And What Did You Say?
Presented by the National Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates as part of Alserkal Art Week, And What Did You Say? (2026) is a newly commissioned performance by artist Taus Makhacheva, originally conceived for Washwasha, the UAE's exhibition at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Bana Kattan with Assistant Curator Tala Nassar.
In And What Did You Say?, Makhacheva explores gossip as a form of social exchange, considering how stories circulate, transform, and take on new meanings as they pass between people. Approaching gossip with curiosity about its potential, the artist explores the idea of "metabolizing gossip", translating its movement through language and social relationships into a choreographed performance.
Three performers embody different stages of gossip: the "source", the "spread", and the "core". Through movement, they trace the ways gossip enters the body: how it is carried, how it mutates, how it settles, and how it departs.
Originally presented in Venice, the performance is brought to a new context at Alserkal Avenue, inviting audiences to consider gossip not simply as an exchange of information, but as something that moves between people, shaping relationships, perceptions, and collective narratives.
Bio Taus Makhacheva
(b.1983, Moscow, Russia; lives and works between Dubai, UAE and Moscow, Russia)
Taus Makhacheva creates works that explore the restless connections between historical narratives and fictions of cultural authenticity. Often humorous, her art considers the resilience of images, objects, and bodies emerging out of stories and personal experiences that complicate notions of empires. Her methodology involves reworking materials, landscapes, and monuments, pushing against walls, opening up ceilings, and proliferating institutional spaces with a cacophony of voices. Her work is held in the collections of Tate Modern; Centre Pompidou; Fondation Louis Vuitton; Art Gallery of Ontario; Sharjah Art Foundation and Van Abbemuseum. Selected exhibitions include the Bukhara Biennial (2025), Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale (2024), Gwangju Biennale (2023), and Venice Biennale (2017).