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MNG 360° is an Ulaanbaatar based organisation with the purpose of raising awareness for contemporary art as an impulse generator for civil society in Mongolia. Constituting the project Land Art Mongolia (LAM 360°) is its main activity. LAM 360° focuses on Land Art as a form of spatial visualisation of the relations between nature, culture, and social policies. It strongly promotes freedom of expression in joining people and institutions from all sectors of Mongolian society by meshing their respective backgrounds and perspectives through collaboration and networking actions of regional and global scope. By doing so the proposed project would like to incite an advanced discourse on cultural and social policy which will take up environmental and social sustainability with a strong emphasis on the most vulnerable sectors of society in Mongolia in the broader perspective of cultural change in Central Asia.
The 1st Land Art Biennial Mongolia 2010 stablished in Mongolia for the first time an original and unique view on Land Art as a contemporary expression of highly sensible issues of sustainability, ecology, and responsibility in seemingly free choices and a multitude of opportunities in an open society. Baga Gazriin Chuluu in the Gobi Desert became its first venue; an accompanying exhibition in the Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery Ulaanbaatar and a symposium on Art and Politics in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer- oundation was held parallel in Ulaanbaatar. LAM 360° thereto invited the interested public community to join artists, art professionals, and politicians of all relevant political parties in Mongolia in the debate on environmental issues and sustainability. The symposium was well documented by different media in print, TV, and the internet. The Biennial is emeditated to carry out the festival every two years at different places and different regions throughout Mongolia. This is not only due to the high variety of landscapes but also of social contexts, meaning to respect the nomadic tradition of Mongolia. The artworks will remain permanently in situ, and therefore consistently create exhibits throughout the country, continuously inciting discussions about their eco-sensible
concepts. At a later point, it will be possible to visit all the different sites in a guided exhibition tour to educate especially young people about sensitive issues of the region in an innovative way.
For the 2nd Land Art Biennial in 2012 the proposed project would like to encourage artists to voice aspects of the 'spatial politics' characterizing a part of the Dundgobi located not far from the Oyu Tolgoi mine. An open call is posted to inform Mongolian and international artists. There will be a small selection of especially invited, esteemed artists. A symposium will discuss the culminating artwork constituting contemporary art as ‘spatial politics’ in light of emerging urbanism in Mongolia. This programme on Art and Politics will bring together all of the Mongolian political parties; esteemed artists and art critics will be involved. An accompanying exhibition which documents the artworks in the Dundgobi will be held at the Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery in Ulaanbaatar. The 2nd Land Art Biennial would like to develop Asian and international structures and networks to consolidate the LAM 360° as a permanent part of Mongolian cultural life. For 2012 LAM 360° would therefore like to establish a designated room for the exchange on art and politics. It will so serve to support bilateral communication as well as deepen the discussion about socio-political aspects of the civil society in Mongolia. |
