The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art exhibition catalogue (APT2)

and many others, who shared not only their knowledge and contacts but also extended such gracious hospitality while we were in Malaysia. Despite seeing so much material (a total of forty-two artists were visited and the work of many more were viewed) and hearing many opinions, the committee's final recommendations were unanimous. All these works are strong both visually and in content. Taken as a whole, these works not only complement each other but allow, it is hoped, a number of points of access for the viewer that will elicit a host of other readings and responses. Simon Elliott,Associate Registrar, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia Artists in 1993:Chew Teng Beng,Sulaiman Esa, Ismail Hashim, Kungyu Liew, Mastura Abdul Rahman and ZulkifliYusoff. Artists in 1996: Eng Hwee Chu,Fauzan Omar, Raja Shahriman Raja Aziddin,Hasnul Jamal Saidon and Wong Hoy Cheong. 1996 Curatorial Team: Neil Manton,Simon Elliott, and Judy Kean of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, Darwin, Australia.Special thanks are extended to Wairah Marzuki, Acting Director, National Art Gallery,Malaysia Queensland Art Gallery contacts with Malaysia have been extensive in recent years. Apart from curatorial selection visits in 1991,1992 and 1995,ameeting of the APT National Committee was held in Kuala Lumpur in November, 1991 with the assistance of the National Art GalleryofMalaysia. In April 1995, Simon Elliott,Joe Devilee and three other Australian museum professionals were invited to conduct acurators' training workshop in Kuala Lumpur, for delegates from ASEAN countries. Sulaiman Esa Garden of mystery I 1992 Mixed media on wood 185x180cm Collection: Queensland Art Gallery.The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art Singapore: Art and Individuality David Burnett In choosing artists from Singapore for the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, the curatorial team was acutely aware of the limitations (real and imagined) of a comparatively small art scene in this prosperous South-East Asian nation state. The decision to select only two artists immediately established its own problematic parameters in the sense that, despite the scale and size of the visual arts community in Singapore, its vitality, energy and increasing complexity begged a more inclusive and representative selection. While all selectors and curatorial team members would similarly argue for increased representation from other countries, the numerical limitation in the case of Singapore tended to carry an 'in-built' selection factor. Do we choose: one painter, one installation artist? one male, one female? one 'traditional' artist and one involved in 'alternative' practice? In anti– cipating the selection, the final and perhaps only reliable factor was the strength and conceptual integrity of the works and artists themselves. Since the late 1980s and early 1990s many younger contemporary artists in Singapore have continued to 'struggle' with issues of representation, funding support, spaces to exhibit work, and periodic constraints brought to bear by governmental agencies on the display and public access to works and performances deemed to compromise public morality and 'Asian values'. Singapore is a monument to economic success and social order. The political values around which its status as 'economic miracle' and its apparently seamless multiracialism and cohesion revolve tend to dis– courage individualism and expressions of alterity. 1 Singaporean writer and lawyer, Philip Jeyaretnam, has referred to an 'irreducible tension' between art as an essentially individual activity and a social and political context where individuality is restrained and subordinated to the interests of the state. 2 Contemporary art practice in Singapore occupies a predictably marginal and tentative niche within the wider community, its status and influence directly proportional to its commodity value. The 'culture industry' for most Singaporeans is an arm of the larger economic machine. Steeped in colonial nostalgia and decorative evocations of the grand historical narratives of China, Malaya and India, artistic and cultural production is rarely considered as a vehicle for critical analysis, cultural reflection or social and political comment. Negotiating and articulating a cultural space for work which questions the status quo continues to be a challenge for many Singaporean artists. For artists who choose to operate in divergent or exploratory directions, opportunities for exhibition, critical reception and funding are limited. Despite this context of constraint, many artists in Singapore have chosen to persevere in their 54 I CURATORIAL ESSAYS : SOUTH ANO SOUTH - EAST ASIA directions with the intent to liberate and expand conceptions and perceptions of creative activity. This current of creative resistance is tangible in the artistic community and tended to emerge as a strength and a conviction in the work and creative thinking of many of the artists visited and interviewed. Alterity for its own sake can, of course, be seen to be empty radical posturing. Does it genuinely set out to address issues, change perceptions and encourage cultural evolution or, does it simply shock, confound and alienate? Aware of the platitude that the health of any democracy is as good as its critics, work of an 'alternative' nature was viewed critically with an eye to its integrity of conception and execution. Suzann Victor and Zai Kuning are artists who have, from divergent directions, addressed issues and questions of power, identity and the ability of art to confront aspects of their culture and history now rendered mute within the ceaseless flow of information, and circulation of capital, goods and services that characterise Singaporean society. The status of women in Singaporean society and the cultural, historical and technological constructs which define their bodies and social roles are at the core of Suzann Victor's largely, installation-based work. Zai Kuning, by contrast, assumes a curiously peripheral position in relation to the production and consumption of art. A background in theatre and a familiarity with the trance magic and shamanic traditions of Bali underscores his process-based performance/installation works. His work 'evolves' in the process of its making, providing an open ended conduit for personal, cathartic or historical interpretations. Through the work of these artists and others, such as Tang Da Wu (who had a catalysing effect on the current generation of artists in the mid- to late 1980s), Amanda Heng, Lee Wen, Tang Mun Kit and 'expatriates' living and working in Singapore such as Ray Langenbach and Simryn Gill, Singaporean art is being enriched and its culture expanded beyond an economic imperative. David Burnett, Education Officer, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia For adiscussion of alterity see T.K.Sabapathy, 'Contemporary Art in Singapore: An Introduction: in Tradition and Change. ContemporaryArtofAsia and the Pacific, ed. C. Turner, Universityof Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1993, p.86. Philip Jeyaretnam, 'Artistic freedom and artistic responsibility·,Paper presented to Conference Art vs Art: Conflict and Convergence at The Substation, Singapore, 1993. Artists in 1993:S, Chandrasekaran and Vincent Leow. Artists in 1996: Zai Kuning and Suzann Victor. 1996 Curatorial Team:David Burnett;Joe Devilee,Queensland Art Gallery,Australia and T.K.Sabapathy of the National University of Singapore. Queensland Art Gallery staff have visited on numerous occasions and the Queensland Art Gallery has established an important relationship with the Singapore Art Museum.