Caspian Sea

Object


2018







For her solo exhibition BaidA at narrative projects, Taus Makhacheva has transformed one of the galleries into something between of a shop and a delicatessen. Having recently been investigating the relation between human beauty treatments and art restoration in conjunction with her new commission at the Liverpool Biennial this year, Makhacheva has come across an intriguing component: a sturgeon swim bladder. Fish need it for survival–it helps them control their buoyancy. For many fishermen and chefs alike–it’s garbage; yet it seems to be highly in demand for the production of glue used in art restoration, especially sturgeon swim bladder from Russia.

Exploring further this newly found link with her ongoing work with the community of poachers from Dagestan roaming the Caspian see, Makhacheva creates a soviet style counter where one can buy the bladders thus putting back in circulation this much wanted product (which is now hard to buy outside of the country). At the exhibition, one can acquire another product too: a piece of the Caspian see either by acquiring an industrial pressing mould structure or get a piece of the cakeat the opening. The moulding tool, weighting more than sixty pounds, is customised to produce (signed) silicone shapes, which in turn can practically be used for baking millions of Caspian seas. In other words, one can either own it as one piece of art, or cast out a large number of artworks in the shape of silicon moulds and bake millions of cakes from them. True to her efforts in thinning the line between art and real life, Makhacheva doesn’t let us get away easily: art is burned, chewed and baked until it is molecular. More accurately, your molecular mould.


Team

Production

Industrial mould production

Research



Kseniya Skorytchenko

Silico

Kseniya Skorytchenko

Production supported by narrative projects, London
Courtesy of the artist


Site under construction. Contact: info@tausmakhacheva.com