The Mouse Who Battled The Elephant

SILK HIGHWAY MONUK is introducing its second subproject, an online collaborative initiative, which encompasses art practitioners, curators, educators based in the UK and Mongolia. We started to build a creative bridge between these two countries with ODOO/CURRENT exhibition, now we are aspiring to solidify our role in the development of contemporary art of Mongolia, by running a web-based project, where distance and language are not obstacles of our communication. Both ODOO/CURRENT and SILK HIGHWAY are pioneering projects aimed at Mongolian art practitioners, who have been struggling to be understood in the post-communist or early capitalist society. Dismantling the language barriers, crossing over borders without been stopped or even questioned and sending piece of your creativity in a flash of a speed, are the main ingredients of the SILK HIGHWAY 's menu. It includes many tools familiar to artists based in the UK but less known to our peers in Mongolia as artistic means. The project is interested in the process rather than the result and it is all about taking communication to the next level via images, videos, performances and texts. SILK HIGHWAY is also modern allegory of the great Silk Road which connected east and west and it is an interesting research subject for many scholars and the name used in various different ways. However, artists don't require to reference to the Silk Road , unless he/she wishes to do so. We will be using Google's Blogger as a primary website because of its simplicity and it will be SILK HIGHWAY 's virtual studio where visual and textual exchanges take place. In addition, project will produce a journal in English and Mongolian to enable accessibility and encourage involvement from both sides. The project is set out to be nothing but cliché and will appeal to anyone who likes to push the boundaries and wants to be challenged by unknown and unfamiliar. Tsendpurev Tsegmid MONUK Project Manager www.silkhighway.blogspot.com www.silkhighway-dialogue.blogspot.com The catalogue is due to be printed (electronically or on paper) by Summer 2010.