A Medieval Specula Principum book at the basis of Slavs and Tatars’ solo exhibition since yesterday at Kunsthalle Zurich

Our report from the Zurich art weekend starts with a gallery of pics from the solo show by the collective of artists known as Slaves and Tatars, which opened last night at the Kunsthalle. The core of the exhibition, or its starting point, or even better, the place where you end up, after the show, if you are interested in going deeper into its meanings, is a Turko-Islamic Mirror for Princes (specula principum) titled Kutadgu Bilig. Written by Yusuf Khass Hajib in the 11^th century for the prince of Kashgar, the book is considered the oldest monument of Islamic Turkish literature and it is part of the same literary category of “The prince” by Nicolò Machiavelli, or the “Tresor” written by Brunetto Latini.

 

The text is reproduced by a series of speakers laid on holy books stands in a quadrilingual four-channel audio installation. Here below a quotation from the book that will help you to grasp the feeling of the whole. It will also be a tool to understand the most interesting of the many references set by these artists – whom we are likely to meet again at the next Venice Biennial. That is the reference to the role hairdressing has always been playing in human society, a sort of ironic mark of its still tribal basic organization. It works as a constant and spontaneous metaphor, and as a fundamental interpretation key as well, of the attention human beings and their leaders pay to their own appearance.

 

“The wise, on the other hand, let their bodies grown thin and fatten their souls, taking pleasure in wisdom. The body’s share enters through the throat, while the soul’s share is sound speech and enters through the ear. Controlling these two things – the tongue and the throat- is the hallmark of wisdom, and reddens a man’s cheeks. There is such need for wise men who guard their throats and tongues: their benefit is a flowing river”.

 

Kutadgu Bilig.

November 26, 2014