Ideas flourish through being in motion

BaYin Arts Foundation

Who we are

The BaYin Arts Foundation is dedicated to preserving, revitalizing, and reimagining nomadic cultural heritage through cultural exchange and international creative collaboration.

Inspired by the nomadic worldview, rooted in movement, oral tradition, and deep ecological knowledge; the foundation serves as a platform for dialogue between communities, institutions, and disciplines.

Through partnerships, research, and shared cultural initiatives, the foundation seeks to celebrate the richness of nomadic traditions while exploring their continued relevance as a source of inspiration for future ways of living, making, and connecting.

About Us

  • As one of the first arts foundations established in Inner Mongolia, China with a dedicated focus on nomadic culture and artistic exchange, NAF serves as a cultural bridge between regional heritage and global dialogue.

    Founded by individuals with deep roots in Inner Mongolia and across the historic Silk Road, the foundation is committed to revitalizing cultures that have long existed at the periphery of dominant narratives. Through contemporary artistic practices, we seek to cultivate a renewed cultural dialogue—one that brings these layered histories into the present and reimagines their place in the future.

    The BaYin Arts Foundation exists to celebrate the richness of movement, exchange, and cultural continuity in a world that is more connected than ever before. We see this era as an opportunity to revive and reinterpret nomadic values through creativity, collaboration, and shared experience. By supporting artists and thinkers who draw from migratory traditions or embody a spirit of openness, NAF offers a platform for cultural exploration that crosses regions and disciplines.

  • The BaYin Arts Foundation (BAF) is supported by the BaYin Mengke Group, based in Erdos, Inner Mongolia, China, with its headquarters situated at a newly established cultural site and financial infrastructure anchored in Hong Kong SAR. Through this financial and cultural foundation, BAF seeks to connect Erdos to the world by developing projects that engage artists whose practices are rooted in the nomadic spirit and those based along the Silk Road Belt or inspired by its legacy.

  • The nomadic spirit is both a way of life and a way of thinking. Rooted in the vast grasslands of Erdos, it reflects a deep relationship with movement, adaptability, and coexistence with nature. It values resilience, fluid identity, and communal strength over permanence or possession. To us, the nomadic spirit is not defined by borders but by a continuous search for connection; across cultures, disciplines, and landscapes. It honors tradition while embracing change, and it inspires us to build cultural frameworks that are open, mobile, and alive.

A Constant Exploration of Three Themes

  • Foreigners Everywhere

    We are drawn to works that explores the shifting boundaries of identities. Whether through physical journeys or internal transformations, these projects reflect the nomadic condition as a universal rhythm of human experience. The figure of the foreigner is not peripheral but central, offering new perspectives on belonging and cultural fluidity.

  • Silk Road Travelers

    We welcome artists whose practices are rooted in or inspired by the geographies of the Silk Road. From East Asia to the Caucasus, from Central Asia to the Middle East, this ancient network of exchange continues to inform cultural memory and creative production. We see the Silk Road not as a historical relic but as a living metaphor for transnational dialogue and artistic interconnection.

  • A Modern Nomad

    We support works that engage deeply with the material, spiritual, and symbolic languages of nomadic and Mongol culture. From architectural forms and textiles to oral traditions and ecological knowledge, these projects help preserve and reinterpret a living heritage. Our focus is on honoring the past while inviting contemporary expressions that keep these cultures in motion.

Manifesto

To live freely, one must sometimes exile oneself.

To build the future, one must sometimes burn the map.

Nomadism Is Not the Past—It’s a Philosophy of the Future

These migrations were never just about survival.

They were movements of culture, language, song, technology, and cosmology.

Nomadic life crossed borders long before nations drew them—
and in doing so, challenged the illusion that civilization must be rooted to flourish

Across borders

Across time

Across the self

Across borders Across time Across the self

Across borders

Across time

Across the self

Across borders Across time Across the self