Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report 1996-97

The new Exhibitions and Cultural Development Program was formed the catalogue published by the Gallery. Three thousand catalogues have from the amalgamation of the Gallery's International and Public Programs. been sold or distributed. Fifty-five participating artists travelled to Brisbane The new Program has three sub-programs: to install their work and participate in the opening events. • Exhibitions & Major Projects • Access & Regional Services The Gallery greatly appreciates the contribution of sponsors who supported • Research & Publications the second Asia-Pacific Triennial. The principal sponsor was the Queensland Government. Further support was received from The Queensland Art The responsibilities are: Gallery Exhibitions Development Fund (ldemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd; The • To initiate, negotiate and organise exhibitions of Australian and international Nikko Securities Co., Ltd; The Meiji Mutual Life Insurance Company; art, including the Asia-Pacific Triennials; Nomura Australia Limited; Japan Travel Bureau (Aust) Pty Ltd; and Hitachi • To develop programs to maximise access to the Collection and to Australia Pty Ltd); The Australia Council for the Arts; Network Ten; Radio temporary exhibitions through display, research, information and National; The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: International intellectual support, publications, documentation, educational and Cultural Relations Branch; Australia-Indonesia Institute; Creative New interpretive services of the highest standard; and Zealand: Arts Council of New Zealand: Toi Aotearoa; The Japan Foundation; • To maximise the effectiveness of the Gallery's statewide Regional Services Australia-India Council; Australia-China Council; Australia Foundation for program. Culture and the Humanities; Australia-Japan Foundation; Australia-New Zealand Foundation; and Australia-Korea Foundation. The Official Carrier The Program includes cultural development initiatives in research and was Singapore Airlines and the Domestic Carrier was Anseft Australia. training, especially links with Universities and educational organisations, Assistance was also received from the Brisbane Hilton, Air Niugini, Air and projects to enhance the Gallery's reputation as a major educational New Zealand and the South Bank Corporation. Conference sponsors and research institution, were The Dictionary of Art: Macmillan Publishers Australia Pty Ltd and Griffith University: 25th Anniversary. Exhibitions & Major Projects Sub-Program The opening was one of the largest ever held at the Gallery. Approximately The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 1800 guests attended the event on 26 September at the Lyric Theatre Undoubtedly one of the year's highlights was the successful 'Second Asia- (Queensland Performing Arts Centre) and the Gallery. The exhibition was Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art', presented in the Gallery from 27 officially opened by the Premier, the Hon. Rob Borbidge, MLA The Deputy September 1996 to 19 January 1997. The second Triennial built on the Premier, Treasurer and Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Joan Sheldon, MLA success of the first Triennial, almost doubling the attendance to 120 000 gave the keynote address. Other speakers included the Chairman of visitors. It strengthened cultural relations and furthered new possibilities Trustees, Mr Ian Callinan, QC; the Director, Mr Doug Hall; the Director for dialogue between Australia, Asia and the Pacific. of the Singapore Art Museum, Mr Kwok Klan Chow; and Ms Nilima Sheikh from India, who represented the artists. Mrs Ruth Hegarty led an Indigenous The project focused unprecedented international attention on the Gallery Australian welcome. and Queensland, with responses from participants, the media, and the audience indicating that an extraordinary success was achieved by the An associated international conference, Present Encounters, was co- Gallery. American critic and curator Judith Stein wrote in Art in America presented by the Gallery and the Centre for the Study of Australia-Asia Cune 1997): 'It's clear that the Queensland Gallery's "Asia-Pacific Triennial" Relations, Griffith University, at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention series is affecting the global discourse of contemporary art'. Australian Centre from 27 to 29 September. The conference was described by one critic Susan McCulloch wrote in the Australian (20 Sept. 1996): 'Brisbane delegate as the largest and most significant visual arts conference ever held is to reinforce its emerging image as an innovative cultural capital with the in Australia. Fifty-four international speakers addressed the conference, greatest extravaganza of contemporary visual arts of the Asia-Pacific region which attracted approximately 600 delegates from twenty-one countries. yet seen'. The Education Program included artists talks and performances in the The Asia-Pacific Triennial is a long-term commitment by the Queensland Gallery, infopanels (room brochures), film screenings and access to the Art Gallery to stage exhibitions exploring the contemporary art of the Triennial's World Wide Web page. A Triennial Resource Centre was Asia-Pacific region. The second Triennial featured 114 works by more than established in the Gallery, which included video and access to the Triennial 100 artists from East Asia, South and South-East Asia and the Pacific. It Intranet site. The Visitors Program and the Artists-in-Schools Residencies was unique in its scale and the diversity of art presented, and in the strength Program involved twenty-eight individuals and twenty-one institutions of the collaborative intellectual teamwork, with experts from the region nationally. A resource kit was produced and distributed to schools throughout involved in the process of multiple curatorship. Forty-two Australian and Australia. The exhibition was visited by 7319 school students. A documentary international curators were involved in the selection of artists for the film, Millennium Shift, was produced in association with the second Triennial second Triennial and seventy-seven international writers contributed to as a research project of the Pacific School of Screen Production. This was 12