The Principle of Original Horizontality

"Elizabeth Prins’ engagement with the land took the form of building a mobile ‘survival’ shelter, then taking the shelter for a walk; while recording some impressions - both visible and invisible - that were found on the way. The entire sequence had a ritualized and performed aspect, inducing a kind of self-awareness in the audience.

Prins says ‘I utilize and appropriate found objects, concepts, lyrics and techniques - inviting the audience to move within a space of speculation.’ The strangeness of a lone walker armed with a roll of paper and a metal detector (which had to be smuggled in/out of the country) taking an inverted bath tub through the grassland was certainly an invitation to re-frame the landscape and speculate as to what hidden knowledge it might reveal.

In general Prins uses her work as a means to develop her understanding through ‘recalibration’ (as she calls it), a process that for her also involves making material objects.

The Principle of Original Horizontality deals with attempting to understand three kinds of power (at least): the power of the elements (wind, rain, sun, flowing water); the power of fossil and other mineral fuels; the power awarded by ownership of resources; and maybe also the power inherent in the possibility of reframing our experience as often as we can." - Lewis Biggs.

Themes of exploration, exploitation, documentation ethics and the grey areas between ‘trans-humanism’ and ‘anarcho-primitivism’ were addressed.

The 5th Land Art Mongolia Biennial took place during July and August 2018. 25 Artists from different nationalities were invited to propose projects alongside practicing local Mongolian artists. Some time was spent in Ulaanbaatar before heading to the ecological nomadic camp in Khentii Aimag, four hours drive outside of the capital city.