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

I was very grateful of the experience of visiting the caves with aboriginal paintings near Auda 's place. The area had such a mysterious feeling so spiritual. And the beautiful Blackdown Tablelands (have I got the name right?) near Blackwater. I enjoyed the pottery class with Shirley Wilkins in Dysart. I had a lot of fun with the ladies - "they make joke all the time ". I grew up in a ceramic village where I learnt traditional techniques. The e xperience in Dysart was a reminder of my childhood. I now work predominantly on paper. I made a collaborative work with the Dysart group. People in Dysart are sad because so many people are moving away. I made a business card in clay and asked the Dysart Potters to make a card also. Any visitor to Dysart should also make a card in clay and contribute to the work. Thank you Flying Arts for such a wonderful experience. Other notes from Shirley Wilkins - Thanh tried for the first time vegemite while on tour and enjoys it! Learnt Australian swear words from the Dysart Potters. BALLARAT Ballarat Fine Art Gallery Ballarat Fine Art Gallery worked with their local council to bring Wu Mali (Taiwan ) and Harsha ( I ndia) to Ballarat fo r one week residencies . The artists undertook a series of lectures and workshops at the Gallery and at a number of local schools. A civic reception was held in honour of the artists. TOWNSVILLE Umbrella Studios, James Cook Un iversity, Bonemap Collection Collectively local contemporary artspace Umbrella Stud io, James Cook University and Bonemap hosted the visit of Singaporean artist, Lee Wen. Robert Barton, Umbrel la Stud ios, Townsville Lee Wen - Ten day residency Lee Wen came to Townsville in September in association with the APT3 Outreach Program. His principal reason for coming here was to work with Russell Milledge, Rebecca Youdell and Michael Whiticker on the conceptual development of the Bonemap project. As Umbrella sponsored Wen 's visit to Townsville, we also took the opportunity to ruthlessly exploit him!!! On the Friday evening, just 24 hours after his extra long day travelling from Sydney, Lee Wen gave a performance at Umbrella titled "Neo-Baba: Somewhere in Townsville ". Unlike his silent Yellow Man performances, this performance involved a Jot of noise and language - in fact several languages including Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English. Very evocative of the streets of Singapore, I think this performance expressed more about Wen 's state of confusion as to his location after a very hectic visit to Brisbane and Sydney, rather than any presumptuous opinions about Townsville afterjust 24 hours in residence. Wen was obviously musing about this for some time as later that night, on the way home, he asked me "why does such a place as Townsville exist? " Realising that it was a metaphysical rather than a socio-economic inquiry, I am afraid that I did not have an answer for him! Actually, I often ponder the same question!! On his last day in Townsvil/e, Wen gave an illustrated artist's talk at the James Cook University art school. Ostensibly for the benefit of students, a Jot of teachers and members of the general art community in Townsville also attended. Wen gave a thorough summary of his career highlights to date and talked about some of the ideas of cultural identity underlying his work. 70