Growing up in Moscow, Taus Makhacheva was raised in a family with origins in the Republic of Dagestan, a mountainous area in the North Caucasus, which has served as both the stage and protagonist in several of her works. These are inhabited by a pantheon of unruly characters—including her alter ego Super Taus—who negotiate complex histories, social norms, and myths through humor and imagination. Makhacheva studied art in London at the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths, University of London. 

Charivari (2019) takes a flying leap into the Soviet circus tradition in a performative installation infused with the combination of irony and irreverence typical of Makhacheva’s work. In circus speak, charivari is the traditional name for a collective act of tumultuous gymnastic feats performed by acrobats and clowns. Makhacheva revisits the Soviet history of the Baku State Circus in the Republic of Azerbaijan, while drawing on the traditions of the avant-garde and its taste for the experimental and absurd in defiance of social norms. In collaboration with the architect Maria Serova, the artist translates the circus setting into an abstract drawing in space. Hoops, ladders, swings, and pyramids synthesize the modernist ideal of a disciplined body with the sophisticated artistry and skillfulness of the circus school.

Similarly two-dimensional are the surreal costumes designed by Panika Derevya: a fanfare musician whose body takes the shape of an open accordion; the “magician’s assistant” whose robe is also a staircase; a convoluted snake; a half-horse, half-elephant animal made in macramé; and so on. The flatness of the scenery is contrasted by the visceral absurdity of the audio stories written by Alexander Snegirev, based on archival research and oral interviews in Baku. These tales feature characters including synthetic bears, a talking horse, a lion ventriloquist, and a strongwoman accountant. As philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin proposes, the carnival traditions allow for a suspension of official norms and deviations from the everyday. That is how the circus, suggests the artist, operated in Soviet times, crafting a space of freedom within a society controlled by ideology and state narratives. Snegirev’s wry commentary on the post-Soviet era suggests that this fundamental role of the circus persists. Visitors are called to approach the podium: “Circus, circus, circus—it’s a fabulous sparkling tent.”

English Audio Recording

Arabic Audio Recording

Charivari, 2019/2022

Architect: Maria Serova

Text: Alexander Snegirev

Costume design: Panika Derevya

Costume production: Margarita Antonova, Alisa Bunkova, Costume Studio “Paloma”| Yulia Brikulskaya, Costume Studio “Ginger Rose” Sergey Cheltsov, Nadezhda Danilenko, Panika Derevya, Olga Kalinina, Anastasia Markova, Larisa Nikulshina, Anastasia Rybina, Anna Samsonenko, Alina Sarancha, Scenic Costume Studio “M”Art’, Alexandra Terekhina, Anna Vetrova, Denis Yudin

Costume production consultation: Sofia Egorova, Anastasia Markova

Sound production: Alisa Bunkova, Marat Ismailov, Karina Salaway

Sound design: Denis Dronov

Sound engineer: Artem Karkach, Maxim Nikolaev, PicMus

Voice: Osama Adda, Abdelrahman Adhat, Aisha Arabia, Alaa Arabika, Roga Aya, Yury Brezhnev, Kristina Chernyavskaya, Lydia Christina, Nicholas Collet,  Lisa Dwan, Nuha Eltahir, Abdelrahman Elhout, Michael Geary, Al-terk Gunwa, Anton Kostochkin, Agnia Kuznetsova, Baha Lahkham, Gladston Makhib, Daria Mazur, Polina Milushkova, Thayer Mustafa, Hadi Rahma, Susie Sefton, Ekaterina Shibayeva, Lubov Tolkalina, Sameh Vohra, Andrew Winn

Production: Sanan Baghirov, Kristina Chernyavskaya, Charles Gohy, Sadagat Isayeva, Albert Kolambel

Installation production: Good Support Moscow, Novruz Mammadov

Research: Vusal Ahmedov, Ulvia Akhundova, Farah Alakbarli, Sanan Baghirov, Kristina Chernyavskaya, Vasilisa Egorova, Sayara Huseyinli, Asya Sokolova, Arina Umanskaya

Audio production: Arabic | Ksenia Ananyeva, Artem Berezin, Igor Fridenberg, Marat Ismailov, Temirkan Khanov, Alexander Lakeev, Eduard Lim, Ivan Sapozhnikov, Ulyana Tregubenko

Translation: English | Ben McGarr, Arabic | Inna Alsatkina

Editing: Arabic | Abu Bakr Al Ani (thelingtwist), Ebrahim Hasan

Language consultation: Arabic | Inna Alsatkina, Ebrahim Hasan

Special thanks to: Vagif Baghir-Zada, Radjab Mamedov, Asger Rasulov, Vugar Taptygly, Tamila Nazirova, Lada Sanatskaya, Tofik Akhundov, Rauf Rasulov, Vladimir Vavilov, Aida Babazade, Leyli Salayeva

Commissioned by YARAT Contemporary Art Space (2019), production supported by Jameel Arts Centre (2022) and the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale (2024) Production of Arabic recording supported by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation for the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2024

Courtesy of the Artist and Private Collection