APT 2002 Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia : Report

SELECTED MEDIA COMMENTS The APT has become the defining art exhibition in QAG’s repertoire, attracting attention from across the country and from many parts of the world. Alongside other ventures, it has contributed something unique to Australia’s engagement with the world, moving away from a Euro- centric discourse to embark upon a more regionally nuanced conversation. (Chaitanya Sambrani, Art Monthly, November 2002). Boasting such heavy hitters as Nam June Paik, Yayoi Kusama, and Montien Boonma amid a roster of younger artists, the APT looks set to become a powerful arbiter in a newly configured East-meets-West art world – and a telling indicator of Australia’s inherently protean identity. (Jeff Gibson, Art Forum, September 2002) …APT 2002 was a fascinating and thoughtful exhibition with a strong emotional content. It consolidated the previous Triennials within a tighter thematic framework ... The inclusion of artworks from the Queensland Art Gallery’s own collection also gave a strong sense of how the Gallery’s commitment to the Asia-Pacific Triennials has shaped its collection, particularly that of contemporary Asian Art. (Melanie Eastburn, Asian Art News, November-December 2002) …. the Queensland Art Gallery … is the driving force behind what many international observers have come to regard as one of the most useful and informative of the world’s randomly proliferating contemporary art surveys. (Sebastian Smee, the Art Newspaper, August 2002) Those shows seized the imagination of the national and international art world in a way that no other Australian arts event has quite managed, becoming, along the way, a significant part of this country’s visual arts profile overseas. (Brook Turner, Australian Financial Review, 30 August 2002) One thing is for sure, the APT remains the most meaningful and potentially productive of all of Australia’s large-scale art events (the Sydney Biennales, the Adelaide Festival, the Melbourne International Biennale). (Rex Butler, The Courier-Mail, 21 September 2002) A sensory feast. (Karla Pincott, Townsville Bulletin , 10 January 2003) This year’s APT – this time curated in a more focused and engaging way … is a truly profound museological experience, in itself proof that something new is happening in world art. (Rex Butler, The Courier-Mail, 21 September 2002) … it confirms the fact that QAG … is today the most dynamic of Australia’s state galleries. (Rex Butler, The Courier-Mail, 21 September 2002) From conference papers to artist floor talks there is much to praise at this event. However, what delighted me most was to see a special section, “the Kids’ APT”, devoted to children and given a central space within the gallery. (Peter Hill, Sydney Morning Herald , 17 September 2002) The irreverence, ribaldry and sense of fun that the Divas used in their catwalk performances to a jam-packed crowd signalled something beyond mere party entertainment, with aspects of visual excess and formal invention being harnessed to generate social and political critique. (Chaitanya Sambrani, Art Monthly, November 2002). The normality of the art is reinforced by impressive examples of contemporary Asian art that have, since 1993, been acquired for the Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art at the QAG – an example of patronage of the most enlightened kind. (Jonathan Mane Wheoki, Art New Zealand, No.105/Summer 2002-03) The design and installation of APT 2002 is spacious and elegant and, with its well considered and beautifully furnished resource and rest stations, remarkably visitor and learner-friendly. (Jonathan Mane Wheoki, Art New Zealand, No.105/Summer 2002-03) … the Gallery’s central video lounge is one of the best installations for time-based works I have seen in an art museum... (Helen Grace, Eyeline, Summer 2002/2003) The provision of supporting material alongside the works allows the audience a choice of simply looking or of reading backwards and forwards between the works and the more considered account of them. (This is an inspired aspect of the show, and one which gifts to the audience an opportunity to remake the show with each viewing). (Helen Grace, Eyeline, Summer 2002/2003) 12