Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, 1999 : Beyond the future : Report.

Suffice to say the exhibition grabs your imagination from the moment you step into the gallery and never lets go. It's an unforgettable experience - don't m iss it. Jeremy Gough , Sunshine state of the art world, The Coffs HarbourAdvocate, October 26, 1 999, p.1 0. The APT is much more than the sum of its interesting works, it's a genuinely interesting event that brings a lot of people together and it is gradually changing the focus of Australian Art. John McDonald quoted i n Brooke Turner; Art blockbuster conquers, The Australian Financial Review, October 30, 1 999, p. 1 6. While installations, performance art, and sculpture provide some of the most colourful and poignant moments of the Triennial , the more trad itional mediums of painting, works on paper and photography also contribute .to the prevailing aura of delight being experienced by many visitors to this thesis on the dynamic and changing nature of cultures and societies in the Asia- pacific region . , Ro g er Taylor, A Dynamic of Cultures, Asian Art News, November/December, 1 999, p. 53. . . . It was a great delight and relief to attend an exhibition where children are made to feel welcome. Rather than keeping th e artworks off lim its, there is a zone where activities have been designed by visiting artists to give patrons, young and old, a hands- on experience. The strength of this year's APT3, with its focus on ch ildren , is its democratic message that art is for making as well as appreciating. Cindy Lord, Give children a conducive artistic environment and you wi l l see results, The Courier Mail, November 20, 1 999, p.1 3. Growing in strength each year, the huge collaborative process behind this innovative event shows ever more in the debates and d iscussions surrounding the works . A fine example of how a public institution can make a difference in the contemporary art of its region . Susan McCul loch-Uehlin, Visual Highs, The Weekend Australian, November 20-21 , p.20. The APT shows a conscientious approach to its enterprise and a multicu ltural expertise, but the show's real strength is in the compelling voice and power of seventy-five individual artists . The APT was a l ively and engaging exhibition, with conscious efforts made to bring the works to a wide audience . The QAG has also made a decade-long comm itment to collecting contemporary art o f Asia­ Pacific and th is col lection now numbers more than 300 works . If not the g reat "Beyond", it is a critical investment in the cultural future . lhor Holubizky, Here and Now, International ContemporaryArt, November 1 999 - January 2000, p.1 4. The entire APT is an incredible and immense d iplomatic and cultural exercise. Stephanie Radok, The Future is a piece of meat stuck on a dog's nose, Broadsheet, Summer 1 999/2000, p.20. While APT can hope only to provide tantalising glimpses of the contemporary art worlds of the vast Asia-Pacific region , in providing a unique and valuable forum for cultural d ialogue the gallery has earned for itself a secure place on the global art map. Jonothan Mane-Wheoki, States of Flux: The Third Asia Pacific Trienn ia l of Contemporary Art, Art New Zealand, Summer 1 999/2000, p.49. Now enjoying it's third anniversary, the Queensland Art Gallery's Asia Pacific Triennial has a achieved a level of national and international recogn ition that had seemed unimaginable when it first opened in 1 993. Brooke Turner, G lobalising the art scene: is this the curatorial method of the future? The Art Newspaper, December 1 999, p.1 7. 1 56