Public Art Day to introduce results of Nogoonbaatar Int’l Eco Art Festival

Art & Culture
baljmaa@montsame.gov.mn
2021-04-23 13:01:50

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. It is a dream of many residents of Ulaanbaatar to live in a beautiful and artistic city, with fresh air and greenery, and its citizens becoming more environmentally friendly. To help make this dream a reality, the Nogoonbaatar International Eco Art Festival, has launched its activities in March of 2021, involving Mongolian, French, Czech and German artists. At the beginning of the festival, artists and experts from Germany, France and the Czech Republic exchanged their experiences on street and public art and green initiatives with 24 artists selected from Mongolia. Due to Covid-19, foreign artists are participating online.


The festival is funded by the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) and organized by the EU Delegation to Mongolia, the Embassy of the Czech Republic, the Alliance Française d'Oulan Bator, the Goethe-Institut Mongolia, the Arts Council of Mongolia and the Academy of Fine Arts of Mongolia. The festival is curated by Red Corner, initiated by 976 Art Gallery.



Christian Escher from Germany started his collaboration with the festival in 2019, during the concept development stage of the project. He is a biologist and runs a non-governmental organization called Rehab Republik, which aims to change public attitudes towards the environment. He shared his experience with Mongolian artists, emphasizing that the main idea of changing public attitudes is to be understandable, engaging, and inviting. During the workshop, he introduced many interesting projects, such as setting up a box-shaped tent on the beach, playing live music inside, and requesting the public to put cigarette butts in the trash instead of paying the tax with the aim to stop throwing cigarette butts, which is the most common waste on the beach.


Seth (real name Julian Malland) from France has been creating street art for 30 years and draws children as his main subject. Traveling around the world, an internationally known artist paints the walls of the buildings in his own unique style, involving local people and creating works that address the social and political issues of the area. His works also reflect the history and culture of the place.


Jitka Kopejtková and David Strauss are well-known street artists from the Czech Republic. Their artistic practices focus on collecting trashes and brainwashing commercial posters from the streets and creating their collage works to be hanged on the streets or in museums and galleries.


German artist Julia Neuhaus started her online illustration workshop beginning from March 15 for students of the Academy of Fine Arts of Mongolia teaching different methods of developing ideas and techniques for creating illustration works. Julia Neuhaus has been working as a freelance artist in publishing houses since 2008 and has been teaching illustration at German universities.



Uuliin Nuur Park located in the Ger areas of Chingeltei district of Ulaanbaatar city was selected as a main partner of the project. Mongolian contemporary artists, including Ts.Ariuntugs, M.Batzorig, T.Enkhbold, E.Jantsankhorol, R.Luvsandorj, S.Batsaikhan, Ts.Tuvshinjargal, N.Amarsaikhan, O.Tuguldur, B.Ider, R.Chinzorig, B.Bat-Erdene, E.Tsagaandorj, J.Shijirbaatar, M.Munkh-Erdene, D.Otgonbayar, began to create their street artworks, paintings and sculptures inside and outside of the Ulliin Nuur Park and in a 600 meters long street, which connects Naran Tuul 2 Market with the Park. While creating their works, artists started raising awareness on the impacts of air pollution, aiming to change the public attitudes to be environmentally friendly. During their working process, many residents keep coming to see the artworks and expressing their gratitude. Upon completion of the project, Uuliin Nuur Park area will turn into an artistically rich neighborhood, so people walking along the street and park feel like they are visiting a museum.


The festival also announced a drawing competition for high school students on air pollution and an illustration competition for students of the Academy of Fine Arts. The works of the winners will be printed in large format and placed on the streets near Uuliin Nuur Park.


Apart from artistic creation, the insulation of Uuliin Nuur Park building is a part of the festival activities and is done by the NGO Geres, with the support of the EU Delegation to Mongolia.


The Public Art Day will be organized on May 1, 2021 at the Uul Nuur Park to introduce the results of the Nogoonbaatar International Eco Art Festival.



Source: EU Delegation to Mongolia