Taus Makhacheva: Charivari

Taus Makhacheva—whose varied practice includes performance, film, food and objects—presents an interactive multimedia installation, exploring Caucasus’ contemporaneity through newly commissioned work dedicated to the history of USSR circus tradition in general, and the Baku State Сircus in particular, in collaboration with architect Maria Serova, writer Alexander Snegirev and costume designer Panika Derevya. Despite being a mainstream entertainment, the Soviet Circus provided a comparatively censorship-free environment in which the boldest and most daring statements could be made by means of visual and physical language. Combining fact and fiction, the work uncovers the ever-fluctuating relationship between tradition, modernity and cultural authenticity in this period of transition from the Soviet to post-Soviet paradigm, through to the multiple futures of the post-post-Soviet era.

The term charivari refers to a specific circus act—a mass circus performance composed of solo and group multi-genre pieces presented simultaneously. With every act the rhythm gets faster and the technical complexity of the performance increases, as if artists were competing—showing off their comic talent and ingenuity, their skill, liveliness and temper—until ultimately the circus ring becomes full of floating and somersaulting figures.

Based on archival records, films and photographs from the Baku National Archive, Makhacheva’s installation similarly creates a chaotic make-believe circus full of unusual creatures: a talking horse, synthetic bears, a sheep inside a gymnast inside a lion, a strongwoman-accountant and a fly in a silver cape, to name a few. Inviting the viewer to ponder on a human-animal pyramid, a circus-arena birth, a VR act and many more fantastical encounters—the show acts as a witty and often controversial socio-political commentary; through stories from distant pasts and near futures, Makhacheva comments on the all too real circus of contemporary life.

This exhibition is curated by Suad Garayeva-Maleki, Artistic Director, YARAT