Taus Makhacheva


Taus Makhacheva is a Russian artist based in Moscow. She is the granddaughter of Rasul Gamzatov – Avar poet, author, journalist and political activist. Taus Makhacheva included in the list of the Best contemporary Russian artists, and also in the Russian Investment Art Rating 49ART.

Life and work

Taus Makhacheva was born in Moscow in 1983. From 2002 to 2003 she studied at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. In 2007, she completed a BA program in Contemporary Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. In 2006, she graduated in World Economics from the Russian State University for the Humanities. From 2008 to 2009, she studied New Artistic Strategies at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Moscow. In 2013 she received a Master's degree in Contemporary Art from Royal College of Art in London.
She is known predominantly for her performance and video works that critically examine what happens when different cultures and traditions come into contact with one another. Having grown up in Moscow with cultural origins in the Caucasus region of Dagestan, her artistic practice is informed by this personal connection with the co-existing worlds of pre and post Sovietisation. Oftentimes humorous, her works attempt to test the resilience of images, objects and bodies in today’s world.
Her works are in the collections of Art Gallery of Ontario ; Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts named after P.S.Gamzatova ; Centre Pompidou ; GfZK Museum of Contemporary Art ; Kadist Art Foundation ; Los Angeles County Museum of Art ; Louis Vuitton Foundation ; Moscow Museum of Modern Art ; MuHKA ; National Centre for Contemporary Arts ; Pushkin Museum ; Sharjah Art Foundation ; Tate Modern ; Uppsala Konstmuseum ; Van Abbemuseum ; Vehbi Koç Foundation ; Videoinsight Foundation ; Yarat Foundation as well as in many private collections in Russia and abroad.
In 2018, was named Cosmoscow Artist of the Year and shortlisted for Future Generation Art Prize. Awarded by 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art Foundation Prize, “Future of Europe” Prize, Museum of Contemporary Art, Leipzig and the “New Generation – Innovation” State Prize.
Represented by narrative projects gallery, London.

Solo exhibitions

2018
Storeroom, curated by Christiane Berndes, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
BaidÀ, narrative projects, London
2017
Cloud Caught on a Mountain, curated by Alexey Maslyaev, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow
Second World, Third Attempt, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai
2015
Vababai Vadadai! narrative projects, London
sidenotes, curated by Rebecka Wigh Abrahamsson, Uppsala Konstmuseum, Uppsala
2014
Dagestan. Not for sale, curated by Alexey Maslyaev, artSumer, Istanbul
A Walk, A Dance, A Ritual, curated by Ilina Koralova, Museum of Contemporary Art, Leipzig
2013
What? Whose? Why? curated by Daria Kirsanova, Raf Projects, Tehran
Story Demands to be Continued, curated by Alexey Maslyaev, Republic of Dagestan Union of Artists, Makhachkala, Russia
On historical ideals of labour in the country that conquered space, The Mews Project, London
The Process or Instance of Breaking Open, curated by Emmeli Person, Maria Kotlyachkova, Kalmar Konstmuseum, Kalmar, Sweden
2012
Let Me Be Part of A Narrative, curated by Alexey Maslyaev, Paperworks Gallery, Winzavod, Moscow
Topography of Masculinity, curated by Irina Stark, Kelly Klifa, LJMU Copperas Hill Building, 7th Liverpool Biennial
2011
Affirmative Action, curated by Marco Scotini, Laura Bulian Gallery, Milan
2010
Affirmative Actions, curated by Alexey Maslyaev, Panopticon Inutero, Moscow
2009
A Space of Celebration, Pervaya Gallery, Makhachkala, Dagestan

