Хүндэтгэсэн,

Ц.Цэндпүрэв

7 -18 Feb 2013

UMA (Union of Mongolian Artists) Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

It is not a secret that every IFA (Institute of Fine Art, Mongolia, now School of Art) graduate dreams of coming back and teaching at IFA. However, I thought, I didn’t share that particular dream with other graduates. I was wrong though.

The inclusion in the group exhibition of artist-teachers at IFA is one of those perks of being in that club. Started in 1992, the group exhibition ORON ZAI  (eng. perspective) has long showcased the best works of artist-teachers at IFA, a sixty eight years old institution. The institution still attracts some of the most renowned artists in Mongolia and wider Asia. This year, twenty nine artist-teachers were included in the exhibition, showing nearly hundred pieces, which were diverse in their themes, techniques, colours, and materials. This year’s coveted award called ‘Silver Belt’ went to Ganzam Sumberraz, who teaches Mongol Zurag at IFA. The silver belt was made by Enkhdavaa Dambii (Ph.D), an experienced artist-teacher, who continues to keep the metal burn by teaching the rapidly disappearing art of Smithing to undergraduates and postgraduates.

The winner of ‘Silver Belt’, Ganzam Sumberraz

The exhibition was kindly supported by the Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture. We have been told that the next year’s exhibition will have a cash prize of 1 million tugrug in addition to the customary ‘Silver Belt’ award. For my part, I am hoping to get involved in the organisation of the next year’s exhibition and make my contribution.

Artist-teachers of IFA

My piece The Border Guard in Scarborough (2010-2013) was exhibited publicly for the first time, and it is also the first time my work shown in Mongolia since 2007. In some ways, this marks my return to Mongolian arts scene after my self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom.

Yesterday, I have received an email from WordPress team; it was a report on my blogging in 2012. One of the most fascinating news was that my blog was viewed from 67 countries. This was a nice surprise! And thank you for everyone who had a look at my blog. I know, I wasn’t the most active blogger in 2012 but it was because I was so busy completing my PhD. I like to do things properly. I take my time, and I try to do the best I can. However, I am learning not to be too perfectionist when it comes to blogging. So, expect more blog posts from me. Also contact me, if you have any questions about anything I said, referred to or might know about.

Since 2004, I have worked on numerous art projects and art works. Most of these works haven’t been on show to public or anyone outside of my PhD advisory team, Dr. Elizabeth Stirling, Dr. Asa Andersson and Jill Morgan; PhD examiners, Prof. Marsha Meskimmon, Dr. Neil Witts and Independent Chair Prof. Ruth Robbins. Now, I am seeking for opportunities to showcase my works in Asia, Europe and North America. If you are interested in working with me, please connect me on Linkedin.

Happy New Year!

Yours sincerely,

Tsendpurev Tsegmid

]]> http://tsendpurevtsegmid.com/2013/01/01/happy-new-year-everyone-have-a-great-2013/feed/ 0 monuk New Year's Party http://tsendpurevtsegmid.com/2012/10/06/the-review-part-1-liverpool-biennial-2012-hospitality/ http://tsendpurevtsegmid.com/2012/10/06/the-review-part-1-liverpool-biennial-2012-hospitality/#comments Sat, 06 Oct 2012 17:08:19 +0000 Tsendpurev Tsegmid http://tsendpurevtsegmid.com/?p=1578 ]]> “Liverpool Biennial 2012 presents work by 242 artists in 27 locations. The festival takes place in galleries, museums, and sites across the city and includes a dynamic programme of talks, events, screenings, and family activities.” (Source: Liverpool Biennial 2012 Guide)

It has been a while since I visited the opening of the Liverpool Biennial. I was rather unhappy about spending only two days in Liverpool as it was impossible to see all the works in that short space of time. Therefore, I needed to be quite selective, and the review is no way exhaustive. I have been a faithful follower of this fantastic festival since 2004. It always amazes me, just how large the biennial is. I want to congratulate everyone who was involved to make this enormous and complex operation to work. Let’s talk about the art now.

This year’s main theme was HOSPITALITY, and the festival was divided into the following sections: The Unexpected Guest, Sky Arts Ignition: Doug Aitken – The Source, City States, Anthony McCall: Column, John Moores Painting Prize and Independents.

