Land Art Mongolia

Land Art Mongolia was founded 2006 on the occasion of a Land Art Symposium in Bor-Öndör (Gobi desert) to be hosted in various locations of Mongolia. 2010 the 1st international Biennial curated by the Canadian art critic Robin Alexander Suri and took place in Bag Gazriin Chuluu, Gobi. Artists from 16 Nations participated with artistic projects at site in Dundgobi. 2012 the 2nd Biennial was held in Ikh Gazriin Chuluu, Gobi under the issue Art & Politics. Curators 2012 were Fumio Nanjo (Director Mori Art Museum Tokyo) and Anja Brietzke (curator Berlin).

The 3rd biennial was guided by the theme Men & Animals. 24 artists from 14 different countries participated on a field work in Orkhon Valley and exhibition at UMA art gallery in Ulaanbaatar; curated by Vera Tollmann, texts and essay by Brian Holmes editor of documenta 13. Sensitive topics such as overgrazing, desertification, poaching and illegal wildlife trade, decentralization and general questions of animal husbandry from the perspective of different species were motivating this discussion.[1] The biennial takes place every two years at different regions of Mongolia which represent the high variety of landscapes and respect the nomadic tradition of Mongolia.[2]

Catching the Axis - Between the Sky and the Earth, the fourth edition, sought the treasure of knowledge behind this axis. Through artistic research and production, the biennial explored diverse ways to find out, discuss, to question, to remember or to forget, to analyze, and to experience and to experiment the knowledge produced from the point of this axis. It proposed another perspective to perceive the life that surrounds us. Therefore, the biennial gave the opportunity to the artists to push back the urban realities behind and to position oneself at the steps of Mongolia to catch this axis. The site of the fourth Biennial LAM 2016 was Dariganga Sum, south east Gobi, the area of the sacred mountains Altain Owoo and Shiliin Bogd, Sukhbaatar Aimag in the south-east Gobi.

MNG 360° (MNG 360° БАЙГАЛИЙН УРЛАГ МОНГОЛ) is an Ulaanbaatar based independent arts organization for raising awareness of issues such as sustainability, nomadic culture, ecological decentralization and democracy by 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 visualization 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.

The Contemporary Art Institute Ulaanbaatar unifies the body of several initiatives related to the organisation. The activities are complementing the biennial throughout by a more local implementation of the general public and cultural circles in Mongolia. The Contemporary Art Institute UB hosts the LAM residencies, the public art program ARTpublic UB, the LAM Art Award and the constitution of the MOCA UB and the related art collection.

Each edition is focused on specific curatorial issues. The theme of the first edition was art perspectives on sustainability.[3] The second biennial aimed at creating a dialog of art and politics. The third edition, in August 2014, was guided by the relationship of men and animals. Catching the Axis - Between the Sky and the Earth, the fourth edition of the Land Art Mongolia 2016 focused on art and shamanistic practice.

1st LAM 360° (August 8 - October 25, 2010) / 2nd LAM 360° (August 6 - 31st 2012) / 3rd LAM 360° (August 4 - 31st 2014) / 4th LAM 360° (August 21 - September 10, 2016)

Participating artists:

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