Mongolia. Part II. Visual culture

Map

July 19–30, 2006

Genghis Khan is everywhere in Mongolia. The airport, the hotel, the beer, and our answer to Hollywood:

The visual culture here is fairly mature, but the expressive methods are totally arty-crafty.

Bus
3
Company

Another pixel font in front of the main department store:

It would be no exaggeration to say that Mongolian design all looks roughly like this:

There are a great many designers, but only one style:

The local road signs bring the connoisseur genuine pleasure. Almost all of them are hand-crafted and inimitable.

Many of the signs use something that resembles the lid of a pot as the base.

Sometimes colours are applied at random.

Sometimes the colours are themselves random.

A number of the signs betray the artists’ inhibitions. This unnamed author did not dare flip around the strikethrough line (which would’ve undoubtedly boosted the ban’s readability):

This is a STOP sign:

ZOGS

By the way, byamba-nyam means Saturday-Sunday in Mongolian.

Here’s a shy underpass pedestrian gingerly dipping his toes in the cold water.

A fellow pedestrian, this one at ground level, skips over hot coals.

This plaque belonging to the consular department of the Russian embassy fits in nicely with all of these visual delights.

Look, a blind road worker has struck an obstacle with his stick.

Meanwhile, his colleague has stuck his shovel right into a mountain.

This “Mongolia is Great” over-the-street banner would tear the poles off all the trolleybuses. One of the drivers couldn’t take it anymore and moved the banner to one side, where it dangled for two more days.