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

APT 2002 NEW MEDIA WORKSHOPS OVERVIEW The ‘APT 2002 New Media Workshops’ were specifically funded by the Australia Council: New Media Arts Board and were conducted as an extension of the ‘APT 2002: Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT 2002). The workshops offered 60 participants the opportunity to work closely with four exceptional artists from the Asia-Pacific region in an intensive workshop environment. The four tutors - Heri Dono (Indonesia), Lisa Reihana (Aotearoa New Zealand), Song Dong (China) and Nalini Malani (India) - are all exhibiting artists in APT 2002. Each artist-tutor conducted a four day workshop (9am – 4pm daily) with 15 participants in each group. Additionally, the new media curator and writer Johan Pijnappel gave single lectures to the combined groups each week. The workshops were conducted on site at the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and the Queensland College of Art (QCA), Griffith University, Southbank Campus with off-site workshops taking place in Southbank and at the Brisbane Powerhouse; Centre for Live Arts, New Farm. ACHIEVEMENTS This was the first time that the Queensland Art Gallery had initiated a series of workshops specifically geared towards new media and hybrid arts. Facilitating these workshops highlights the Gallery’s support of new media arts parallelling the engagement of complex technologically based work in APT 2002 and has marked an important development for the QAG in preparation towards the new Cinematheque planned to open in 2005. The QAG’s intention was to provide rare opportunities for a younger generation of Australian artists to have direct and intense access to four exceptional artists from the Asia-Pacific region. The impact of the workshops was considerable in terms of the expansion of individual participant’s practice with the creation of 17 new video works. Additionally, the workshops resulted in fundamental shifts in the practice of participants with a number commenting that the workshops had a profound impact on their way of thinking about their practice and their engagement with art and technologies. The workshops have directly fostered a new group of networks and relationships that range from institutional level (QAG and QCA) to individual artists. An e-mail group of participants and artist-tutors has been formed and are engaged in continuing dialogue. The Workshops were able to attract and draw participants that included students from QCA (Southbank Campus), QUT, USQ and the QCA (Gold Coast campus) as well as attracting independent artists from South Australia, Singapore, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria. The Workshops were presented free of charge due to the New Media Arts Board grant, thus offering this exceptional opportunity to a wide, committed group of emerging artists. The workshops facilitated the professional development of both participants and the tutor-artists. Many of the younger participants already exhibited solid grounding in technological expertise yet therefore benefited greatly from the experience and structured thinking of the artist- tutors who motivated participants to apply their skills in more critical and creative ways. A number of participants are continuing their relationships with the artist-tutors and are pursuing future opportunities through international residencies and research. Although the New Media Arts Board funding did not include support for the promotion or presentation of the project, interest in the new video work created through the Workshops has been substantial, indicated as follows: Screenings to participants and arts community were presented at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University on Brisbane 25 September, 2002. Screenings to the general public were presented at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane on 12 December, 2002. The entire program of new video work produced by the participants will be included in the ‘I-See’ program to be broadcast on community television Channel 31 in Melbourne during December 2002 – January 2003 In addition to the scheduled program with practising visual artists, participants had access to a lecture by Johan Pijnappel on aspects of what an international new media seeks when curating new media exhibitions. This kind of professional knowledge and expertise delivered in an informal and intimate context was a rare and invaluable and important opportunity for emerging artists to widen their understanding forma a curatorial and presentation perspective. Song Dong during APT 2002 New Media workshops and making of new video, Walking through the mirror 53