22 June – 29 September 2024

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, Narbaysgalan Ulambayar. Musik: Chinbat Orkhonbaatar, Tanz: Tsatral Tumendemberel

The exhibition uses selected works of art to convey key aspects of the nomadic culture of Mongolia’s understanding of nature.
At the centre of the exhibition is “The Great Blue Sky” – an element of Mongolian culture that has shaped its identity to this day and refers to the principle of a shapeless sky god in Tengrism.
This principle is visualised 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 contextualising 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.
Further influences on contemporary Mongolian art are fed by Lamaism, which is still visually powerful today.

Bronzezeitliche tengrisch-schamanische Steinritzungen im Altai Gebirge. © Unesco Altai Mountain