Slavs and Tatars

PraySway (brown)

Back to collections
Slavs and Tatars, PraySway (brown), 2015, Steel, poplar wood and rope, 370 x 77 x 14 cm. Art Jameel Collection. Photo by David von Becker.

Artwork Details

Artist

Slavs and Tatars

Title

PraySway (brown)

Date

2015

Medium

Steel, poplar wood, rope

Dimensions

370 x 77 x 14 cm

Credit Line

Art Jameel Collection

Work Description

PraySway (brown) is a giant set of prayer beads that functions as a swing. An interactive artwork, viewers are invited to sit, rock forward and back, to be pushed or propel themselves. It succinctly breaks down the barriers between the artwork and viewer, its vast scale shifts the function of the object from something that is held in the hand, to something that can support the whole body. Cleverly juxtaposing playfulness with a devotional object used in prayer, the piece can be understood as summarising the philosophy of Slavs and Tatars. The artists recognise and cultivate this sense of ambiguity and uncertainty within their work, which is often intentionally disruptive, but without being immediately identifiable as such. Humour is also a trope seen throughout their practice, as a way to engage and to question our understanding of language, ritual and identity.

Prayer beads are a symbolic and well-used object that used to aid meditation and have origins in multiple global religions: from the pebbles which were to become rosaries in early Christianity in Europe to prayer ropes and wooden beads used by Hindus in India and Buddhists in Tibet, and the misbaha in Islam, which typically possess 99 regularly sized beads to correspond to the names of God. With multiple points of reference, the sacred swings into the profane, ‘Orient’ into ‘Occident’, rigid formulas into contrary positions, and staid academic dogmas into non-invested open-mindedness. This is not simply about moving between opposites, but also about occupying both ends of the spectrum, and pushing the walls of interpretation, as Slavs and Tatars do throughout their practice. 

Artist Biography

Slavs and Tatars, founded in 2006

Payam Sharifi (b. 1976, Austin, Texas, US) lives and works in Berlin, Germany; Kasia Korczak (b. 1976, Łódź, Poland), lives and works in Berlin, Germany

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. Founded in 2006 as a collaboration between artists and designers Payam Sharifi and Kasia Korczak, who have since been joined by other artists from across the world; they explore idiosyncratic forms of knowledge production, including popular culture, spiritual and esoteric traditions, oral histories, modern myths and scholarly research. Their practice is based on three activities: books, exhibitions and performative lectures which primarily fall within one of eight research cycles. Imbued with humour and a generosity of spirit, their works are often interactive and public-facing, opening new paths of contemporary discourse.  They have held many solo exhibitions across the world from Honolulu (2021) to Warsaw (2020) and Toronto to Ljubljana (both 2019) as well as showing in leading institutions such as MoMA, New York; Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris;  and Istanbul Modern. The collective has also participated at international biennials such as the 2nd Islamic Biennale, Jeddah (2025); 5th Kochi Muziris Biennale, Kochi (2022-23); 58th Venice Biennale (2019); 8th Berlin Biennale and Manifesta 10 (both 2014); 9th Gwangju Biennale (2012). Beginning as an informal reading group, they have now published several books. 

www.slavsandtatars.com

Useful Links

View exhibition