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

many countries of the Pacific, within t�e country of origin or in the countries of immigration for the Pacific Islands population who immigrated for economic reasons. This expression is a reaction to the changes, social and economic, wh ich occurred in these last two decades . It is a reaction to the global isation we are all facing wh ich overwhelms us with new images and concepts and at the same time interrogates us strongly about our own identity. The role of the Tj ibaou Cultural Centre is to give the opportunity to the artists of the Pacific to develop their expression. I bel ieve that we should not only be consumers of images but also producers, and first of all producers of our own image. This is the challenge. Global communication between cultures can only occur if the local culture is expressed and encouraged : the development of common visual codes should not kill local codes. The FACKO Collection Seven years ago, the Agence de Developpement de la Culture Kanak (Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture), established the first permanent public col lection to document and collect the development of emerging contemporary Kanak art in New Caledonia. The scope of the Collection was enlarged two years later to look after the emerging art of the Pacific Islands. The establishment of a permanent collection is important, it gives references and it encourages artists through purchase or commission . Paintings, carvings and installation are predominant in this collection, but the art of the Pacific is much more diverse (a book written by Dr Susan Cochrane will soon be published).* Our challenge now is to develop our activities to promote other forms of expression which have not been taken into cons ideration, such as ephemeral expression l i ke sand d rawings and body decoration, or other forms associating different expressions such as music, dance and performances. Some of these practices are not new and belong to the so-called 'trad itional'. We do not see any contradiction between these forms and modern creation : we want to show both . Our cultures in the Pacific are what we may cal l 'outdoor cultures' and a number of artistic expressions take place in the open air. The configuration of the Tj ibaou Cu ltural Centre and the weather in New Caledon ia make it possible to develop outdoor exh ibitions. We organised in April this year our first outdoor exh ibition of carvings called 'En Pie in Art'. It was a very successful experience we want to further develop. Local, Reg ional, International The APT is a wonderful forum for artists and professionals by which to enter into d ialogue with other cultures . I th ink that between local exhibitions and international exhibitions like APT, the artists of the Pacific Islands need a Pacific Islands Forum. We have developed at the Tjibaou Cultural Centre regional workshops which bring together leading artists of the region and artists from New Caledonia . These workshops have to be developed to allow more artists of the Pacific to attend them . The 'Pacific Arts Festival' is a regional cultural event organised every fou r years . It brings together the Pacific Island countries along with Australia and New Zealand . The 'Pacific Arts Festival' was created originally to celebrate the traditional aspect of culture . It has since strived more and more to take into account modern artistic expression l i ke theatre. The new visual artists who were not represented in the first festivals are now invited . The last festival in Apia (Samoa) in 1 996 was the first to create and organise an exhibition of contemporary art of the Pacific. New Caledonia will host the next 'Pacific Arts Festival' in October 2000. I hope we can succeed in promoting a regional forum for the artists of the Pacific, before the next APT. *Editors' Note: Cochrane, Susan, Beretara : Contemporary Pacific Art. Halstead Press, Sydney, Australia, 2000. 1 58