Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, 1993 : Exhibition report

understanding, this exhibition, the dialogue it generates and the future exchanges that will flow from it, will contribute to greater cultural understanding between the Asia Pacific region’. His Excellency, Mr Sabam Pandapotan Siagian, the Ambassador of Indonesia to Australia, who spoke on behalf of Indonesia, was the keynote speaker at the official opening. In his speech he commented that ‘the exhibition will represent a great opportunity to strengthen and increase our knowledge, understanding and appreciation of our Asian and Pacific neighbours. In our present context, art plays a role of utmost importance in enhancing the quality of life of every individual person, of every community and of every nation.’ Mr Max Bourke, General Manager of the Australia Council stressed the importance of the exhibition to the arts in Australia. Guests at the opening included many distinguished representatives of government, business and the arts, including diplomats, embassy and consular representatives and sponsors’ representatives from throughout Australia and the countries participating. The official party included The Premier of Queensland, The Hon. Wayne Goss, MLA; His Excellency, Mr Sabam Pandapotan Siagian, the Ambassador of Indonesia to Australia; Mr Max Bourke, General Manager, Australia Council; Mr Richard Austin, OBE, Chairman of the Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees and Mr Doug Hall, Director of the Queensland Art Gallery. As well as the Premier, representing the Queensland Government were The Hon. Dean Wells, MLA, Minister for Justice and Attorney-General and Minister for the Arts, and The Hon. David Hamiil, MLA, Minister for Transport and Minister Assisting the Premier on Economic and Trade Development. Other distinguished international guests who attended the opening were His Excellency, Mr Chang-Bum Lee, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea; Mr Ted Woodfield, High Commissioner, New Zealand; Mr Toshio Hara, Director, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Mr David Elliott, Director, Museum of Contemporary Art, Oxford, United Kingdom; Ms Mary Jane Jacob, independent curator, United States of America; Mr Toshihisa Tanaka, Director-General, The Japan Foundation; Dr Sri Hastanto,. Director, Indonesia College of the Arts Surakarta, Central Java; and Ms Jenny Harper, Director, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington. Additionally, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australia-lndonesia Institute, the Australia-lndia Council, the Australia-Korea Foundation, the Australian and Queensland Governments, the Brisbane City Council and commercial sponsors of the exhibition were represented at the official opening. There were a very large number of representatives of art museums, contemporary art spaces and artists, including Mr Leon Paroissien, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. There were a number of representatives from the Australia Council Boards and Committee and from the Visual Arts/Craft Board, Mr Noel Frankham, Director, Ms Karilyn Brown, Professor Fazal Rizeri and Dr Irene Amos, OAM. During the course of the exhibition most State gallery directors and contemporary art curators from major institutions visited the exhibition as did large numbers of Australian artists and critics. Prior to the exhibition opening the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Senator The Hon. Gareth Evans, attended a special viewing where he met participating artists and discussed their works. In addition to being an extremely successful cultural relations exercise, the Asia-Pacific Triennial has enjoyed great scholariy, critical and popular success. Over 60 000 people visited the exhibition and there was a notable increase in the number of visitors of Asian and Pacific descent to the Gallery. The exhibition was free. Public comments in the comments book proved that the Triennial was successful in increasing the Australian public’s awareness of Asian and Pacific societies through their contemporary art (see ‘Selection of comments from comments book'). The accompanying in-depth publications, the major scholarly book Tradition and Change: Contemporary Art of Asia and the Pacific, published by the University of Queensland Press, and the catalogue The First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art have both been very