As I mentioned before, I couldn’t make it to all of the venues, talks and performances. However, I saw and experienced numerous works, which I thought were mesmerising, provocative and engaging. The highlight of my visit was definitely the piece by Rhys Chatham, A Grimson Grail for 100 Guitars and 8 basses. After queuing nearly an hour or more in the chilly evening winds, I managed to get inside the Liverpool Cathedral to witness the highly anticipated “…epic composition for 100 electric guitarists and 8 electric bassists, exploring the ideas of resonance, tone and texture in sound at Liverpool’s historic Anglican Cathedral”. (Source: Liverpool Biennial 2012 website) I haven’t heard of Rhys Chatham before or knew about his works. It is not because he is a new-comer, far from it. He is a veteran composer, famous for his eclectic compositions; has been active since early 1980s. This particular work has only been performed once before at the Damrosch Park Bandshell in New York City.

Rhys Chatham, A Grimson Grail for 100 Guitars and 8 basses, Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool, UK. Photo by T.Tsegmid.

What came next was the most transcendent experience, I had ever been in. I sat down on the cold marble floor, closed my eyes and let the sound flow through me. I will never forget that sound produced by those guitarists and bassists, who were positioned within the spectacular building of the cathedral. The composition lasted around 70 minutes in total, and was divided in two parts: 30. 46 min and 37. 10 min.

Tate Liverpool organised an exhibition entitled Thresholds from its permanent collections; including some of the best artists in the world: Mark Wallinger, Gilbert and George,  Yukinori Yanagi, George Shaw and Pak Sheung Chuen. Thresholds is a part of The Unexpected Guest section of the biennial. In particular, I was impressed with Mark Wallinger’s pieces, Royal Ascot (1994) and Half-Brother (Exit to Nowhere Machiavellian) (1994-5). Royal Ascot (1994) is a four screen video installation showcasing different moments of the royal procession at the Royal Ascot, an annual horse race produces a lavish display of British tradition, history and of course, the gathering of the wealthy and the famous. It is not an event, a commoner or ‘working class’ person will be invited or be part of. From my personal experience, the only way to be part of these kind of exclusive events was to work as servicemen and women. I worked at Aintree Racecourse and Doncaster Racecourse as a waiting staff for VIP boxes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any horse racing, except listening for people cheering and horses galloping. Half-Brother (Exit to Nowhere Machiavellian) (1994-5) is an oil painting of two horses of different colours, merged as one. It is as if there is an irony about these two separate bodies of horses symbolising the ambiguity of British national identity. What Britain displays to the world is not necessarily the whole truth, but nonetheless Royal Ascot, Royals and Racecourses are part of its making.

Mark Wallinger, Half-Brother (Exit to Nowhere Machiavellian) (1994-5), Tate Liverpool collection. Photo by T.Tsegmid.

Mark Wallinger, Royal Ascot (1994), Tate Liverpool collection. Photo by T.Tsegmid.

Note: Part 2 of the review will be posted shortly.

Someone once said that everything in this world is connected. Here, I might seem to go off topic but the conference I attended @ Tate Modern, according to Marko Daniel, Public Programmes Curator of the gallery, derived from a Curatorial Lab took place during Asia Triennial II in Manchester, UK. Fortunately, I was there at the Triennial working as an interpreter for a fellow Mongolian artist Enkhbold Togmidshiirev. Many thanks to Paulette Brien and Laurence Lane for giving me the opportunity. There, I met many interesting people, one of them was Marko Daniel, an engaging intellectual whom I exchanged my thoughts about the Triennial, ‘Asian’ contemporary art, artists from Asia, their cultural, national identities and relevant issues.

Fast forward 9 months on, Marko Daniel in collaboration with Chinese Art Centre (Manchester, UK), the Centre for Contemporary East Asian Cultural Studies at the University of Nottingham and the Uiniversity of York, had organised this one-day conference titled ‘Current Research into East Asian Visual Culture’.