Group exhibitions

2019
Future Generation Art Prize, PinchukArtCentre, Kiev
The Keeper; To have and to hold, The Model, Sligo, Ireland
2018
Punk Orientalism, curated by Sara Raza, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina Saskatchewan
Rituals of Signs and Metamorphosis, curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing
Supernature in Two Parts, curated by Haroon Mirza and Daria Khan, Lisson Gallery, London
One Place After Another, curated by Viktor Misiano, Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre, Moscow
The Planetary Garden, curated by Bregtje van der Haak, Andrés Jaque, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Mirjam Varadinis, Manifesta 12, Palermo
Starting From The Desert, curated by Marco Scotini, 2nd Yinchuan Biennale, Yinchuan
Beautiful World, Where Are You?, curated by Kitty Scott and Sally Tallant, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool
Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More, curated by Katerina Gregos, Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Riga
2017
New Literacy, curated by Joao Ribas, 4 Ural Industrial Biennial, Ekaterinburg
Viva Arte Viva, curated by Christine Macel, 57th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice
Space Force Construction, Palazzo delle Zattere, Venice
How To Live Together, curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
2016
Why Not Ask Again? Arguments, Counter-arguments and Stories, curated by Raqs Media Collective, 11th Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art, Shanghai
VII Permanent collection display interaction: Contemporary Artists Respond to MMOMA Collection, curated by Elena Yaichnikova, MMOMA, Moscow
Travellers, curated by Magdalena Moskalewicz, Zachete National Gallery, Warsaw
Museum ON/OFF, curated by Alicia Knock, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Lost in the Archive, curated by Inga Lace and Andra Silapetere, Riga City Exhibition Hall Riga Art Space, Riga
2015
‘Otwock’ Season 5: Silvohortiaromatherapy, curated by Kasia Redzis and Magda Materna, Otwock
How to Gather? Acting in a Center in a City in the Heart of the island of Eurasia, curated by Bart De Baere, Defne Ayas and Nicolaus Schafhausen, 6 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, VDNKh, Moscow
The School of Kyiv, Kyiv Biennial, curated by Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schollhammer, Kyiv
Too Early, Too Late. Middle East and Modernity, curated by Marco Scotini, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Arte Fiera, Bologna
2014
Russian Performance: a Cartography of its History, curated by Yulia Aksenova and Sasha Obukhova, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Untitled..., curated by Andrey Misiano, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Parajanov. An Exhibition in the Colour of Pomegranate, Solyanka Gallery, Moscow
Close and Far: Russian Photography Now, curated by Kate Bush, Calvert 22, London
Marker 2014, Art Dubai
An Opera of Labour and Revolution, curated by Lanfranco Aceti and Susanne Jaschko, Kasa Gallery, Istanbul
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai
Spaces of Exception, curated by Elena Sorokina and Jelle Bouwhuis, 5 th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, special project, ARTPLAY Design Center, Moscow
2013
Nostalgia Nervosa, curated by Iliana Fokianaki, State of Concept, Athens
Love me, Love me not, curated by Dina Nasser-Khadivi, 55th Venice Biennial, Venice
Sensible Action, curated by Beral Madra, Alanika 2013, National Museum of Republic Northern Ossetia-Alania, Vladikavkaz
No Water Tomorrow, curated by Alexey Maslyaev, Moscow Museum of Modern Art
The Enchanted Wanderer, curated by Andrey Misiano, Chukotka's Heritage Museum Center, Anadyr, Russia
Re: emerge-Towards a New Cultural Cartography, curated by Yuko Hasegawa, 11th Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE
Looks Like Torture, curated by Nicholas Cohn and Amy Kisch, HERE Art Center, New York
Take a Look at Yourself, Who Do You Think You Are?, curated by Andrey Parshikov, Victoria Gallery, Samara, Russia
2012
I am who I am, curated by Olga Sviblova, Kunst im Tunnel, Dusseldorf, Germany
Animal Style, curated by Ilya Shipilovskikh, National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Ekaterinburg, Russia
Quarantania, curated by David Thorp, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK
Joyful Archipelago, curated by Olga Grotova, Guest Projects, London
Happiness is a Warm Gun, Curated by Ekaterina Shadkovska, Rizzordi Art Foundation, Lof Raf, Saint Petersburg
Migrasophia, curated by Sara Raza, Maraya Contemporary Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE
Now&Then, Viktoria Gallery, Samara
Génération P, town hall at Le Kremlin-Bicêtre
2011
Rewriting Worlds, curated by Peter Weibel, 4 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, main project, ARTPLAY Design Center, Moscow
Expanded Cinema, Curated by Olga Shishko, XII Media Forum of 33rd Moscow International Film Festival, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
Get Up and Run Away With It – About Love and the Impossible, curated by Nadine Wietlisbach, Palais Bleu Le-Lie, Trogen, Switzerland
Greater Caucasus, curated by Irina Yashkova, PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art, Perm, Russia
2010
Intimate Capital, curated by Andrey Parshikov, II Moscow International Biennale for Young Art Qui Vive? Proekt Fabrika, Moscow, Russia
History of Russian Video Art, Volume 3, Curated by Antonio Geusa, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
2009
Let me think!, curated by Stanislav Shuripa, Parallel Program, 3 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Red October Factory, Moscow, Russia
Aluminium, curated by Leyla Akhundzadeh, IV International Baku Biennale of Contemporary Art
Topography of Happiness: Russian Wedding from the 19th to the 21st Centuries, Curated by Olga Sosnina, Tsaritsino State Museum, Moscow, Russia
We will take the lead from now on, curated by Arseniy Zhilyaev and Maria Chekhonadskih, Voronezh Center for Contemporary Art, Voronezh, Russia
2008
Me, nature, curated by Stanislav Shuripa, I Moscow International Biennale for Young Art Qui Vive?, Foundation Contemporary City, Moscow, Russia
Migration, curated by Daria Kamyshnikova, I Moscow International Biennale for Young Art Qui Vive?, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow Russia
Documenting Possibilities, curated by Stanislav Shuripa, Valand School of Fine Arts, Gothenburg, Sweden
2006
Caucasica, curated by Giancarlo Vianello, Scuola Grande di S.Giovanni Evangelista, Venice, Italy
XII INTERBIFER International Biennale of Portrait, Drawings and Graphics 06, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Academic career

From 2011 to 2014 Taus Makhacheva gave lectures in Pervaya Gallery, at the art department of Dagestan State Pedagogic University, in M.A. Dzhemal Dagestan Art School, and ran workshops in South London Art Gallery.
In 2010, she taught the special course History of Performance at the art history department of Moscow State University.

Publications