OPENING AND ARTISTS TALK 20th March 2008 16 –18. WELCOME!

Stories of artistic practice in Mongolia presents seven Mongolian artists and their thoughts on working as an artist. Artist interviews made by Annu Wilenius in 2007 open up perspectives into the recent history of Mongolia, and especially into the changed position of artists. Yondonjunain Dalkh-Ochir, pioneer within Mongolian contemporary art scene, describes the change of 1980s and 1990s and how both art and society were in a transition phase. With his collegues Dalkha was striving for actively denouncing the prevailing tradition and founding an artists´ collective of their own. Ser-Odin Sarantsatsralt reminescences what it was like to have the very first solo exhibition at the Gallery of the Union of Mongolian Artists. Togmidshiireviin Enkhbold remembers how already as a child he perceived the world somewhat differently: the firewood his father left him seemed to him far too beautiful to be burned. Instead, he used them to build a chest.

In addition to the series of interviews, the exhibition conveys among other things the latest video work by Pink Twins, Sketches of Pain. In August 2006, Pink Twins performed with a Mongolian death metal band ZugeerL at the Chameleon Disco Club in Ulaanbaatar. Sketches of Pain is based on footage from that performance. Sketches of Pain is not a simple documentary or a music video, but it seduces the spectator into tracing the performance and processes behind it. What does happen at the meeting of a Finnish electronic duo and a Mongolian death metal band?

The exhibition bases on a joint project that started in 2005 when a group of Finnish artists visited Ulaanbaatar and the Gallery of Union of Mongolian Artists. The project brings together Mongolian and European artists. Along with the exhibition at HIAP, another exhibition, Mongolia: Perception and Utopia, is held at the Kerava Art Museum (19 March – 1 June 2008) with the works of both Mongolian and European artists.

The exhibition has been supported by Porin Videotuki, Svenska kulturfonden and Arts Council of Helsinki Metropolitan Region.

More information: www.keravantaidemuseo.fi