1993 APT1 Conference : Identity, tradition and change

1 nnComments for Art Critics' Session, A s ia -P ac if ic Trienna le Symposium_______ copyright John Clark 1993 Oral p r e s en ta tio n will large ly c o n cen tr a te on B. and C. A. The Reception Culture On the side of the cu ltu r e s from which the Triennale works are drawn, one might in c ritique discuss a l t e r n a t i v e se lec tions , e i th e r of the a r t i s t s or of the works from one a r t i s t ' s oeuvre , bu t th is could end up in merely second -gu e s s ing th e cu ra to r s . Moreover, a range of opinions about the se lec tions has a lready begun to c ircu la t e in seve ra l Asian coun tries which is probably more r e l e v a n t to a r t world po litics in each cu ltu re th an the d irec t concerns of the Trienna le se lec to rs . But the c r itique of works in th e Triennale from a presump tive wider p e r spec tive in the recep tion cu ltu re is f raugh t with difficulty . One can adopt genera l c r ite r ia to place persona l a e s th e tic reac tions , b u t th e se in t h e i r own tu rn would become misplaced by specific information on c u l tu r a l and a r t discourses should th is be ava ilab le or re fe rred to. Tha t such information should be dominant in c ritique is o ften an argument which se rves those who p lead special h is to rica l or cu ltu ra l sign ificance for work which otherwise would not get in to an a r t gallery. This is why d if f e r en t se lec tions from a reception cu ltu re ou tside of the o r ig ina ting one for in t e rn a t io n a l exh ib itions inhe ren tly r e - or d e -p r iv ileg e works within the a r t cu ltu re . However much one sympathises with what may be broadly anthropologica l or politica l grounds for the inc lusion of an a r t work, if it has crossed a r t and o the r cu ltu ra l boundaries one must suppose it is capable of s u rv iv ing on the terms of an a rt environment o th e r t h a n t h a t which n u r tu r e d it. In any case, its presence in the new env iornmen t may r e l a t iv i s e or r e - d e f i n e the con tex t of local prac tice .