Mongolia 360° Curatorial Statement

An importance of the Land Art Mongolia 360° project is found in the emphasis of a correlation of experimentation, spatial site-specific creation and environmentally sound practice. The biodiversity of the Mongolian landscape in one of relative fragility despite the initial appearance of rugged terrain and harsh desert horizons, a theoretical approach has been formulated in cohesion with an aesthetic and philosophical objective to achieve the realization of a project which serves to instigate contemporary art in a nation as vast as Mongolia with its free, democratic vision and engender new conceptions from an experiential discourse between individuals and nature herself.

New physical vistas unique to the region challenge participants with the adaptation necessary in an intrinsic embrace with the distinct natural climate and selection intending to partially demarcate an equivalent diversity of cultural origins within the international body of guests. This hypothetical stance coupled with the actual aesthetic analysis of the proposals which include virtual reproduction, found organic materials, electro-static experiments and the transformation of natural hubris – occasionally fused with technology or industrial complementary or cosmetic alterations- act in service of the legacy of humankind and nature, recalls our past ignorance the destruction so prominent in the later generations of the first industrialized nations of the world. While the mission of the event does not intend to indict the past errors of modern society, LAM 360° does effect a examination of the practices which insinuate that we have erred to an extent of epic proportion, invites speculation that artistic discourse may be as providential as the supposed objectivity given to scientific enquiry.

Aesthetic approaches may no longer remain indifferent or detached from the actuality of experience in the context of nomadism, artistic invention and of a cultural heritage inextricably entwined with the sources of nature as that belonging to Mongolian people. Contextual subversion alongside conceptual deviations from original strategies are inevitable and organic, the individual artist and artistic intention subject to the greater intrinsic force of a land which most have never seen, one which is newly opened to the world with an orientation towards environmental protection and holding the promise of future ecological sustainability in the vision of this democratic nation. Prominence in an experiential context lies in the intimacy and proximity of the citizens of Mongolia with indigenous wildlife, the highest ratio of all nations and the vestige of raw nature in opposition to the urban confines of metropolis more commonly known amidst the situation of exhibiting contemporary art. The artists whom participate and artistic direction of the Land Art Mongolia project have been attentive to develop creative initiatives which prove to not only be highly originally and challenging as regards diversity and experimentation of form and the question of “open space” yet, deserve great merit in the collective sensitization of environment, nature and synthesis of the human experience.

R.A.Suri, Curator MNG 360°