Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art
The Third Asia-Pacific Triennial opened on September 9 and will be on display till January 26, 2000. Presenting more than 140 artworks by 77 artists from 20 countries and regions throughout Asia and the Pacific, the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial also includes an international Conference, a Virtual Triennial online exhibition, Kids' APT, a Screen Culture programme of video, short film and animation, and much more.
On the digital media front, collaborations and interdisciplinary approaches abound visual arts and music, popular culture, screen culture, and new technology. In partnership with Multimedia Art Asia Pacific, the Virtual Triennial (www.apt3.net) will showcase work by artists from the region who use the Internet in the creation and presentation of their work.
The Conference that was held from 10 till 12 September 1999 was a major drawcard: over 90 speakers discussed current issues in art, film, new media, and popular culture in Asia and the Pacific. Dr Caroline Turner, Deputy Director Queensland Art Gallery, has written a report on the conference for the IIAS Newsletter.
Beyond the Future
The Queensland Art Gallery began planning and developing the Asia-Pacific Triennial project in the late 1980s. It aimed to enhance cultural awareness and understanding, creating a forum for discussion and exchange. The project centres on a commitment to building long-term relationships based on mutual respect providing new research and scholarship in and about the region.
The first Asia-Pacific Triennial in 1993 was concerned with tradition and change, bringing the past into the present. It proved a landmark exhibition, with new forums developing from it redefining contemporary and traditional art. Like APT1, in 1996 the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial did not impose any single perspective on the exhibition, using the integrating concept of 'Present Encounters'.
This year the theme of APT3, is 'Beyond the Future', revisiting ideas highlighted in APT1 and 2: the place of tradition and the past in contemporary art and society, how we relate today and what these things may mean tomorrow. The works cross numerous boundaries between craft, traditional practices, performances, textile, video, and new technology. For the first time, APT3 will include artists from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Pacific Islands of Wallis, Futuna, and Niue. The globally mobile artists are also well represented: Cai Guo Qiang, Chen Zhen, Xu Bing, Vong Phaophanit 'born in China living and working in Paris, France, New York.'
Virtual Triennial
Discussion by artists has become a very popular part at contemporary arts events. Special features of the APT3 website include profiles on participating artists, an email forum discussing issues relating to contemporary art and culture, an exhibition of online artworks plus a Kids APT online-interactive artworks and projects developed for children 3-12 years.
Artists in the Virtual Triennial include Wang Jun-Jieh from Taipei, 'a pioneer of the use of multimedia in Taiwan whose work crosses the boundaries of what is seen as consumable culture and the role of technology and the media.' Wang's questions to his audience 'Who are the real masters? Who is Who?' critically echo Microsoft's 'Where do you want to go today?' In 'Neon Urlaub' Wang reinvents himself as a travel agent offering his 'customers' virtual trips to real places. These adventures exist only in cyberspace but the artist will install his travel agency in the Queensland Art Gallery, complete with plastic palm trees and access to his booking service.
Building on a previous collaboration Australian writer Geremie Barmé and oral historian Sang Ye installed 'Totems Poles Apart' for APT3. This work consists of two 13-metre high inflatable red Hua Biao (decorated columns) from Wang Fu Jing, the shopping epicentre of Beijing. A mock-museum exhibit illustrates the symbolic history of the Hua Biao, the original marble versions of which have stood in Tiananmen Square for 500 years. Video interviews with witnesses to the Hua Biao both in Beijing and Brisbane construct a dialogue with these silent and silenced icons.
Two other interesting works are the CD-ROM and online projects from the Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts, University Malaysia Sarawak and on the performance front, a collaboration between Brisbane-based contemporary music ensemble Elision, Heri Dono from Yogyakarta and Queensland artist Judith Wright.
There is a strong emphasis in APT3 on art that crosses between traditional and contemporary. The theme 'Beyond the Future' takes account of 'the concern of many artists in the region today about contributing positively through their creativity to their communities surviving the present and constructing new futures, for many artists their past is their future. *
THIRD ASIA-PACIFIC TRIENNIAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART
9 September 1999 26 January 2000
Queensland Art Gallery
Till January 26, 2000
Queensland Cultural Centre
South Bank
South Brisbane QLD 4101
Australia
Tel.: +61-7-3840 7303
Fax: +61-7-3844 886