Department of Art School of Design and Art Political parody: The new image of Mongolian contemporary art Ochirbat Naidansuren This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University November 2015 Acknowledgements I would like to thank numerous people who have helped me during this research. Most of all, I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Anja Reid and Dr. Darryn Ansted for their guidance and for the many hours they have spent correcting my English writing. I am particularly thankful to Dr. Anja Reid, for her enthusiasm for doing this study, her consistent support and her broad knowledge in Mongol studies. She was my source of encouragement over the last five years. Without her attention and care, this research would not have been completed. Thank you, dear Anja. I would also like to thank Mike Wort and Tarsh Bates for their helpful editing of the text towards the end of completing the exegesis. My sincere and heartfelt thanks to western Mongolists and researchers such as Dr. Chris Atwood, Dr. David Brophy, Ph D candidates Rebekah Plueckhahn, Natasha Fijn and Susie Drost who supported academic sources and information on my research attending conferences in the USA and Australia. I am particularly thankful to Professor Igor de Rachewiltz who suggested me some important ideas related to manggus folklore during the Mongol studies conference at ANU in 2011. Many heartful thanks to my Mongolian colleagues – contemporary Mongolian artists S. Mashbat, Yo. DalhOchir, Z. Usuhbayar, D. Baatarhuu, Ch. Enkhee, Ts. Battur, Kh. Enkhtsog, G. Norovragchaa, Ts. Otgonbayar, N. Enkhbaatar, Bo. Badral, E. Lhagvadorj, A. Bayarmagnai, B. Erdenebayar, D. Batzorig, B. NandinErdene, J. Bolortuvshin; caricaturists Ts. Baidi, S. Tsogtbayar, L. Munkbat; Mongolian expatriate artists H. Hosnaran (Heesco), L. Ganbold (Gawaa), T. Otgonbayar, M. Tsogtsaihan, Ts. Erdenesuren, B. Batbileg; parodists H. Ikhbayar, J. Oyundari, L. Demidbaatar, T. Chaminchuluun and; art scholars S. Badral, Ch. Boldbaatar, Ts. Erdenetsog, L. Batchuluun, J. Saruulbuyan and B. Bayartur who provided additional data for this research. I also wish to thank the staff of the Mongolian National Archives, museums and the State Library of Mongolia who aided my research by providing access to various documentary sources, especially B. Baasanjargal, a museum researcher of the MPRP. Doctoral research is impossible to sustain without rewarding relationships and friendships. I have received the kind support of my family and friends: Naidansuren Terbish, Terbish Altangerel, 1 Kathleen Wieman, Richard Reid, Judy Smythe, Dibakar Rakshit and the Curtin University Department of Art staff who always supported me in times of difficulty. Finally, I acknowledge the Department of Art, School of Design and Art at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, which facilitated my research and the Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship. Any faults of omission and commission are my own. 2 Abstract This research investigates the paradigm of parody in Mongolian political art through its connection with the mythological figure of the mangas. The mangas is supernatural mythological creature in Mongolian epics, typically depicted as a many-headed giant beast which swallows every living being. Originating from the earliest nomadic Mongol animist fear of Black Cruel Heaven, the mangas incarnated various forms of resistence to emerge in twentieth-century Mongolian visual art as forms of parody. In contrast to Western perceptions of parody, the Mongolian form lacks superficial sense of humor. Instead, in visual art it connects various historical forms together--the mangas, the Buddhist Choijin and the Communist mangas- -to expose dense and complex cultural roots in contemporary Mongolian caricature. This exegesis explores how Mongolian caricature functioned as parody during periods of tight social control. Ridicule of the American capitalist mangas later gave way to ridicule of the shortcomings of socialist living after the collapse of the Soviet-influenced regime in the 1990s. Subsequent political parody has thrived in Mongolian art as a modern critical re-coding of the present in characterizations of the failing figures of the post-communist political system. This exegesis therefore expands the concept of parody in Mongolian contemporary art to encompass political parody that subverts the former policies of socialist realism in Mongolian modern art— where my artwork is also partly situated. In this way my experience of post-communist Mongolian cultural identity is empowered by conceptual art strategies that allow the critical reworking of Mongolian national art forms—the encoding of imagery, deconstructing of forms, symbols, motifs and styles to parodic effect. By tracing parody as a political rather than social or cultural phenomenon, my contribution to discourse is a study that shows Mongolian political parody gives form to and thus codifies an enduring core value of opposition: of the elements of nature for shamanism, of sin for Buddhism, of capitalism for the socialist government and socialism and corruption in the post-communist period. My body of artwork investigates these factors by further visually deconstructing the mangas paradigm in Mongolian contemporary art. The ultimate goal of this exegesis is to elicit the national sensibility for expressing parody in Mongolian art as a response to disqust and mode of resistance—a new investigation of Mongol identity and art in academic scholarship. 3 Note on Transcription For the transcription of Mongolian words and names into EnglishI followed the western simplified phonetic system, notably that used by Christopher Atwood (2002: xv-xvi). For the term manggus but I followed the modern Khalkh pronunciation and simplified the form of mangas and tengre instead of tengri. Long vowels “ii” of case suffix for person’s surname are written doubled. 4 Table of Contents Chapter ONE – Theories of parody 1.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................7 1.2 Research Aims/Questions & Exegesis structure ........................................................................................8 1.3 Research Methodology ..............................................................................................................................11 1.3.1 Autobiography ......................................................................................................................11 1.3.2 Art historical research ...........................................................................................................11 1.3.3 Ethnography ..........................................................................................................................12 1.3.4 Linguistic and cultural motifs ...............................................................................................12 1.3.5 Practice-led research .............................................................................................................13 1.4 Theories of Parody .....................................................................................................................................14 1.4.1 European historical approaches to parody ............................................................................14 1.4.2 Parody and postmodernism ...................................................................................................17 1.4.3 Linguistic problems in translating “Parody” .........................................................................22 1.4.4 Mongolian parody .................................................................................................................23 Chapter TWO – The development of the figure of the mangas as a symbol of fear through Mongolian history 2.1 Etymological origins and cultural depictions of the mangas in Mongolian epic tales .................................31 2.1.1 Etymological origins ...................................................................................................................31 2.1.2 The mangas in Mongolian epic tales: the cruel warrior............................................................. .32 2.1.3 The mangas in Mongolian epic tales: tales of swallowing ......................................................... 34 2.1.4 The mangas swallower in Mongolian folklore ........................................................................... 35 2.2 The tengre mangas in Mongolian black shamanism [Buu] ..........................................................................37 2.2.1 Buu, the ancient Mongolian cosmology ......................................................................................37 2.2.2 Mangas tengre............................................................................................................................ .39 2.2.3 Evil spirit mangas ........................................................................................................................42 2.3 The Jamsran mangas in Mongolian Buddhism............................................................................................. 44 2.3.1 The transition from Shamanism to Buddhism.............................................................................. 45 2.3.2 The transition of Buu mangas tengre into the Buddhist Choijin Jamsran ...................................47 2.3.3 The Jamsran mangas: the evolution of a fear of nature and death