Beyond the Future: Papers from the Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Session 8.6: Aud ience/Artist Interactions Chair Rhana Devenport The session offered the perspectives of five curators, artists or artist partnerships who in various ways are engaged with practices that invite audience participation . For some artists, the existence of a work relies completely on the presence of 'the aud ience' as an active force with in the work. Liza Lim, Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, and Lee Mingwei were participating artists in APT3 while Santiago Bose was a participating artist in APT1 . All papers (except for Liza Lim's) were illustrated with slides or, in the case of Santiago Bose, through his Website. Each speaker gave a fifteen minute paper and the following are brief synopses of all five papers. Kuroda Raiji (Curator, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum [FAAM] , Japan ) offered a concentrated and informative outl ine of the 1 st Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 1 999, 'Communication : Channels for Hope'. The key curatorial concepts of the Fukuoka Triennale were: participation/exchange, community, city and media. Kuroda Raij i gave evidence of the extensive research undertaken by FAAM curators on the issue of exhibiting contemporary Asian art, as well as a considered examination of the role that museums play in this process . This depth of research has continued since the Museum undertook the Asian Art Show i n 1 980. 'Audience/artist interactions' were specifically manifest in the Fukuoka Triennale as artists (through the FAAM) worked extensively with audiences in the local community through three particular avenues: 1 . Audiences were invited to participate in specific artworks (eg artists such as Amanda Heng, Montien Boonma, Michael Lin and Xu Bing). 2. Citizens and students were involved in the production of specific artworks (eg Alfredo Aqu ilizan, Shigeaki lwai and Navjot Altaf). 3 . Artist performances were presented in public spaces (eg Durriya Kazi and David Alesworth, lum and Montri Toemsombat). Liza Lim (composer, Brisbane) spoke eloquently about what she terms 'the invisible lines of inner pilgrimage' that occur when an artist is 'in coalescence' with another artist. She spoke of her feelings about the sign ificant role that an audience plays in providing energy with in a work, and that energy being essential to that work. Liza Lim noted that 'an artist intuits, and offers a circuit that is only completed when the audience enters'. She referred to the process that occurs between artist/composer and listener/participant as 'entering the state of radical evanescence', 'the silence beyond translation' or 'the silence beyond silence'. Liza Lim discussed collaborations with visual artists she has undertaken in the past and touched u pon the complexities and subtleties involved . Her project for APT3 , Sonorous bodies, was a collaboration (as part of the ELISION 'Transmission' project) with Australian artist Judith Wright and koto player Satsuki Odamura. She described her intention with in that work as being 'to create music to be played in the presence of a true friend '. Santiago Bose (artist, Baguio, the Phil ippines) coupled h is tal k with a live link to his Website as he spoke about the projects and activities associated with the h ighly active arts community in Baguio - activities which often overlap with the artist-initiated actions and events generated by the on-going Baguio Arts Festival. In particular, Santiago Bose outl ined the humanitarian projects undertaken in the aftermath of the 1 990 earthquake in the Philippines. These projects gave evidence of a conscious bl urring of the imposed distinctions between contemporary a rt practice and community action . The artist spoke of the essentiality of art and community to balance the dangerous homogeneity of culture as a result of what he termed 'sl ickness'. The artist described the interactions and experiences in itiated in Baguio as part of a necessary process he described as 'bonding ourselves'. Partners Isabel and Alfredo Aqu ilizan (artists, Quezon City, the Philippines) spoke about their process of working wh ich involves re-configuring collected 'objects of sign ificance' that, in their hands, become 'sound, texture, space and scent'. Objects that individually possess acute personal meanings for their owners are incorporated into the Aquilizan's art. The meanings inherent in these objects are then mediated within these new 'art' contexts . Sometimes the artists incorporate their own objects (such as baby wraps and family 1 43