Present Encounters : Papers from the conference of the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1996

It is in these regards as well that I wish to consider Marian Pastor Roces's call for the creation of 'new i ntel lectual tools' and for 'a calibrated terminology', which can allow for, yes also respect, as she asks for, close and knuckled readi ngs of works of art. I n such regards too , where termi nology while in use is simultaneously or correspondingly examined within varying historical contexts and circumstances. I draw attention to this because it appears that presentations at conferences rarely deal with current or past writings, and set out as if each and every presentation is a new beginning. A sense of presentness can only come from a consciousness of what is and that which has been . The development of grounds for constructing contextually fecund frames for apprehending art in our regions has to i nclude the histories of art writing within our regions. Such engagements need not thwart or impede a sense of or the immediacy of the present. Such engagements can serve to provide the construction of discourses with a reflexive dimension which is shaped and characterised by particular histories and expressions. 26