Stories from the storeroom - Performance and Artist Talk

Taus Makhacheva is an artist with stories to tell. In the Storeroom project, the subjects are 68 copies of works of art from the Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts named after P.S. Gamzatova. Makhacheva creates unusual combinations in order to bring the works to life, raising questions about the role of art, traditions, identity and culture. For instance, the Tightrope video, set in the breathtaking highlands of the Caucasus, shows how Rasul Abakarov, the fifth-generation representative of a family of tightrope-walkers, risks his life to carry the works of art across an abyss from one mountain top to another. 

The 68 copies of works from the museum in Dagestan, together with the different stories Makhacheva uses them to tell, have now been assembled in one of the museum rooms, allowing you, the visitor, to step into another world; a world where Dagestan, the Russian circus and Super Taus convene.

On Saturday 24 November you will be able to experience Storeroom through a performance and an artist talk by Taus Makhacheva accompanied by Rasul Abakarov. Taus Makhacheva designed this performance especially for this exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum. The copies are brought to life using role play and dialogue. New stories about the works from Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts will be created in Makhacheva’s unique style.

Script by the artist Ilmira Bolotyan based on a text by Dzhamilya Dagirova and interviews with collection custodians;  Zuriyat Dzhanbatyrova, Bakiyat Kakhimova, Ravzat Otsokova of the  Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts named after P.S.Gamzatova.