Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report 2006-07

QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY ANNUAL REPORT 06–07 / focus: 'the 5th asia–pacific triennial of contemporary art' 30 Cinema The APT5 cinema programs were the first presented in the Australian Cinémathèque's purpose-built cinemas and exhibition gallery at GoMA. Six of the seven filmmakers selected for APT5 were present for the opening weekend to introduce special event screenings of their work: Beck Cole (Warramunga/ Luritja people, Australia), Kumar Shahani (India), Sima Urale (Samoa/New Zealand), Viê. t Linh (Vietnam), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) and Yang Fudong (China). Jackie Chan's (Hong Kong) representation in APT5 featured in GoMA's Media Gallery, as well as in a special season of screenings in February. The Media Gallery dis- play celebrated Chan as director, action choreographer and actor, and took audiences on an action-packed jour- ney through his career, highlighting his extensive training in Chinese opera, his love of slapstick comedy and his distinct style of urban action. The ongoing program of works by APT5 filmmakers screened throughout APT5, and was supplemented by other programs including Japan Fantastic: Before and Beyond Anime; Hong Kong, Shanghai: Cinema Cities; and Japan Fantastic: Focus on Tezuka. Japan Fantastic: Before and Beyond Anime screened from 12 to 28 January during the Kids' APT Summer Spectacular festival and attracted some 3395 children and adults to 38 sessions. This film program profiled the origins of animation in Japan and the work of contemporary independent animators, including Keita Kurosaka, Kihachiro Kawamoto, Tomoyasu Murata and Koji Yamamura. Featuring a variety of techniques including claymation, puppet animation and line-drawn animation, the program appealed to a range of audi- ences and included many works never before screened in Australia. The APT5 cinema program Hong Kong, Shanghai: Cinema Cities presented more than 60 films tracing the interconnected cinema histories of these two important centres of film production. This major program, which screened from 2 March to 27 May, explored the enduring appeal of the genres, stars and styles established in the golden age of Chinese cinema in 1930s Shanghai which was, in turn, embraced by Hong Kong cinema over the following decades. In association with the film pro- gram, several talks and an opening weekend forum, An Amorous History of Shanghai and Hong Kong Cinema, explored the themes further. Presenters at these public programs included Zhang Jianyong, Vice Director, China Film Archive, Beijing; Marie-Claire Quiquemelle, Centre de Documentation du le Cinéma Chinois, Paris; Professor Mary Farquhar, Griffith University, Brisbane; and Sam Ho and Wong Ainling, Hong Kong Film Archive. Kids' APT For APT5, 13 artists created interactive and engaging art works and activities for children. The works in Kids' APT, located in the Children's Art Centre in GoMA and throughout QAG, reflected the themes and key ideas presented in APT5 in an interactive format. Kids' APT artists included: Khadim Ali ( The Bamiyan drawing project ), Justine Cooper ( The call of the wild ), eX de Medici ( Tattoo shop ), Bharti Kher ( Nothing is ordinary ), Sutee Kunavichayanont ( Classroom upside down ), Eko Nugroho ( Trick me please! and What do you want? ), Kwon Ki-Soo ( Run run run ), Dennis Nona ( Gitalai [Mud crabs] and the witch ), Tsuyoshi Ozawa ( Everyone likes someone as you like someone ), John Pule ( Drawing words ), Talvin Singh ( I am Talvin Singh ), Nusra Latif Qureshi ( Enchanted spaces ) and Yang Zhenzhong ( Light and easy, Brisbane ). There were also special art work labels, online interactives and tours for kids — all designed to help young visitors engage with the art works on display. Young visitors to APT5 received a free copy of My APT5 Activity Book — a 32-page full-colour booklet specially developed by Children's Art Centre staff — which took children on an adventure through the exhibition with the APT5 mascot, Scoots the green sea turtle, as their guide. Kids' tours of APT5 for children, their families and carers were interactive and inquiry-based using props and storytelling elements to help children make links between art works and their own knowledge and experience. Kids' APT Summer Spectacular The second Kids' APT Summer Spectacular festival was presented by the Gallery's Children's Art Centre from 13 to 28 January 2007, and provided an added dimension to APT5 by extending the opportunities for viewers of all ages to explore the exhibition's art, themes and ideas. Summer Spectacular activities included: the Kids' APT Quiz Show, hosted by television presenter Brett Annable, where young visitors were challenged to answer ques- tions about the exhibition; One from Many: Pacific Quilt Project, where children contributed to create a giant paper quilt hung in the riverside windows of GoMA; the What I think! Competition where children could respond to their favourite work in APT5, with selected texts put on display; the Tea Ceremony, where young visitors experienced this peaceful Japanese ritual; and traditional Indigenous games played daily on Maiwar Green at GoMA. Kids' APT Summer Spectacular also provided children with opportunities to interact with APT5 artists in artist talks and hands-on workshops and to participate in art-making workshops with selected local artists. Kids enjoyed interactive performances of Punjabi music and dancing, making action hero moves based on Jackie Chan's movies, and learning the Hula Haka of Pacific dance. Performances by Seraphim, a local group whose music draws on their Indonesian heritage, and Christine Johnston's alter ego Myrtle by the Water rounded out the Summer Spectacular festival; while the finale was a special event called Represent Volume III: Krump vs Clown, a dance competition involving young Indigenous community members, members of the cast of Stephen Page's Kin , local hip-hop musicians Indigenous Intrudaz, and comedian and MC Sean Choolburra. Some 126 145 visitors attended the Kids' APT Summer Spectacular festival at QAG and GoMA. Sean Page, Hunter Page-Lochard and Samson Page performing in Stephen Page's Kin , as part of opening celebrations, 3 December 2006. Photograph: Joanne Bell