Screening: Taiga. A Journey to Northern Mongolia by Ulrike Ottinger, artist and filmmaker (Germany)

The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

This eight hour long documentary film is divided into 38 stations and depicts the daily life of the Darkhad and Sojon Urinjanghai nomads, as well as their ceremonies such as weddings, festivals and shamanistic practices.

Ottinger portrays particular characters, sometimes with their families, and documents gatherings, offerings, songs, dances, professions. The camera dwells on the different moments, mostly rendering the scene in real time and conveying a sense of being there. As we accompany the nomads preparing to move to their winter camp, or visit the children on their first day of school, we get familiar not only with the startling landscapes, but most importantly with the way of living of these nomadic peoples, their relationship to each other, to the animals, and to the land.

This screening is specially arranged to provide the opportunity for the audience to experience the work as a full film instead of the divided version installed in the exhibition space.

Presented on the occasion of Art Day Out x School Holidays at Gillman Barracks.

A public programme of Ulrike Ottinger: China. The Arts – The People, Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s.