Contemporary Art from the Asia Pacific Region
By Caroline Turner
Contemporary artists have a significant role to play in the complex cultural interactions of our world. The Asia-Pacific Triennial is a long-term commitment by the Queensland Art Gallery to stage three exhibitions in Australia exploring the contemporary art of the Asia- Pacific region this decade. The exhibitions are supported by conferences, publications, and education programmes including kits for schools. A computer database and library research centre, in conjunction with joint scholarly initiatives with Australian universities will help to document what is happening today in the art of the countries making up the geographical region of the Asia-Pacific.
The First Asia-Pacific Triennial in 1993 proved to be a ground-breaking event. Attended by over 60,000 people, the first Triennial brought together nearly two hundred works, including paintings, sculpture, printmaking, photography, performance, and installation art. Seventy-six artists were represented from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The forthcoming Triennial will include India and a larger Pacific representation.
To facilitate the exhibition the Queensland Art Gallery has invited prominent Australians and experts from each of the countries involved to join our Curatorial teams. Fundamental to the Triennial philosophy is that it is impossible to pre-determine the outcome of such exchanges and that collaboration based on genuine partnerships and mutual respect is a critical factor in the success of the project. Over forty art experts from Australia and the region have been involved in the selections for the Second Triennial in September 1996. Members of Curatorial teams have visited fifteen countries in the region. National and international forums have been held in Australia and the Asia-Pacific Triennial Bulletin has been translated into nine languages. The artist databases and library resource centre on the contemporary art is already proving to be of great value to scholars.
Dynamic creative forces at work
Some key issues emerged out of the first Triennial and are continued in the selections for
the second: for all the talk of increasing globalization and homogeneity in world culture,
the contemporary art of our region continues to reveal striking diversity. It is an irony
also that while Western scholars had long recognized the great achievements of this
region in the distant and historical past, until recently they had on the whole paid little
attention to art in the immediate past and to contemporary art. New approaches to art
have in fact been developed, some rejecting Western imperatives, others integrating them
with traditional culture. The synthesizing of Western art approaches and the new dynamic
creative forces in the art of our region remind us of the vitality of creative art practice.
There is in the art emerging from the region a forceful denial of the idea of art emanating
only from major centres in Europe and North America and of an international style which
can now be seen as, in many ways, an aberration of the cold war. The issues of
colonialism are also very much in the past; it is the present and the future that engage
intellectual debate and artistic endeavour.
Cultural interaction is no new phenomenon in this region and has taken place over the centuries. The history of the region is one of long cultural engagement and adaption which may make Western influences seem minor to future historians. Today's contemporary art is a product of tradition, past historical and cultural encounters, the confrontation with the West in more modern times, continuing cross cultural influences and the recent economic, technological and information changes which have pushed the world to a global culture and greatly accelerated those changes. Artists today have to deal with a myriad of such changes in making sense out of contemporary events. In many cases artists are focusing on re-examining the uniqueness of their national or cultural identity. others explore universal themes. The truisms of a twentieth century global culture are challenged by the survival of cultural traditions thought lost. It is a significance paradox that while national identity or a new cultural and regional identity is being asserted, it is the artists' sophisticated knowledge of, engagement with, and sometimes rejection of, internationalism that has prompted some of the most interesting recent art. The art of this region is diverse -- at times intensely locally specific -- while, at the same time engaging with international art practice. There is no sense of a homogenous regional identity yet there are common themes which emerge. Among these themes are identity, the place of tradition within rapidly changing societies, the issues of religion and spirituality, the role of women in society, social and political concerns reflecting everyday events which artists live with within their own particular societies, ecological issues and the worldwide problem of environmental degradation. Perhaps the most significant factor that does emerge from the region is a sense of dynamic change.
Art without a 'Centre'
The issues raised by the Asia-Pacific triennial series of exhibitions will not be easily
resolved. The Queensland Art Gallery recognizes the complexities of the cultural
interactions taking place in today's world by having committed itself to at least three
exhibitions before the turn of the century. It has always been my belief that it will take at
least ten years to understand the processes of change and interaction. Our hope is that
Queensland Art Gallery can be part of this dialogue and discussion.
The Second Triennial and the issues which will be explored in the exhibition and associated conferences and publication look set to be as exciting and challenging as those of the first exhibition. The opportunities for intra-regional exchange and dialogue generated by forums such as the Triennial will, it is to be hoped, provide new ways of looking at art without a 'centre', as well as an approach to cultural interchanges open to the future in which we can recognize what we have is common yet respect what is different.
Queensland Art Gallery
Queensland Cultural centre
South Bank, Brisbane
P.O. Box 3686
South Brisbane, Queensland 4101
Australia
Tel:+61-7-8407333
Fax: +61-7-8448865
Dr Caroline Turner is deputy Director of the Queensland Art Gallery and Manager of International Programmes, including the Asia-Pacific Triennial.