community of artists, curators, and scholars. The 664-square-meter (7,000-square-foot) exhibition space features soaring double-height ceilings and an outdoor installation space.
