Oasis is the exhibition project by Bekhbaatar Enkhtur (Ulanbaataar, Mongolia, 1994), inaugurated on 17 June 2022. It consists of two installations: one at the Parco delle Pozzelle, the other at the spaces of KORA – Centro del Contemporaneo, both in the village of Castrignano de’ Greci.
Bekhbaatar Enkhtur is the first of the four artists hosted within A Sud Di Marte, a plan of artistic residencies curated by Ramdom, realised in collaboration with Fondazione Elpis, which will take place at the spaces of KORA – Centro del Contemporaneo from April 2022 to February 2023.
The project is part of a broader reflection that Ramdom has been developing for years on the concept of the margin; a reflection through which it attempts to question the notion of the centre. Specifically, A Sud di Marte intends to bring to light the vision of a South understood not only as a place rich in complexity but also as an opportunity for the activation of an oblique gaze capable of stimulating constant questioning. The title of the programme takes its inspiration from the red planet, which in the collective imagination has always represented the other place par excellence, a utopia to be reached, the announcement of something that is yet to be fulfilled but whose happening is ever closer.
Enkhtur’s reflection stems from his encounter with visual suggestions, references and images from nomadic culture and his homeland, Mongolia, but is also influenced by his experience during his residency in Castrignano de’ Greci.
Oasis is formalised in a body of work of a sculptural nature that takes its cue from the travel account of a Flemish clergyman and missionary, as well as explorer, entitled The journey of William of Rubruck to the eastern parts of the world (1253-55)’. A historical testimony to the first exploration of a European in 13th century Mongolia, William of Rubruck’s book speaks to us of the journey as that movement we make when we go towards the other, understood as that which we do not know, which we do not possess and which, as such, invites us to be reached. When the thirst for knowledge drives us on our journey, the other to be discovered can also be a land more or less close by: Castrignano in the eyes of an artist who comes from a distant culture, or Mars – or rather the South of Mars – for those who are willing to decentralise their gaze a little from an established point of view.
This text is the origin of artist Bekhbaatar Enkhtur’s imaginative journey, a journey that brings together two very important places in the history of Castrignano – Palazzo de Gualtieriis and the Pozzelle park – tying them into a single imaginary path. In line with his artistic practice, the works are conceived as temporary interventions: the use of organic materials, such as beeswax, will lead them to a natural decay and disappearance over time. In the same way, the Oasis is also a temporary space destined to disappear: on the borderline between reality and fiction, it is a space that exists as long as someone can imagine it, but necessary in order to cross the desert and continue the journey. A space that allows itself to be inhabited by whoever meets it on its way, just long enough to ask questions and resume the journey in search of answers.
Exhibition curated by Claudio Zecchi, Paolo Mele
Photo: Alice Caracciolo