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

EDUCATION + PUBLIC PROGRAMS - OVERVIEW Gallery Guide with school group and artwork by Michael Ming Hong Lin Kids’ APT Entrance with Bug Master OVERVIEW The Public Programs for APT 2002 involved all audience areas, from early childhood and families, to youth focused activities and adult audiences. The Opening Events were targeted to attract the large number of visitors from interstate and overseas who attend the exhibition opening, as well to create a sense of excitement about the exhibition program for local audiences. In response to visitor comments from the previous APT report, more programs were developed which directly addressed the key themes and gave the viewer as much information as possible about the artist and their practice. Expanding on the concept of the focus lounge of previous APT’s, information on each artist were dispersed at stations throughout the exhibition for the entire duration. For the purposes of education and public programs, the schedule of events was broken into three distinct areas, each focusing on a central curatorial theme. Each theme began with a forum and included performances, activities, lectures, film screenings, workshops and floortalks relevant to the theme throughout. The first ‘Who am we?’ theme ran from 21 September – 26 October 2002. This theme was inspired by an artwork in the exhibition titled Who am we? by South Korean artist Suh Do-Ho. The title draws on a lack of distinction between ‘I’ and ‘We’ in Korean language and how this might affect ideas about multiculturalism. The second theme ‘Light, time, motion’ investigated how media such as film, television, video and computer-based multimedia define communication in the contemporary era and provide new opportunities for contemporary artists. Programming for this theme ran from 27 October – 7 December 2002. The final theme ‘Elements and senses’ (8 December 2002 – 27 January 2003) was in response to developments in Asia-Pacific contemporary art which focus on the fundamental agency of the senses and how the natural elements of fire, earth, water & wind tend to hone our senses. Programming for this theme highlighted our response to the world around us through these senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and scent. EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES A revised and expanded version of th e APT 2002 Education Resource Kit, developed with the assistance of th e Curriculum Corporation a nd th e Asia Education Foundation, is available for downloading (as a series of PDF files) from this website. The education kit caters primarily for a secondary audience, although primary educators will find the images in the kit useful and may also wish to adapt and modify other aspects of the kit for classroom use with a primary audience. A major feature of APT 2002 was the inclusion of an interactive activity space for children within the exhibition. This area provided an opportunity for hands-on creative interaction with artworks specially created by a selection of the artists. A free children’s activity book featured lots of interesting and fun educational ideas to delight and captivate primary-aged children as well as enhance their enjoyment of the exhibition. 41