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

COMMENTS : ARTISTS Thank you Asia-Pacific Triennial, this is a bridge between love , friendship and the arts of the people in this continent. Wonderful time ! Wonderful Asia-Pacific Triennial'. Once more , Thank you . (Vu Dan Tan , Vietnam; translated from Vietnamese) It was so nice the time being in Brisbane for the APT, really wonderful and warmly organised, so that a lot of participants, especially myself, might have difficulties i n joining other events/exhibitions. (Marintan Sirait, I ndonesia) The 1 996 Asia-Pacific Triennial is very creative, attractive , educational and full of information in regard to political and cultural issues. The trips and the camp out are equally fantastic. Thank you Queensland Art Gallery and your hard working­ receptive staff. (Tom Deko , Papua New Guinea) I feel that the Asia Pacific Triennial is the best exhibition I've participated i n , i n terms of the diligence with which the whole show was organised . The spirit, enthusiasm and boundless sense of responsibility of the Gallery staff made a profound impression to me. The apparent success of participating artists and the art works in the show, is I feel due to the i ncredible efforts of the Gallery. I would like to thank the Gallery for all the help they gave me. I hope the Asia Pacific Triennial will continue to improve in the future and create lasting impressions. (Wang Luyan , Ch i na; translated from Chinese) The trip to the 2nd Asia-Pacific Triennial is so far excellent. The official ceremony, conference and the artists talk were the most spectacular events that I will treasure for memory as they were challenging and encouraging . . . ! thank all organisers of the Queensland Art Gallery for the wonderful program . (Eric Natuoivi , Vanuatu) Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to share our ideas with many other artists and people. The overall experience has been full of life and vitality from QAG staff to the artists. Thank you and best wishes to the 3rd Triennial i n '99. (Anna and Michael Mel, Papua New Guinea) Nowhere can we display our art like this . . . We are gratefu l for the opportunity to present our art as we present it in Papua New Guinea. It differs in many ways from European art practices in galleries such as this. Normally you would expect to see only paintings hanging on the walls. Foreigners are very i nterested in our anthropology and in our artefacts but our performances have not been given the same opportunities overseas. What we present here is completely authentic. (Michael Mel, Papua New Guinea; The Sunday Mail, 29 September 1 996) [Events like the Triennial lead to a] more vigorous inter-Asian scene, a long overdue re-orientation of parochial tendencies . . . and a shift i n value application , so that what many participating artists may start doing is work that is not object orientated, thus a packaged commodity, but that the new commodity will be regional prestige, possibly outrageous bravura, and increased mobility for art practitioners who now see that there's a very dynamic scene out there, and it's just a couple of keystrokes or fax 31