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

DIRECTOR’S INTRODUCTION Yayoi Kusama, Kids’ APT interactive artwork Kids’ APT ‘Summer Spectacular’ finale performance, 25 Jan, 2003 The Queensland Art Gallery’s flagship contemporary art project, the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) has earned a reputation as one of Australia’s foremost cultural events. Since the inaugural exhibition in 1993, the Triennials have become an enduring part of the Queensland Art Gallery’s profile, and highlight the Gallery’s commitment to collecting, researching, exhibiting, publishing and interpreting the recent and current art of the Asia-Pacific region. This engagement with contemporary art from the Asia-Pacific will be a central activity of the long-anticipate d Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, which will become the permanent home for future Triennials when it opens in late 2005. The most recent Asia-Pacific Triennial, APT 2002, represents a significant milestone. APT 2002 marked a shift from the panoramic survey style that was an inseparable part of the preceding three APTs. Each Triennial has showcased a diversity of recent work by more than 70 artists from the Asia-Pacific region to an attentive and expanding national and international audience. The fourth exhibition in the series, APT 2002, offered a radical new direction, presenting substantial bodies of work by sixteen artists and a performance collective. APT 2002 showcased the work of a small group of highly respected artists who have made important contributions over the past 40 years, and whose work remains relevant and enjoys continuing international interest. Central within the exhibition was the work of artists Yayoi Kusama, Nam June Paik and Lee U-fan. Alongside these senior artists was a group of younger artists who have reworked and expanded the radicalism of their predecessors. The artists and works in APT 2002 cross conventional media classifications as well as spanning generations. The exhibition occupied over 80% of the Gallery’s display space. This shift enabled each artist to be represented in depth, and allowed the exhibition to explore modern and contemporary culture from the 1960s to the present. Over the past decade, audience numbers for each Triennial have steadily increased, with 60 000 people attending the first APT in 1993, 120 000 in 1996, 150 000 in 1999 and a record 220 000 for APT 2002. A major part of the Triennials’ success is due to the support received from government bodies, grant agencies, corporations and individuals, and I thank the man y sponsors f or their generosity in making this exhibition possible. Doug Hall Director Queensland Art Gallery 6