July 6 to October 7, 2024
Exhibition : The post-nomadic experience in THEgallery
The exhibition uses selected works of art to convey key aspects of Mongolia's nomadic culture's understanding of nature.
At the center is “The Great Blue Sky” - an identity-forming element of Mongolian culture to this day, which refers to the principle of a shapeless sky god in Tengrism.
This principle can be seen in Bronze Age rock paintings in the Altai Mountains, which present the forces of nature in shamanic symbols. The exhibition contrasts this with the cosmologies of A.R. Penck, who translates a post-communist, fraying world into sign systems. Instead of contextualizing the material aesthetics of Joseph Beuys with Mongolian shamanism as before, the exhibition focuses on the forces of nature in Mongolia's visual memory, which come into conflict with the effects of modernity.
Other influences on contemporary Mongolian art come from Lamaism, which is still visually powerful today. A special exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia is currently dedicated to the art movement “Mongol Zurag”, in which Baatarzorig Batjargal and Gerelkhuu Ganbold are participating. Both artists use the demons of Mongol Zurag, as they can also be seen on lamaistic thangkhas, to formulate their criticism of the current social and ecological catastrophes in Mongolia. Dashdemed Sampil, who lives in Nuremberg, also draws energy from this tradition.
Franz Ackermann's artistic practice has always been nomadic. His mental maps are created as visual records and testimonies to an accelerated world that does not stop at Mongolia. Nomin Bold's colorfully decorated “gas masks” speak of the unbearable air conditions in Ulaanbaatar, the worst in the world.
Artists:
Franz Ackermann, Heike Baranowsky, Baatarzorig Batjargal, Munkhtsetseg Batmunkh, Nomin Bold, Enkhzaya Erdenebileg, Gerelkhuu Ganbold, Karl Heinz Jeron, Simone Körner, A.R. Penck, Nadine Rennert, Dashdemed Sampil
Music: Chinbat Orkhonbaatar, Dance: Tsatral Tumendemberel
Supported by the Bavarian State Chancellery and the Oberfrankenstiftung.
