The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia, 1996 : Report

ARTISTS AND ARTWORKS: SUMMARY The Triennial process recognises that artistic and cultural expression cannot be encompassed by national boundaries. The voices of the artists are of paramount concern and the intention of the Triennial exhibitions and conferences is to provide a space for distinctive views about the dynamic contemporary art of the region to be expressed and debated. Number of participating artists The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial included works by 1 61 artists. An interesting development of the Second Triennial was the presentation of collaborative works by groups of artists: 1 . All stock must go! was an audience interactive event, co-ordinated and presented by the Campfire Group, which involved thirty-five Indigenous and non­ Indigenous Australian artists. 2 . Pies Name/ (Our place) was an outdoor and indoor instal lation and a performance presented by Michael Mel and Anna Mel from Papua New Guinea. 3. Egu Rami was a three day performance of the Roiroipe mourning dance of the Nenehi clan of Papua New Guinea, presented by Wendi Choulai and a g roup of twenty Papua New Guinean dancers. 4 . The paintings Palo-Sebo (1 995) and Sinning in the rain ( 1 994) were created by the group of Philippine artists SANGGAWA. 5 . Pabitin, an installation presented by Philippine artist Jose Tence Ruiz i ncluded twenty-seven commissioned sculptures by Philippine artists. Gender The number of women i n the Second Triennial increased considerably from the First Triennial from twenty-one to thirty. Age The average age of the artists was 37, with 82% of the artists being between 25 and 44 years of age. Artists' geographical base Although the majority of artists came from regional centres (61 %) rather than capital cities (39%) , the number of artists living in rural areas was very limited (1 0%). Artists' exhibition history The artists' exhibition history demonstrates that 96% of the participating artists had exhibited outside their country before the Second Triennial, while 58% had previously exhibited in Australia. 33