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

in the nineteenth century (as practised by an Indigenous artist) and modern isation in the eighteenth century. It is then clear that I ndonesia and The Philippines were not untouched by modernisation and modernity when Modernism was codified in the 1 950s. Modern art in these two countries is not only an adoption of early development of modern art, and later Modernism , but a lso, a continuity of local developments si nce the eighteenth century. Hence there must be another kind of 'modernism' beside the Western within the development of world modern art. However this kind of modernism possibly has been h idden due to the domination of the principles of Modernism (with a capital M) . If societies outside the Western world cou ld chart their 'modern ism' (which will clarify not only their i nterpretations of being modem and idealism in art, but also the process of modern isation since the eighteenth centu ry and modern ity within their world) we would possibly find a pluralistic modern ism , based on nations, societies, or even g roups of people. I have identified this predicted condition as multimodernism wh ich is modernism seen through pluralist principles. In seeing reality, pl ural ism acknowledges a concept of reality wh ich is usual ly believed to contend the truth , but denies an absolute truth , because the truth is based on ly on a convention. In pluralist belief, the reality has many layers and consists of not only one substance. In short, reality and its reflection consist of 'oneness' and 'manyness' at the same time. In my opinion , this is the appropriate concept to clarify modern ity and modernism outside the West. Mu ltimodemism in my vision , is derived from 'multimodernity' which is modernity seen as consisting of oneness, which is a convention based on Western concepts of modernisation and modernity, and manyness, wh ich is related to different rea l ities of modernity. The d iscussion of multimodemism is a far cry from discussing Modernism (with capital M). There is a lso a distance between multimodernism and matters of national identity. Mu ltimodem ity does not always follow the boundaries of nations, but can a lso exist as overlapping modernities, based on societies, g roups of people within one natio n . Mu ltimodern ism as a discursive element should be mediated with other critica l thi nking toward Modern ism . I n this mediation several questions can be raised about contemporary art, post avant-ga rde art and post-modernism concepts. The most significant one, how fa r have these critical concepts of Modern ism distinguished themselves from the singu larism of Modernism? Mu ltimodemism is related to a difficult and complex condition of contemporary art both i n the mainstream development and in the Third World. There are many confusi ng conditions in contemporary art wh ich could result in misunderstanding and m isinterpretation . For example, there wil l be problems i n evaluating works of the Third World that show modern istic tendencies. Art works which show the influence of Modernism , can not be taken for granted as based on Modernism, since Modernist development never really existed in the Third World. Then there wil l be confusion i n the use of terms, modem art , Modernist art, and even contempora ry art. Hence , the term contemporary art must be evaluated . Its paradigm , which is in a way rel ated to a contradictory 'linear' development from Modernist art to contemporary art, should be q uestioned , possibly by finding the connection between studies based on mu ltimodemism and contemporary art. The aim of this thinki ng is clear: to find an understanding where , not only can different realities in contemporary art be properly identified but also, different ways of representi ng the rea lity. If this understanding really existed one day , the debate of otherness, East-West confrontation , matters on local-international identities in world contemporary art, wil l come to an end . 1 . Klaus Honeff, Contemporary Art, Bened ikt Taschen Verlag, Koln, 1 992, pp.7-8 . 2. Hou Hanru, 'Entropy: Chinese Artists, Western Art I nstitution, A New I nternationalism'. Paper presented to a d iscussion held in Amsterdam, 1 996, organised by the Gate Foundation. 3. Charles Jencks, 'The Post-Avant-Garde', in The Post-Avant-Garde Painting in The Eighties, A. C. Papadakis, (ed . ), Academy Group, London 1 982. 4. Jan Nederveen Pieterse, 'Unpacking The West: How European is Europe?', 30