A Conversation with Slavs and Tatars, “Simurgh Self-Help”, Kalfayan Gallery, Athens, and Raster Gallery, Warsaw, by James Scarborough

Art collective Slavs and Tatars have once again demonstrated their ability to fuse historical narratives with modern conceptual art in their latest exhibition, “Simurgh Self-Help.” Drawing inspiration from Marcel Broodthaers’ pioneering work of institutional critique, “Musée d’Art Moderne: Département des Aigles,” this exhibition translates the secular symbolism of the eagle into the mystical and spiritually significant Simurgh. The Simurgh, a mythical bird from Persianate mythology, represents a metaphysical counterpart to the eagle’s nationalistic and imperial connotations.

Slavs and Tatars employ a diverse array of media, including vacuum-formed plastic panels, woolen carpets, hand-blown glass lamps, and steel and glass sculptures, to explore themes of identity, spirituality, and the socio-political landscape of Eurasia. The exhibition juxtaposes the eagle, a symbol often associated with nationalism and masculinity, with the Simurgh, a gender-fluid, spiritually elevating creature. This contrast not only critiques the traditional power structures embedded in national symbols but also invites us to reconsider their perceptions of identity and belonging.

By incorporating elements of Sufi literature, oral traditions, and regional mythologies, Slavs and Tatars create a speculative history that challenges contemporary notions of nationalism. Works like the “Tranny Tease pour Marcel” series and the “Astaneh” sculptures, highlight the fluidity of cultural symbols and their impact on collective identity. The exhibition’s engagement with Farid ud-Din Attar’s “The Conference of the Birds” further emphasizes the collective journey towards self-knowledge and spiritual enlightenment.

“Simurgh Self-Help” encourages us to reflect on the complexities of cultural heritage and the ongoing dialogue between past and present. Slavs and Tatars’ approach underscores the importance of examining and reinterpreting historical narratives to better understand our contemporary world.

JS: Your exhibition draws a parallel between the eagle and the Simurgh. Can you elaborate on the conceptual journey that led you to juxtapose these two symbols?

S&T: We were interested in expanding the geographic and geopolitical remit of Broodthaers’ original critique, from a decidedly Western one, to a more capacious Eurasian one.

JS: Marcel Broodthaers’ “Musée d’Art Moderne: Département des Aigles” serves as a critical reference in your work. How do you perceive the evolution of his institutional critique in the context of your own artistic practice?

S&T: Our region is in need in equal measures of institution-building as it is of institutional critique. The eagle was once a divine animal, companion to Zeus, immune from being struck by lightning but has since become a rather vulgarized short-hand for nationalism. The Simurgh is currently in the midst of a similar profanization: found on Azeri football jerseys, Kazakh state investment funds etc.

JS: The Simurgh, as a metaphysical and gender-fluid symbol, contrasts sharply with the eagle’s nationalistic connotations. How do you see this contrast reflecting the current geopolitical climate?

S&T: We’ve long held the belief that it is best to use one’s enemy’s arms against them. In that sense, what better model of multiplicity–be it gendered, ethnic, linguistic, et al–than the Simurgh which spans the region itself.

JS: Your use of diverse media—plastic panels, woolen carpets, hand-blown glass—creates a rich tapestry of cultural references. How do these materials contribute to the thematic depth of “Simurgh Self-Help”?

S&T: We’ve revisited the Poèmes Industriels of Broodthaers via the vacuum formed panels, exhibited at the 58^th Venice Biennale in 2019. This Not That is a nod to Broodthaers’ Ceci n’est Pas which itself winked at Magritte’s famous surrealist dictum. Instead of the smoking Pipe one finds a hookah with haze. “Ceci” is spelled out in Perso-Arabic as "سہ سئ” which means 3-30, a reference to the 30 birds who succeed in finding Simurgh at the end of the journey in Attar’s Conference of the Birds. Instead of a bottle of wine/water, Samovar features the traditional tea brewing device found across Eurasia, formed from the silhouette of two birds.

