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.
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 the concept of a collaborative land-art exhibition series was first envisioned by the Mongolian Artists Dagvadorj Sereeter and Chimedorj 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 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.
The 1st Land Art Biennial Mongolia 2010 established for the first time in Mongolia an original and new view an Land Art as a contemporary expression of highly sensible issues of sustainability, ecology, and responsibility in seemingly free choices of mankind. It was premeditated to carry out the festival every 2 years at different places and different regions of Mongolia. This is not only due to the high variety of the landscapes, it also respects the nomadic tradition of Mongolia. The art works will remain permanently in situ, and therefore consistently create permanent exhibits throughout the country. At a later point, it will be possible to visit all the different sites in an guided exhibition tour.