The China Project

12 Director’s foreword For two decades the Queensland Art Gallery has been committed to examining, exhibiting and collecting the art of Asia and the Pacific, perhaps best known through the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) — the exhibition series which began in 1993 and which has been such an important catalyst for the development of the Gallery’s Collection. In focusing on the contemporary art of just one country within the region, ‘The China Project’ gives key works a fresh context. ‘The China Project’ comprises three major exhibitions and reflects the Gallery’s longstanding engagement with contemporary Chinese art, as well as the extraordinary relationships which have sustained our work in this area — relationships with artists, curators, writers, academics, gallery directors and collectors, both in Australia and internationally. ‘Three Decades: The Contemporary Chinese Collection’ brings together the Gallery’s substantial collection of contemporary Chinese art from the 1980s to the present. The exhibition features more than 100 works by 50 artists and includes a major commissioned work by Wang Qingsong and, for the first time, a magnificent new series of 36 bronze busts, loaned for the project by Ah Xian. Integral to ‘The China Project’ is ‘Zhang Xiaogang: Shadows in the Soul’, the first retrospective in Australia by this internationally renowned artist; and ‘William Yang: Life Lines’, which presents new work by this acclaimed Australian photographer and performance artist. Together, these exhibitions provide a rare opportunity to study art works which help to tell the unfolding story of contemporary China. The Gallery’s collection of contemporary Chinese art is the most significant of its kind in Australia, and few public galleries in the world could mount an exhibition from their own holdings on such a scale. Recent international exhibitions dealing with contemporary China have drawn on well-known private collections, and these, along with the volume of publishing and critical review, confirm widespread interest in the contemporary culture of China — from visual art to film, architecture and design. Recognising its vitality and drive, Australian curators and art museums engaged with contemporary Chinese art from the early 1990s with exhibitions such as ‘New Art from China: Post-Mao Product’ at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, in 1992 (with a subsequent tour including the Queensland Art Gallery); ‘Mao Goes Pop: China Post-1989’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, in 1993; and, of course, ‘The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, established in 1993, here at the Queensland Art Gallery. Since the mid 1980s, the Gallery has built a collection of Asian and Pacific art (positioning the Gallery and Australian artists within the region), as well as critically exploring the nature and parameters of the territory. The vision to begin and sustain this work would not have been possible without the leadership and commitment of the Gallery’s former Director of two decades, Doug Hall, am ; the Gallery’s Chair at the time, the late Richard Austin; and another former Chair of Trustees, Wayne Goss, who first gave support to APT during his time as Premier of Queensland. A great many others have contributed to the Collection’s development, among them former Deputy Director Dr Caroline Turner,  am ; former Assistant Director Dr Michael Brand; and the Gallery’s present Deputy Directors Lynne Seear (Curatorial and Collection Development) and Andrew Clark (Programming and Corporate Services). The depth of the Gallery’s Collection has also been dependent on the generosity of many individuals, artists and collectors. From the early 1990s the substantial support of the Myer