Tatar* Kiss Group exhibition
Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art
28 September – 14 December 2025
Curators: League of Tenders (
@beyond_n_between Elena Ishchenko and
@polu.provodnitsa Maria Sarycheva).
Authenticity, Novelty, and Uniqueness
Fabric, embroidery, sound
2025
The second part of the project devoted to participation of Kalmyk/Oirat people in European ethnological shows.
This textile–sound installation materializes the research in a tactile and sonic register. Working with Kalmuck double-woven fabric, I unpick, appliqué, and hand-embroider to expose and recompose its layered structure, treating the cloth as a site of attention and repair.
A paired audio track features diaspora voices pronouncing the names of Kalmyk participants—collaboratively restored from ethnographers’ transcriptions toward a pronunciation closer to contemporary Kalmyk-Oirat (an endangered language).
Sound Mixing and Mastering: Maximilian Schweizer
Kalmyk Translation: Khatan Bata
Consultation: Clemens Radauer, Henriette Lavaulx-Vrécourt, Maria Ochir
Photo 1: Valya Fetisov
The sound component of the work was created in collaboration with Anzhela, Vera, Eva, Naran, Gilyana, Alisa, Arslan, Halgina, Sükä, Namsa, Lyuuba, Khatan Bata, Polina, Gerel Palinkas, Elza Palinkas, Baine Choros, Jacques Baldachinoff, François Targiroff, Dzsemma Papdeakne Yavanova, representatives of the Kalmyk diaspora. The recording archive belongs to the members of the choir and is used with their consent.