모이자 CPI

01. Could you introduce Art Bridge 2020 and its team members?

Bayarbaatar : Art Bridge 2020 is a project that forms networks between artists, connects people to art, and shares the ideas of artists in various fields. Art Bridge 2020 hosted artist talks by nine artists who work in traditional music, traditional dance, classical music, contemporary dance, and so on.
Art Bridge 2020 wants to build a firm bridge between artists so that they can share their vivid ideas, redefine the concept of art in this pandemic, and find new ways of making art together.
Furthermore, we want to connect people who suffer from a lack of opportunities to enjoy arts to the informative content of our artist talks in various genres.
I’m a project leader and a contemporary dancer who studied traditional Mongolian dance in university and has worked in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Korea as a contemporary dancer. I seek to find my way as not only a contemporary dancer but also a choreographer based on my broad experience of working in many countries.

Enkhzul Bayaraa Soyondoo, a content creator, is a dancer who studied dance pedagogy in Mongolia and completed a master’s course in traditional folk theatrics at the Korean National University of Arts (K-ARTS) in Korea. She has a desire to make art content that can reach people more widely and to make herself a dancer who can express a more dynamic genre of dance.
Chaihyun Lee, an administrative staff member, worked as a producer at Trust Dance Theatre where she operated the 2019 CPI program in which I participated. She is interested in performances and content that shows the invisible parts of our world.

02. It seems like your team is quite international and have great teamwork. What do you think made your team stronger?

Bayarbaatar : I have known Enkzul for a long time since meeting her in dance class in Darkhan, Mongolia when we were teenager. I also met Chaihyun last year at Trust Dance Theatre’s CPI program. We already know each other’s ability and capability, and this makes our team stronger. Based on trust, we went well on the project even though we only met a few times during the project because we ran our project mostly online.

Enkhzul : I worked in the art business and in performing art fields when I was in university in Mongolia. Also, I worked as a foreign staff member in the marketing team of a performing art festival for three months in Korea. These experiences helped me a lot manage this project and communicate with project member well.

Chaihyun : I think our team combination was great. Bayarbaatar had the drive to get things going and the creativity to develop content. Enkhzul was experienced in hosting artist talks and skilled in content planning. And I was good at translating their artistic content into administrative language.

03. What made you begin to lead this project?

Bayarbaatar : This project started from artist talks hosted by J.art Bridge, a Facebook group made by Enkhzul in February 2020. After I joined J.art Bridge, I caught notice of the CPI program and thought it would be a good opportunity to develop artist talk content with broader targets and an expanded set of artists. At first, I suggested making Art Bridge 2020 encompass not only artist talks but also an online training class. But after our project was selected, we adjusted our plan to focus more on artist talks only. Compared to J.art Bridge, Art Bridge 2020 has addressed sharper and more timely questions and a wide range of topics, such as the work stories of diverse artists and the role of art and artists in this era of the coronavirus pandemic.

Enkhzul : After I entered K-ARTS for the traditional folk theatrics master’s course, I became interested in providing information on the arts such as theater, art companies, artists, etc. That is why I opened the Facebook page J.art Bridge, which has almost 4,000 followers now, this February and made content that provides information about and shares thoughts on the arts. After Bayarbaatar joined J.art Bridge to create content together, we shared ideas about creating content that can approach people more widely and connect artists more strongly. Then Art Bridge 2020 was selected, and we were able to develop our ideas.

04. Have there been any difficulties in casting artists for artist talks?

Bayarbaatar : We contacted artists by messenger and asked them to join the artist talks. We tried to include a wide range of young artists and professionals while making the list. Sometimes artists could not participate in artist talks just before the live streaming event because their schedule suddenly changed. But we could find other artists right away because we had made a plan B first. The biggest problem we had was the Wi-Fi because we were connecting from other countries. Live streaming is impossible if the Wi-Fi is bad. So, we checked the Wi-Fi the day before the live streaming event every time.

Enkhzul : When we were doing our first live streaming event, the platform we planned to use for live streaming did not work well even though we had checked the day before. Also, the second artist suddenly told us that it was impossible to participate in the artist talk because of a schedule change, so we had to find another artist quickly. These things made me anxious, but as time passed, we were able to run the project smoothly

05. What were some impressive moments you experienced while leading this project?

Bayarbaatar : It was really great to talk with other artists. Thanks to this project I could share a lot of ideas and discuss various topics with many artists. Furthermore, it was good to talk about art in the era of COVID-19, which doesn’t seem like it’s going away any time soon. I could organize my thoughts on what we can do now and in the future thanks to these talks.

Enkhzul : Artist talk episode seven was the most impressive. After the talk, I realized that I barely knew about painting before. Aminaa Mashbat taught me how to understand and enjoy paintings for more than an hour and a half. Also, that episode has the highest number of views out of our content.

06. What is your future plan for Art Bridge?

Bayarbaatar : I want to produce an online performance based on the ideas from Art Bridge 2020. During this project, I was able to make a network and find some ideas. If CPI wants to work with Art Bridge 2020 in the future, we will always be ready.

Enkhzul : I also made some plans already. I want to interview novelists, make art education content for children, interview professional artists, and make webtoons. I will start small, step by step.

Narangerel Bayarbaatar (Mongolia)

Bayarbaatar is a contemporary dancer who studied traditional Mongolian dance in university and has worked in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Korea as a contemporary dancer. He is a 2019 CPI Participant of Trust Dance Theatre.

Enkhzul Bayaraa Soyondoo (Mongolia)

Soyondoo is a dancer who studied dance pedagogy in Mongolia and completed a master’s course in traditional folk theatrics at K-ARTS in Korea.