Montage

2023 Ulaanbaatar International Media Art Festival

蒙太奇：第八屆烏蘭巴托國際媒體藝術節

  2023.05.23-2023.05.30

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As technology continues to rapidly develop, digital media has become our primary means of accessing information. However, it has also resulted in a sense of disconnection in our daily lives. The "assembled life”, created by the combination of Information from various sources has influenced and penetrated our offline existence, creating a subtle but complex emotional dependency between the real and virtual worlds. To explore this concept, we propose "montage" as the central theme of our festival. Delving into personal experiences of our daily environment, extending to faith, spiritual thinking, and cultural activities, we are presenting a contemporary montage. Artists enlighten our contemporary visual culture through their creations, reflecting various scenes of daily life and constructing a foreign imagination of Mongolia and Taiwan. We have invited 16 artists from 6 countries, including Taiwan, Mongolia, France, Germany, the United States, and Japan, to take part in this montage event.

 

1            Montage Landscape: In terms of location, Taiwan and Mongolia belong to the same part of Asia, but there are great differences in geography, climate, space, population, society and culture, and other primary facts. Therefore, through various forms of expression, the artist imagines, stitches together and assembles the scenery of the different places, constructing a bridge between the imaginary world and the real environment, and when we pass this bridge between the two places, we can see the scenery constructed by the artist's unique perspective and viewpoint.

 

2            Montage Spirit: In today's materialistic society, consumption has become the driving force behind economic growth. Unfortunately, our pursuit of material progress often overshadows the spiritual aspects of life. Despites this, the importance of our spirituality, beliefs, and traditional values remains relevant. Through the use of field research, documents and archives, artists explore the realm of the spiritual and reflect on the impact of modern materialistic lifestyle.

 

3            Montage Language: The multitude of languages around the world has created numerous communication barriers. However, with the advent of computer technology, digital languages have begun to level and homogenize our means of communication. Artists use digital language to establish a context for dialogue, creating unique forms of information narratives that transcend linguistic boundaries. This process of shaping digital language allows for a more meaningful exchange of ideas and forms the basis for effective communication.

 

4            Montage Form: Materiality as one of the main forms of expression in artistic creation Form serves as a primary mode of expression for material forms in art. In today's society, we are inundated with fragmented information and data, and our level of abstraction is higher than ever before. By examining the form and meaning of an artwork, we can gain insight into the artist's perspective and attitude towards the world.

We hope that, from the four components of montage mentioned above, individuals can transcend the limitations of biological and physical constraints and break through the boundaries between virtual and reality, and continuously create a visual vocabulary for exchange, reorganization, assembling, and flowing with a leaping viewpoint. In modern times, the construction of the world should not rely solely on visualization or realism, but also incorporate diagrams, images, and Simulations. The artist searches for clues in the connection between rechnology (tools), human beings (body), and spirit (thoughts) to construct a visual platform that transcends existing forms' thresholds and presents an ever-evolving abstract world.

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