Measuring Your Contemporary Conditions: An Interview with Taus Makhacheva Ahead of her commission for Liverpool Biennial 2018, Taus Makhacheva talks about the evolution of her practice, her Dagistani period, ASMR (Auto-Sensory Meridian Response) and collaborating with Ukrainian artist Alexander Kutovoi. Until recently, Moscow born Makhacheva’s work has focused on Dagestan, her ancestral place of origin, exploring themes of cultural authenticity, politics and contemporary life. Mostly known for her video work, her artistic practice also encompasses food-based work, installation, and a super hero alter ego, Super Taus. Her Biennial commission is a sculptural installation that is a spa experience, with products developed by Tigran Geletsyan from 22|11 Cosmetics. It is inspired by Auto-Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), a phenomenon where watching videos of seemingly mundane activities such as folding towels or tapping fingernails on a surface can produce physical tingling sensations in the viewer. The piece is also a response to the installation site, Blackburne House, and its history of supporting and rebuilding vulnerable women. You’ve talked in the past about how a new piece of work starts with a story. Can you talk a bit about the story that triggered this piece? TM: Yes, I think there were multiple ones. It’s all sorts of general observations about the contemporary condition in a way. It was my obsession with ASMR videos that I have been watching and this really strange intimacy that is enjoyed digitally.
It was my first research visit and I thought about a few different things. There were a few phrases, Sally (Tallant, Director of Liverpool Biennial) said, ‘I’m sorry for the rain.’ It made me think of how we embody things around us, how we take on responsibility for things around us. When I came to Blackburne House, it was such an incredible place in terms of rebuilding of a person. You might be in a complicated situation and you are so empowered. Almost all the staff are women so it’s a space where you see a reflection of yourself, where you see a possible future, a possible alternative. This is a very interesting space for empowerment.
“You remake yourself with what you have” There is this Inspire course at Blackburne House, for women who are going through grief or other things, and they practice Tai Chi and mindfulness and mindful eating. For me it was similar to sculpture building and artwork making. You remake yourself with what you have, and you train your mind with mindfulness. I’ve had a few conversations, with the Deputy Director who told me about how they rebuild. Around Christmas they hit a brick wall with their studies and they don’t feel like they can do it and they send someone to talk to them to tell them that they are capable.
Walking around with Polly (Brannan, Biennial Education Curator), who said that art has radically been reduced from the curriculum in schools in the UK, made me think how do we acquire a different type of knowledge, a different type of experience? Are we trapped in efficiency, money making and very rigid type of experiences?
sculptural head that was broken down into pieces that couldn’t fit into a room in Blackburne House.
So all of these things fell into this very hybrid work that I’m in the midst of production.
I’m developing a script with David McDermott who’s based in Liverpool, whose background is TV drama. We are developing a script that would include all of these stories and inspirations that I talked about.
You are collaborating with another artist for this piece. How does this effect your process? TM: So there’s me and Alexander Kutovoi (Sasha), a very talented artist and sculptor who’s originally from Ukraine but based in Moscow. We’re imagining this giant
These pieces form the furniture that the space is going to be composed of. On the one hand it was a face, a sort of a perfect thing but then had some sort of trauma.
There will be a beautician, an actor / performer, who will be performing these sort of signature sculptural facials and she will also be reciting these stories. And she is a mixture of an art conservator and an actual