Taus Makhacheva turns gossip into movement at the UAE Pavilion in Venice
“Sometimes we hear what our fears allow us to hear.” Taus Makhacheva says the emotion is one of the defining qualities of gossip. It rarely passes cleanly from one person to another. It is absorbed through fear, desire, suspicion and excitement, changing slightly with every body it enters. That unstable journey sits at the centre of And What Did You Say? , the Russian artist’s July performances…
Taus Makhacheva's And What Did You Say? is a performance and installation at the UAE Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, exploring the often unseen impact of gossip. The piece incorporates three performers, a bench, an audio work and various objects to represent the journey gossip takes as it moves from source to recipient. Makhacheva, interested in the emotional aspect of gossip, began her investigation by examining the body's physical response to fear, such as the release of dopamine and cortisol. This insight guided her creation of three characters: Source, Spread, and Core.
Source, dressed in a suit with zipped pockets, delivers envelopes containing no information, prompting viewers to reflect on their own role in gossip. The "un-mirror" on a bench symbolizes the effect of false accusations, which can cloud one's perception of self. Spread, wearing layers and constantly rearranging her costume, represents how gossip evolves as it passes from person to person.
During the performance, she even bites into an edible porcelain vessel, literally demonstrating how gossip changes with each encounter. The final character, Core, has processed the emotional toll of gossip and is left in a simple shirt, embodying a sense of "post-rage, post-anger, post-judgment, post-shame, post-everything". Core's performance incorporates a range of symbolic objects, including a crooked pipe and a bracelet made from brass adzuki beans, representing the transformation of gossip from destructive to potentially generative.
Written by urgent.news from The National UAE's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
