Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report 2006-07

QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY ANNUAL REPORT 06–07 / initiatives and services 38 Australian Centre of Asia Pacific Art (ACAPA) During preparations for APT5, several artists visited the Gallery and GoMA to progress their projects. New Zealand-born artist Michael Stevenson visited the Gallery in July 2006 to create an installation for APT5 respond- ing to the work of the eminent Australian modernist painter Ian Fairweather. In October and November 2006, Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho collaborated with Gallery staff and Brisbane secondary school students on two mural projects for APT5. These artist visits were supported by ACAPA. The APT5 Director's Symposium, Remarking on the Ordinary: The Audience and Contemporary Art, held on 1 December 2006 was also supported by ACAPA. Symposium presenters included Doug Hall, Director; Lynne Seear, Assistant Director, Curatorial and Collection Development; Vilsoni Hereniko, Professor, Centre for Pacific Island Studies, University of Hawai'i; Roger McDonald, Deputy Director, Arts Initiative, Tokyo; Claire Roberts, Senior Curator, Asian Decorative Arts and Design, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney; and Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Also in December 2006, Dr Debra Diamond, Associate Curator South and Southeast Asian Art and Coordinating Curator Contemporary Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, was in residence at ACAPA to further the long-term loans program between the Gallery and the Smithsonian Institution's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M Sackler Gallery, in Washington, DC. Negotiations between the institutions have resulted in selected works from the Sackler's historical Asian collections being displayed at the Gallery in exchange for works from the Gallery's contemporary Asian collections. The Gallery, through ACAPA, and Griffith University's Griffith Asia Institute, continued to develop and present a series of free public lectures during the year. Perspectives: Asia explored issues of contemporary culture, politics and society in the region, and topics included 'AIDS: Asia–Pacific's Time Bomb' by Annmaree O'Keeffe, Australia's Ambassador for HIV/AIDS, Deputy Director General, Australian Agency for International Development, Global Programs; 'Changing India' by His Excellency Mr Prabhat Prakash Shukla, High Commissioner, India; and 'Cosmopolitan Shanghai: Cinema City and China's Greta Garbo', by Yingjin Zhang, Professor of Chinese Literature and Film, University of California, San Diego. Publications The Gallery's publishing unit produced several key publications, a range of quality educational and promotional materials, and Artlines magazine, during the year. Published by the Gallery for APT5 (in association with ACAPA), The 5th Asia–Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art is a richly illustrated publication examining the work of 37 individual artists, filmmakers and performers, as well as two multi-artist projects selected for exhibition in the Gallery's flagship international contemporary art event. Essays explored the traditions and histories informing each artist's practice, while broader cultural and historical contexts were examined in lead essays by eminent writers. The 5th Asia–Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art features over 350 colour illustrations and was produced as a 304-page soft and hardcover publication. Also published for APT5 were the APT5 Education Resource Kit (a folder containing 17 full-colour art cards and a 64-page activity book), My APT5 Activity Book (32 pages full of fun stuff for kids with Scoots the turtle as their guide), and the Kids' APT5 Program Guide . Brought to Light II: Contemporary Australian Art 1966– 2006 , a companion to Brought to Light: Australian Art 1850–1965 , features more than 60 commissioned texts on key works in the Gallery's contemporary Australian col- lection, including painting, sculpture, installation, video, photography, printmaking, glass, ceramics and textiles. Edited by Lynne Seear (Assistant Director, Curatorial and Collection Development) and Julie Ewington (Head of Australian Art) and featuring contributions by eminent curators, art historians and scholars, Brought to Light II: Contemporary Australian Art 1966–2006 included over 500 illustrations and was produced as a 492-page soft and hardcover publication. To celebrate the opening of the Gallery's second site, the 54-page GoMA: Story of a Building was published. Story of a Building celebrates the architecture of the new gallery, and includes an essay by Haig Beck and Jackie Cooper on the building as a major international contem- porary art museum with a local flavour. To support the regional travelling exhibition 'Myth to Modern: Bronzes from the Queensland Art Gallery Collection', the Gallery produced a full-colour room bro- chure exploring the application of bronze to a variety of subjects and themes, including myth, legend, portraiture, Modernism and figurative abstraction. Two issues of Artlines magazine were produced during the reporting period including a special souvenir issue enti- tled Re-imagining the Collections. The issue showcased the Gallery's reconfigured collection displays in readiness for the December 2006 opening. It featured an interview with Lindsay and Kerry Clare of Architectus; a photo-essay on GoMA; an article by the original Gallery architect, Robin Gibson, about the newly designed QAG entrance; and various features on refurbished display spaces and key collection works. The April 2007 issue of Artlines explored the art and culture of the tropics, specifically north Queensland. Publications produced included the special hardcover and boxed set edition of Brought to Light II: Contemporary Australian Art 1966–2006 and The 5th Asia–Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art exhibition catalogue.