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

with additional funds from the Australia Foundation for Cultu re and the Humanities. 2,500 Resource Kits were produced in total, 2, 1 50 were distributed through the Queensland Department of Education to all schools in metropolitan and regional Queensland, and 550 were distributed nationally through the Education Departments of all states and territories. Resource Kit material was also included on the in-house intranet site during the exhibition , and wil l be included on the Gallery's I nternet Worldwide Web page which will continue i nternational focus on the Asia-Pacific Triennial. The Visitors Program involved 28 individuals and 21 institutions nationally. Curatorial process The Triennial is unique i n terms of its scale and scope, the diversity of art presented , as well as the collaborative intellectual teamwork which involved experts from the region . This collaborative aspect of the Triennial contributed strongly to the success of the project. Forty-two arts professionals from d ifferent parts of Australia and the Asia-Pacific region were i nvolved i n the selection of artists for the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial. Each of the fifteen curatorial teams comprised both Australian and international curators and focused on the art of specific geographical areas according to their expertise. Thirty-nine curatorial team members and fifty­ five participating artists were in Brisbane for the opening events and conference , supported by the Gallery and the Second Triennial funding bodies. Their presence and participation in the Second Triennial events promoted even further the people­ to-people contact which is a vital element of the Triennial project. Artists and artworks The Second Triennial featured more than 1 00 artists from East Asia: China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taipei; South and South-East Asia: Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore , Thailand, Vietnam; and the Pacific: Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Polynesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu . Compared to the First Triennial, there was a higher number of participating artists, p roportionately more women artists, a lower average age of artists, more collaborative artworks, and more site specific works included in the Second Triennial. Artists' media included installation , photography, video, new technology, sculpture , painting, pri ntmaking, drawing and performance . Collection development The Gallery's Collection has developed significantly in tandem with the Asia-Pacific Triennial. Twenty-six purchases were secured from the Second Triennial which builds the Gallery's Collection of Contemporary Asian Art holdings to 203 works. Research and Databases One of the great strengths of the Asia-Pacific Triennial is the project's on-going infrastructure. The Asia-Pacific Artists Database contains 1 ,586 records while the Gallery's Library holdings in the Asia-Pacific area exceed 3 ,700 items, including indexed articles. This i nternationally accessible library has already proved to be of great value to scholars, curators and artists. Additionally, the Gallery is engaged i n on-going academic research , associated with Asian and Pacific art, i n collaboration with Australian and i nternational institutions. 6