FLANKED BY the Caucasus Mountains on the highest plateau in Dagestan, the village of Tsovkra-1 has parlayed the perils of its topography into a peculiar claim to fame: that every able-bodied member of its roughly four-hundred-person population can walk a tightrope. While locals say that this skill was first developed simply as a way to traverse the region’s slopes and crevices, tightrope walking is now considered an integral part of the republic’s cultural heritage.
It is no wonder, then, that the artist Taus Makhacheva chose to site her recent piece, Tightrope, 2015, just outside Tsovkra-1. Filmed using drone-mounted cameras, the video opens with a low-slung shot of the titular wire, which spans an abyss between twin hilltops. Stationed on one summit is a simple black metal rack full of paintings and works on paper, standing on edge in a line that ascends according to height. The