Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report 1996-97

made possible through investments by the Australian Film Commission, Australians a glimpse into ancient Chinese material culture, including superb Film Queensland, Queensland College of Art (Griffith University) and the ritual vessels and objects from the great Bronze Age. The Gallery's reciprocal Queensland Art Gallery. The film was selected by SBS Television to exhibition, 'Contemporary Vessels and jewels . .', presented innovative commence the 'Masterpiece' series for 1997 and was broadcast on 10 and uniquely Australian interpretations of the metal vessel. The exhibition March to an estimated audience of 50 000. These associated programs featured eighty-two works by seventeen significant Australian artists, two facilitated the participants' interaction with significantly wide audiences, as of whom are Queenslanders. The works exhibited refinement of form well as specifically with the Australian arts community. and mastery of technique, coupled with an ingenious use of traditional and new materials. The exhibition showcased an aspect of Australian art This project has given Queensland a pre-eminent place in Australia in the that has recently attracted considerable international attention. collection, documentation, exhibition and production of publications associated with contemporary Asia-Pacific art. The artists database and The Shanghai Museum opened its new venue in 1996 to resounding Library holdings concerning contemporary Asian art have already proven international acclaim, establishing Shanghai as a major cultural centre in to be of great value to scholars, and the Gallery is collaborating with the region, and the Shanghai Museum as one of the most prestigious Australian and international universities and art schools in programs exhibition spaces in China. 'Contemporary Vessels and jewels . . .' is the associated with Asia-Pacific art. Gallery Director Mr Doug Hall said: 'The first Australian exhibition in this venue and marks an important step in the Triennial has created a cross-Asian dialogue of a kind not experienced consolidation of relations between the two institutions. previously. It has become a catalyst for rethinking the art from Asia and the Pacific and its place internationally at the end of the millennium'. Assistant Director Dr Michael Brand visited the Shanghai Museum in February to discuss planning towards the exhibition. The Director, Mr The media preview was held on 26 September. It involved 246 members Doug Hall, and the Access and Regional Services Coordinator, Ms Susan of the international and national media and was one of the largest media Herbert, represented the Gallery at the official opening, while Ms Susan previews ever held at the Gallery. Media coverage of the second Triennial, Cohn and Mr Mark Edgoose represented the artists at this event. The in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and North America, far exceeded Gallery produced a forty-eight page, full colour, bi-lingual (Chinese/English) coverage of previous Gallery exhibitions, with journalists and critics from catalogue. The exhibition was curated and coordinated by Ms Rhana twenty-one countries travelling to Brisbane to cover the event. Japanese Devenport, Senior Project Officer, 'Asia-Pacific Triennial', with assistance critic Satoru Nagoya stated in the japan Times (19 Sept. 1996): 'It is from Temporary Curatorial Assistant Ms Kirsten Fitzpatrick. apparent that the exhibition has been aimed at reassessing the long- dominant values of Western Modernism and at seeking the possibility of The exhibition continues the cultural interaction between Queensland a multicultural world by shedding light equally on diverse cultures in the and Shanghai, promoting mutual understanding and insights. The Shanghai Asia-Pacific region'. Museum is planning, with the Queensland Art Gallery, a forthcoming return exhibition from the Museum's significant collection of Shanghai School The project is of international significance in helping redress a lack of paintings. knowledge in the West of the contemporary art of Asia and the Pacific. In his official opening speech, Mr Kwok Klan Chow, Director of the 'Paris: In the Late 19th Century' Singapore Art Museum, remarked: In line with its commitment to presenting major exhibitions of international art, the Gallery hosted the exhibition 'Paris: In the Late 19th Century', The Queensland Art Gallery's Asia-Pacific Triennial is recognised organised by the National Gallery of Australia in association with the internationally as a leading event in the exhibition and forum of Musée d'Orsay, Paris. The exhibition, for which the Queensland Art Gallery contemporary art in this diverse and dynamic region. Through the was the second and final venue, brought together nearly 250 works by 'Triennial', Australia has been warmly regarded as a prominent and artists working in and around Paris in the last decade of the nineteenth sensitive participant in the artistic development of the region. century. 'Contemporary Vessels And Jewels: Australian Fine Metalwork' The exhibition was officially opened on 14 March by His Excellency M. An important international exchange project was undertaken during the Dominique Girard, Ambassador of France to Australia. The opening was year. The exhibition 'Contemporary Vessels and jewels: Australian Fine also attended by the exhibition's curators, Jane Kinsman of the National Metalwork' was organised by the Gallery and the Shanghai Museum. The Gallery of Australia and Marc Bascou of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris. It opened exhibition officially opened at the Shanghai Museum's new venue on 20 to the public the following day and attracted over 103 000 visitors while May and continued until 19 August. 'Contemporary Vessels and jewels at the Gallery. is one of a series of exchange exhibitions emerging from the Sister State Agreement established between the municipality of Shanghai and Including paintings, sculptures, prints, posters, drawings, photographs and the State of Queensland in 1989. The first in this series, 'Treasures from decorative arts, the objects were drawn mostly from the collections of the Shanghai Museum', was presented at the Gallery in 1990 and allowed the Musée d'Orsay, but also included highlights from Australia's State and /45