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MONGOLIA 360° 1st Land Art Biennial Mongolia 2010
Theme: The new challenges we face mean we’re going to have to rethink our connections to the planet and to each other. When it comes to creating a new space for building new relationships, the arts are uniquely powerful. Land Art is arising as a new kind of art space: a virtual, discontinuous, shape-shifting terrain, more conceptual than architectural, with a reach that has already become global in scope. Questions like Sustainability, the perspective of ecology and a new vision of diversity require a creative understanding beside the common white cube art spaces where the arts become more and more condensed by economical force. In order to develop a new chapter in the Land Art tradition since the beginning in the American West in the late 60th and following the nomadic idea of the Walking Museum – the Land Art Biennial in Mongolia was founded to be located in various locations of Mongolia. The Biennial is a forum in search of contemporary definitions of what Land Art can reveal about “today’s questions”. In order to open a free space of artistic interaction they decided not to restrict the definition of land art by any presets.
www.landartmongolia.blogspot.com
Details and Concept MONGOLIA 360° 1st International Land Art Biennial, Mongolia 2010
Mongolia is a land of extremes: It is one of the least-populated countries on the earth, and it is the country with the greatest temperature differences worldwide. Mongolia is one of the sunniest countries with the most southerly permafrost, the most northern desert, etc. and the scenic features are overwhelming. Mongolia is one of the few countries where space does not yet completely stand under the influence of people. In the tradition of nomadic culture the land is primarily used to raise cattle, while there is little classical agricultural use in the western sense of the word. The immense breadth and variety of the Mongolian countryside allows an incomparable experience of space. The absence of civilization and its associated noises and other influences, the clean air and the scenery lead to an increased sensitization of the senses. In 2006 the first symposium on land art in the Gobi was organized in Bor Undur. The results were shown in an exhibit in the gallery of the Union of Mongolian Artists in Ulan Bator (land art Mongolia 2006 / catalogue)
The vast scenery of Mongolia is well suited to contribute to the debate about contemporary land art. The Vision is open for a variety of artistic expressions not bound by restrictions as materials or restrictions. Aim is to establish a original and new view an Land Art as a contemporary expression of highly sensible issues of sustainability ecology and freedom of mankind. It is planned to carry out the festival every 2 years at different places, or in different regions of Mongolia. This refers to the high variety of the scenery and the nomadic tradition of Mongolia. The art works can remain permanently in place, and will therefore help create a “permanent” exhibit. At a later point, it is possible to visit all the different sites of the exhibit tour. The 1st Land Art Biennial Mongolia 2010 entitled “Mongolia 360°”will be hold in BAGA GAZRIIN CHULUU in the Gobi desert (46!12?38.23?N, 106!0?48.43?O). Artists were invited to provide drafts and work plans reflecting the specific scenery. The results will be exhibited on site in August 2010. An accompanying exhibit in the National Modern Art Gallery in Ulan Bator documents the works (photography, installation drawing).
Exhibition
The results of Land Art 2010 will be documented in an exhibition. The exhibition will take place at the National National Modern Art Gallery in Ulaanbaatar ion the 19th – 26th of August 2010.
Participating Artist 2010
Anibal Catalan (Mexico) Asaki Kan (Japan/UK) Batzorig Dugarsuen (Mongolia) Beatrice Catanzaro (Italy) Cheng Ran (China) Chimmeddorj Schagdarjav (Mongolia) Dolgor Ser- Od (Germany/Mongolia) Dogvadorj Sereeter (Mongolia) Guido Canziani Jona (Italy/ Germany) Huang Rui (China) Kim Young-Ik (South Korea) Lap Yip Wing (China) Lea Rekow (USA) Karin van der Molen (Netherlands) Marc Schmitz (Germany) Nicole Dextras (Canada) Sabina Shikhlinskaya (Azerbaijan) Su-Chen Hung (Taiwan/USA) Shinji Turner Yamamoto (Japan/USA) Tanya Preminger (Israel) Tan Xun (China) Tony Ng (China) Michael Müller (Germany)
Symposium
In cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, a symposium is planned to run parallel to the exhibition in the National Modern Art Gallery. The symposium serves to support bilateral communication and the discussion of accompanying aspects: Art in the public space / free space – occupied space, relevance of ecological questions, sustainability.
Catalogue
A catalogue will be published. This catalogue is a component of the symposium and is published in three languages (German, English and Mongolian). It offers a documentation of Land Art 2010, introductory texts and a statement by each artist about his work. Photos and/or sketches of the work, a portrait of the artist, and a description of the work complement the pages. Importance will be given to producing a high quality catalogue.
Legend: With MONGOLIA 360° the concept for the 1st international Land Art Biennial will be hosted in the Gobi desert in August 2010. As is common for organic processes, the Land Art Mongolia project took years to coalesce. Inspired by a Land Art Symposium in the Gobi Village Bor Undur in 2006 (supported by the ifa Institute for Foreign Affairs Germany and the Art Council Mongolia) the concept of a collaborative land-art exhibition series was first envisioned by the Mongolian Artists Dagvadorj Sereeter and the Berlin based Artist Marc Schmitz. In early meetings, members of the Society discussed a much smaller, simpler effort to facilitate a partnership between the team in Berlin and one of Ulaanbaatar two major art institutions: the UMA (Union of Mongolian Artists) and DUBTSUN (Fine Art Collectors Association). But lacking a single coordinating entity, the concept didn’t get off the ground until June 2009, when Puntsag Tsegmid, executive director of DUBTSUN, stepped in to take over the practical coordination in Mongolia, and an international team around Marc Schmitz joined the Land Art committee with the tasks of curating, fundraising, marketing, and much of the program development. By the unanimous decision to nominate R.A. Suri as the main Curator of the Biennial in 2010 the axis Ulaanbaatar, Shanghai and Berlin established an international framework of creative development.
Development of then project
In order to develop the Land Art Biennial 2010, the Organizing Committee will be maintained until the second Biennial in 2012. The purpose is to develop independent structures and to establish the Biennial as a permanent part of Mongolian cultural life. The International Land Art Biennial Mongolia will be a protected, independently operating cultural instrument. Cooperation and exchange with other international foundations and organizations is expressly welcomed. After a successful start in 2010, we expect a positive international resonance in the form of reporting in art magazines, reviews in the Internet, TV and through the visit of international critics and the curators. Provided that the experiences are positive, an expansion of the budget and the dimension of the Biennial will be aimed at 2012. In order to protect the biennial festival and to guarantee its independence, the biennial will be integrated into public and political structures from 2012-2014
(Mongolian Ministry of Tourism and Culture).
Organizing team: The organizing team is a multilateral collaborating group in Berlin, Marc Schmitz as one of the founders and artistic director of the Biennial, Munkhzul Gankhuyag for bilingual communications coordinator, Dr. Stephan Kunze (symposium) and Ruuta Vimba as the project coordinator and Tino Urbiks (Graphics). The team is joined in Ulaanbaatar by Puntsag Tsegmid, the former Director of the UMA (Union of Mongolian artists) in collaboration with different individuals and Organizations in Mongolia, to realize the Land Art Event in the Gobi (technical organization/ transport/ hosting the Ger camps) and finally Mr. R.A. Suri, Shanghai and Beijing based Canadian Curator of the Biennial. The 1st International Land Art Biennial Mongolia 2010 is supported by the following organizations: Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, The German Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian Embassy in Berlin, Artfacts.net and a number of private Sponsors. |
