Ulaanbaatar Biennale, Mongolia, will be taking Place from 6 to 20 June, 2025

Sydney-based curator Tian Zhang has been invited by the City Mayor to be the Chief Curator of Ulaanbaatar Biennale 2025, a new biennial arts event for Mongolia’s capital.

Odgerel Odonchimed, Director of Arts Council of Mongolia NGO, says, “We are thrilled to invite Sydney based curator Tian Zhang to be the Chief Curator of the biennale. As an independent curator, writer, facilitator and collective worker, Tian will play a key role in shaping the future of a biennale in Mongolia. Her expertise and curatorial vision will help elevate Mongolia’s contemporary art scene, bringing international attention and fostering cultural exchange.”

Tian Zhang, Chief Curator, says, “I am delighted to be involved in the development of this new biennial event that will become an important mainstay for the city and region. I’m excited to bring Mongolian and international artists together around some of the pressing issues of our time, and to engage audiences in a global conversation through contemporary art. Ulaanbaatar Biennale 2025 will be poetic and powerful, thoughtful and joyful.”

On the horizon, under the moon / Сарны дор тэнгэрийн хаяанд will feature main and joint international exhibitions, and an expansive public program including stage and outdoor events, art education programs, curators' and artists' talks and workshops for all ages.

”Ulaanbaatar Biennale looks beyond the horizon, inviting local and international artists to contemplate place, land and home,” says Zhang.

“Inspired by a Mongolian poem and the vast landscape of the country, On the horizon, under the moon looks to the meeting point of the sky and the earth, the blue border of dreams The title evokes the coalescence of many perspectives for this Biennale: while we may see different horizons, we share the same moon.

“On the horizon, under the moon explores the poetics and politics of land and homelands. The exhibition makes space for ancestral and intimate connections to place; platforms land rights struggles and indigenous movements; and speaks to cultural displacement and diasporic loss. It also makes visible the forces that act upon the land – destructive, generative and regenerative.

“In a world impacted by colonialism and capitalism, we ask: What does resistance look like? What can be recovered on the precipice of loss? What can be restored or renewed? What can we see at the edge of the sky, lit by the glow of the moon — and how might we get there?”

The Ulaanbaatar Biennale will feature artworks by Mongolian and international artists organized around the curatorial concept. International artists will be curated whereas Mongolian artists are invited to submit proposals to an open call. Artworks will be exhibited at the Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery, Chinggis Khan Museum, Red Ger Gallery and other galleries and museums.

The Ulaanbaatar Biennale is initiated by the City Mayor in cooperation with the Arts and Culture Department of the City Implementing Agency and the Arts Council of Mongolia. The Culture and Arts Authority, implementing Agency of Government of Mongolia is the commissioner of the Ulaanbaatar Biennale. The Arts Council of Mongolia (NGO) is the main organizer, with co-organizers Blue Sun Contemporary Art Center, and Marketainment Mongolia LLC.

City Mayor Kh.Nyambaatar says, “The Biennale will play a crucial role in the city's future development by enhancing the quality of life for both residents and visitors. It will deliver a stimulating program that caters to the intellectual, aesthetic and cultural needs of the city. It will also provide economic benefits by providing direct employment opportunities and indirectly by contributing to the visitor economy.”

Tian Zhang is an independent curator, writer, facilitator and collective worker. Her practice is underscored by conversation, criticality, solidarity and joy. She is a founding co-director of Pari, a collectively-run gallery on Dharug Country (Western Sydney) and the author of 'A manifesto for radical care or how to be a human in the arts'.

Tian’s work manifests in exhibitions, pedagogical programs, residencies, reading groups, live performance, sound and text. Her curatorial and collaborative projects have been presented at Documenta Fifteen, Kassel, Germany; Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney; Sydney Customs House; 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney; Utp, Sydney; Metro Arts, Brisbane; and Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane. She is currently Chair of Utp and was previously on the Artistic Directorate of Next Wave.

Main Image: Tian Zhang