The festival program includes site-specific and multimedia installations, video art, performances, sound works, and experimental music. Visual art exhibitions will be held from September 25 to October 4 at X0 Art Space, an 800 m² venue in Ulaanbaatar's Dari-Ekh ger district. A live music event is scheduled for September 25 at On’n Off Production.
Mongolian visual artists T. Enkhbold and L. Munguntsetseg will showcase works that explore the impact of globalisation, urbanisation, and technological advances on modern Mongolian values, mindsets, and lifestyles. Their art contextualises these changes alongside traditional nomadic culture and ancestral philosophies centered on respect for nature, posing complex questions about our existence and values. Meanwhile, artists B. Injinaash and D. Dorjkhand will display a collaborative audiovisual piece that addresses issues such as rural-to-urban migration, hybrid cultural identities, and the psychological and ecological vulnerabilities facing individuals and communities.
Among the international works presented will be »Atlas Fractured,« a multi-channel large-scale video installation by the internationally acclaimed artist Theo Eshetu, previously exhibited at documenta in 2017. The exhibition will also feature spatial multimedia works by artists Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, Bernd Oppl, and Elisabeth Molin. Also on view will be »In Transition,« a multi-channel video work by Sepideh Rahaa, and »Sediment,« a short film co-created by Arash Kamali Sarvestani and Mehregan Pezeshki.
The exhibition opening will take place on 26 September at X0 Art Space. The event will feature a collaborative performance by Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, T. Enkhbold, Kh. Shinetsog, and Timo Viialainen, along with a sound piece by Ege Şahin.
The live music programme includes experimental performances by Sacred Lodge, Sara Persico, and Thomas Nordmark. Additionally, Taiwanese artist Wang Chien-Chuan will create a live visual performance for the stage.
The works presented at XAOS 2026 are united by a shared exploration of internal and cross-border migration, examining its historical roots, causes, and consequences from personal, social, cultural, and geopolitical perspectives.
XAOS 2026 is curated by festival founders T. Bilguun and B. Gantuya, together with Jan Rohlf, co-founder and artistic director of Berlin’s CTM Festival. The festival is co-organised by the Mongolian Contemporary Art Support Association, European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), Goethe-Institut Mongolia, Alliance Française de Mongolie, Austrian Cultural Forum Beijing, Danish Cultural Institute, Embassy of Finland, Italian Cultural Institute, Embassy of the Netherlands, and Embassy of Sweden, with support from the Taipei Trade and Economic Representative Office in Ulaanbaatar, Steppe Amusement, X0 Art Space, 99999, and Oi projects.