JS: “The Conference of the Birds” by Farid ud-Din Attar plays a pivotal role in your exhibition. How does this literary work inform your exploration of collective identity and spiritual enlightenment?

S&T: One way to resist the reductive impulses of identity politics, whether from the left or from the right, is to accumulate identities, much like one would make foie gras, by feeding the goose until its liver falters. Each one of us is multiple, and we must negotiate the conflictual affinities, loyalties, effects of these identities.

JS: The region of Eurasia, with its complex history and cultural intersections, is central to your work. How do you navigate the challenges of representing such a diverse and often politically charged area in your art?

S&T: We are not interested in representing the region; the fact that our region is so large and diverse necessarily makes such an effort doomed from the start. Rather we’re committed to exploring those things which unite us, unexpected convergences. Since the fall of the USSR and especially the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, there’s been an important drive towards articulating national identity and agency away from the top-down, imperial influence of Moscow. Slavs and Tatars have long been more interested in the peripheries of knowledge production, the edges of belief systems, the margins of rituals rather than the centers for it is at these borders where syncretism and hybridity thrives. However, it is crucial today to also activate and redeem that which binds us, from below, if you will, as much as that which distinguishes us: these regional solidarities or commonality can be folkloric, semiotic (such as the Simurgh), culinary (a propensity for pickles), or ritualistic (for example, Dożynki/обжинки harvest festivals). It is fitting then that one of the most prominent allegories of the Simurgh is the Sufi notion of finding oneness in multiplicity. In Attar’s Conference of the Birds (1177 CE), several birds set out on a long journey to find their leader, the legendary Simurgh, only to discover in the end that God or the Transcendent is inside themselves.

JS: Your “Tranny Tease pour Marcel” series delves into the politics of transliteration. What insights have you gained from examining the shifts in script and language within the Eurasian context?

S&T: By using the wrong script for the given text, the Tranny Tease (pour Marcel) series require us to read out-loud the text and in so doing, to reconsider the act of reading as a performative one. We tend to see reading as a private, intimate, silent act whereas, for the largest part of its history, reading has been an enunciative, oral, collective one.

JS: The concept of translating the eagle into the Simurgh implies a transformation of nationalistic symbols into more inclusive, spiritual ones. How do you envision this transformation impacting the viewers’ understanding of identity and heritage?

S&T: Every home has its abroad, Hamid Dabashi once wrote. The western-most iteration of Simurgh we came across in our research is Semargl (Симаргл) in Chernihiv in Ukraine. Semargl is one of the Eastern Slavic gods mentioned in the Primary Chronicle, from Kievan Rus: against the backdrop of today’s geopolitical climate, Simurgh becomes another way of defining or considering the region.

JS: The interplay between the affective and the extractive realms is prominent. Can you discuss how this duality shapes the narratives within “Simurgh Self-Help”?

S&T: If in Broodthaers’ time, the primary source of power behind museums and institutions was clearly the state, today the picture has significantly changed, with the increased role of private (individual) funding and corporate sponsorship. We see a continuum between the affective and extractive both in the illness (say, the instrumentalization of natural resources) as well as the remedy (the means to resist the above).

JS: How do you foresee the themes explored in “Simurgh Self-Help” evolving in your future projects?

S&T: The two exhibitions at Kalfayan Gallery and Raster Gallery are the first installments of the project which will be further developed for solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and Frac, Pays de la Loire in 2025.

The exhibition in Athens runs until June 29. The Kalfayan Gallery in Athens is located at 11, Haritos, Kolonaki, 10675, Athens. For more information, click here.

The exhibition opens in Poland runs through July 7. The Raster Gallery is located at Wspólna 63, 00–687 Warsaw, Poland. For more information, click here.

ALL CAPTIONS: Slavs and Tatars, Simurgh Self-Help (installation view), Raster Gallery, 2024