On Friday 17th of June will open Oasis the exhibition project by Bekhbaatar Enkhtur (Ulanbaataar, Mongolia, 1994), the first of the four artists hosted as part of A Sud Di Marte an artistic residences program curated by Ramdom made in collaboration with the Fondazione Elpis.

Oasis is a sculptural body of works inspired by the travel report of a Flemish religious, missionary, and explorer, William of Rubruck, entitled The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World (1253-55). Historical testimony of the first exploration of a European citizen in Mongolia in the 13th century, the book is a survey of the journey to be intended as that movement towards another here understood as the unknown, as what is not possessed as an invitation to something to be reached.

This text is the starting point of the imaginative journey of artist Bekhbaatar Enkhtur, a journey that brings together two very important places in the history of Castrignano – Palazzo de Gualtieriis and the Parco dell Pozzelle – linking them in one fantastic path.

Following the trajectory of his artistic practice, the works are conceived as a temporary intervention: the use of organic materials, such as beeswax, will lead to natural decay and disappearance over time.

In the same way, the Oasis is also a temporary space destined to disappear: at the limit between reality and fiction, it is a space that exists as long as someone can imagine but fundamental to cross the desert and continue the journey. A space that can be inhabited by anyone who encounters it on its way just long enough to make questions and restart the journey in search of answers.

graphic project curated by Grazia Amelia Bellitta.