Taus Makhacheva is the unseen ringleader of her circus in Charivari, an installation that stands as both an effigy to a bygone platform and as scaffolding to a performance of fantasy.

First presented in 2019, the installation has been revised for A Space of Celebration, a retrospective of her work spanning 13 years, running until August 14 at the Jameel Arts Centre.

Charivari is a good example of the mirth and playfulness that runs through most of the Russian-born artist’s works. It also exhibits her propensity to spring towards the uncanny from stories rooted in the North Caucasus and beyond.

The work pays homage to the Baku State Circus and explores the rich circus tradition of the former Soviet Union. It alludes to a platform that was used to project state narratives and, ironically, as the exhibition explains, also provided “a safe space for banter and freedom of expression".

The original version of the installation featured 3D models of performers and circus props. The one at Jameel Arts Centre, however, presents a flatter variation.

This “flat-pack version”, as Makhacheva calls it, was designed for practical and logistical reasons, but it also evokes something that the original perhaps does not.

There are specific points throughout the space where the circus materialises best. Outside of these vantage points, the circus starts to vanish in a 2D blind spot, giving it an uncanny resonance.

A silver-caped acrobat, bodiless snake charmer and a shapeshifting horse are among the cast of unruly characters that inhabit Makhacheva’s circus. Along with the mixed-media installation, an audio track plays in the exhibition space, narrating stories of the circus characters in several languages, including English and Arabic.

“There are 10 different stories,” Makhacheva says. “There’s a story of a circus canteen, where everything is made from crude oil. There’s a story of a strong woman accountant, another of a clown, then the director of the circus, the wife of the director of the circus, the daughter of the director of the circus and the husband of the daughter of the director of the circus.”

The stories, Makhacheva says, hint at the family relationships present in the Caucasus and beyond. “All of them depict, tangle or untangle something,” she says.