I had a such a great day at the conference. A great of mix of artists, curators and arts practitioners presented their papers throughout the day and 3 blocks of 4 presentations followed by panel discussions chaired by Sally Lai, Michael White and Wenny Teo. See below for the list of papers presented:

Chae Jung-Gyun, Going East: Abstract Expressionism from a Korean Perspective

Beccy Kennedy, Translocating Positions: Korean Artists Working in Britain

Yao Yung-Wen, China’s cultural diplomacy: A case study on the Chinese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

Yujin Min, An introduction to Korean Diaspora Writing: A critical reading of ‘Point, Lines, Encounters: The World According to Lee Ufan’ by Joan Kee.

Ros Holmes, Paper dreams: Visualizing ‘civility’ in Contemporary China

Jing Meng, The Reflexivity of Art: Representation of Red Art in Contemporary Chinese Independent Documentary

Yuen Fong Ling, The Tactical Life Model: Reconfiguring the Chinese Male Body in Performance and Participatory Art Practice

Marco Bohr, Deconstructing Voyeurism in Contemporary Japanese Photography

Kyung An, The ‘Tal’ Syndrome: Korean Artist Collectives in the 1960s and 1970s.

Chou Yu-Ling, Cognition of Isolation: Cartography of the Non-Place in the Films of Chen Chieh-Jen

Wei Yu, Taipei Broken Life: A Case Study of the Taiwanese Avant-Garde in the 1990s

Yujie Zhang, The social impact of art in public space- A Case Study of Shanghai CaoYang Village Public Art Project

I was enriched by Chae Jung-Gyun’s research into Korean abstract art, how it influenced Jackson Pollock’s art and its wider impact on American painting. Through detailed comparisons and observations, Jung-Guyn makes a compelling case. Yujin Min had travelled all the way from Korea to present her paper and it had definitely shed a light on that less known local perspective of local Korean artists as opposed to Korean artists relocated elsewhere. Min concentrated on Lee Ufan, a prominent Korean artist.

Yuen Fong Ling is an artist and academic based in Manchester, UK, delivered a critical paper based on his PhD research. He uses his body or as he referred as ‘Chinese body’ to ‘return the gaze’ by engaging with audience through participatory practice. The feeling of being looked at, stared at or gazed at is a sensation I am very familiar with. I do not know if that’s because I look ‘ethnic’, ‘not from here’ or ‘stranger’ to others. Every artist will react differently to a near similar experience. In the case of Yuen Fong Ling, he is exploring ways to tackle, challenge and contest the seemingly passive act of being gazed at.

Marco Bohr delivered an entertaining presentation on contemporary Japanese photography by taking examples of works by Kohei Yoshiyuki, Nortitoshi Hirakawa and Hisaji Hara. I wasn’t aware of these photographers’ works and I was completely captured by the ambiguity and mystery of those images. What he referred his research as ‘uncovering the act of looking’, directly corresponds to Bohr’s own body of works.

Wei Yu’s presentation on ‘Taipei Broken Life’ festival series was equally interesting as I had little prior understanding of Taiwanese avant-garde in the 1990s.

After a long but stimulating day, Marko Daniel concluded the conference with a high note which was to make it as an annual event. I think the conference has a great potential to become a major event in the calendar of artist, curators and arts practitioners from all over the world.

Tsendpurev Tsegmid

11 June 2012

Leeds, UK

Recently, I was thinking about how I included my parents in my PhD research but somehow excluded my brother, Delgerkhuu Tsegmid. It wasn’t a planned decision at all. Also, it is not a reflection of how much I love him. We have so much shared history and I don’t know where to start. Then I found out about the Guardian’s ‘Family Life’ section and I thought it would be nice if I write something about my brother.

                        My brother Delgerkhuu Tsegmid and me. Taken in late 1980s, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Screenshot from the Guardian UK website. Available from: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/may/12/readers-favourite-photographs-songs-recipes&gt;. [Accessed on 13 May 2012].

‘Growing up in Mongolia’ is a short text accompanied by a photograph (See above) of me and my brother.

I would like to thank Clare Flowers, Family Life Editor @ The Guardian UK!

T. Tsegmid

13/05/2012

Leeds, UK

Tsendpurev

Urjinkhand Onon is a fellow artist, former classmate from Institute of Fine Art, University of Art and Culture, Mongolia and she is about have her first solo exhibition at UMA Art Gallery in Ulaanbaatar. I wish her the best of luck!

Check this link for more info about her art practice on http://urjinkhandonon-art.com