In recent years, contemporary art in Mongolia has become a highly marketable publicity device. Insert contemporary art into any event, show, concert, party, or ceremony anywhere in Mongolia and voila! Anyone who wants to be considered fashionable is even ready to borrow money to be able to join and take selfies at the trendy scene.
That contemporary art and artists are becoming a hit on the news and social media is a desirable step toward progress. In a country with a small population, where art is generally synonymous with entertainment, raising awareness of contemporary art should ideally contribute to positive changes in initiating long-term solutions to important issues in our society. In reality, however, this is not entirely the case, as contemporary art is more often applied as a marketing tool for the organizers of shows. This results in us, the viewers, giving a lot of attention to its form and not enough attention to its content.
In June of this year, the Arts Council of Mongolia organized the International Media Art Festival. It took place in several locations in Ulaanbaatar and Sainshand, the capital of Dornogobi province. Blue Sun Contemporary Art Center artists (Yo. Dalkh-Ochir, S. Khulan, N. Soninbayar, D. Erdenejargal, J. Shijirbaatar, B. Tuguldur, D. Tsenguun, E. Enkhzaya, J. Anunaran, D. Otgonbayar, B. Bat-Erdene) partook in the Dornogobi segment of the festival by showcasing their unique artworks as part of the Blue Sun signature project – Art Camp.
In order to bring contemporary art closer to its main purpose, for more successful future events, it would be beneficial to concentrate in this article on the things that could be improved, rather than praise the feats accomplished by the organizers and artists during the Dornogobi trip.
The core idea behind Art Camp is for artists to come up with concepts and create artworks based on their relationship with the location and its community. Therefore, works displayed in Art Camp tend to be more often like seeds of original ideas that will be developed into fully finished works of art later on. And although desirable, it is not obligatory for artists to present their concepts as complete works of art on the spot. In other words, Art Camp’s unique advantage is that it provides a natural setting for the works of art to be seen during the experimental phase of the creative process. Thus, the experience itself becomes a part of the art, consequently adding value to the creations with respect to the time and thought invested in the final work.
The Art Camp that took place in Dornogobi, for the most part, left out this key point of the project. The majority of the artworks displayed there seemed to be transported from the place they were created beforehand and simply presented at the location. And although the resulting exhibition in the city park of Sainshand and under the open sky of Dornogobi was appealing, one was left with a sense that most of the artists were rushed to either complete the presentation or get through it without fully or liberally contemplating the concepts. Nevertheless, given the sandstorms and 40-degree-Celsius heat, the Blue Sun artists tried to make the best of the trip.
Still, considering that the rest of the artworks presented at the International Media Art Festival were created, as the name suggests, with audiovisual media and programming technology in mind, the Blue Sun Art Camp segment in this event, having been divested of its conceptual context and primary purpose, overall looked rather like a superfluous appendage to the festival.
Yet, Art Camp plays a crucial role in Mongolian contemporary art. It was in 1992 that the projects initiated by Yo. Dalkh-Ochir and fellow artists focusing on conceptual, performance, and land art became known as “Art Camp” and “Land Art” today. Following Mongolia’s transition from communism to democracy, creators of movements such as these became pioneers of a new genre in the country as they first began to travel freely and showcase their art internationally. Art Camp is a valuable project that saw Mongolia’s vast natural landscapes as a symbolic setting for the intellectual freedom in creativity expressed through many Mongolian conceptual art movements. Today, as a continuation of this legacy, Blue Sun Contemporary Art Center is a significant link between the generation of artists who helped develop contemporary art in Mongolia and the new generation of young artists who are enriching it with their unique creativity and talent.
At present, however, some challenges seem to hinder Mongolian contemporary art from having a greater impact on the development of our society. These challenges pertain not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes and functions assumed by the groups and parties involved in organizing its presentation.
Councils, unions, societies, associations, and governments exist in a democracy because individual members approve of their function. The purpose of such institutions, as it relates to art, is to provide support by organizing the creative fruits of artists’ labor. The institutions do not create art. Individual artists do. In reality, however, the roles seem to be reversed and the responsibilities and privileges confused in Mongolia. Projects that need support are set aside, while the ones that achieve success through the sheer effort and hard work of the artists are being exploited as publicity tools by institutions. Our art officials, with their consumerist groupthink, like rhinoceroses in a porcelain shop, more often than not impede the delicate process of special creations with their improvident plans and impetuous financing interventions. Under the guise of support, artists often get bullied into delivering half-baked outcomes so that the public perceives the loudest self-promoting officials as heroes.
The question remains, should contemporary art be approached simply as a gimmick in haphazard cultural shows, or could we prioritize artists and the organic fruition of their creative processes by providing tangible support with a long-term vision? Could we give as much consideration to the content as we do to the form, and in the process, make a bit more of an effort in giving credit where credit is actually due? Could we support not the officials who are upstaging the artists after their work is done, but the real creators of art who are addressing important issues in our society?
These questions arise more and more at the large cultural events, shows, and exhibitions that are being organized recently. The time has come for the art institutions involved in organizing these events to approach their role in art responsibly: not simply to appear important and democratic on the surface while governing with a totalitarian attitude, but to actually be democratic throughout the entire process, and to treat the makers of creative value with the same respect and consideration that the art officials give to themselves.
Given that organizing large events with many segments and artists is not an easy task, especially considering the aftermath of the pandemic, M. Batzorig, the chief curator of the International Media Art Festival, together with the Arts Council staff did their best with what they had. Whether it involved technological media or conceptual sculptures or performance art, the works that were exhibited provided valuable ideas and insights. Consciousness and awareness were common themes among the artworks exhibited at the Art Camp of Dornogobi. So, there is still hope that the questions raised above by contemporary art will bring much-needed improvement to our culture.
By Ariunaa Jargalsaikhan
Published in UBPost on July 27, 2022
Ulaanbaatar
