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

Australia's wh ich is continuously pushing arts organisations towards corporate funding options. · The local does not have to be fixed . Ideas of place can and should change. 'Asia' itself, of course, is a state of mind, and that mind can be changed . At a forum Asialink held in June on future directions for Australia-Asia cultural programs, the key words coming out were reciprocity and cross-art form and cross-cultural projects. There was a desire for fluid ity and breaking down of boundaries. This does not contradict this local, contextual scenario. The local need not be narrow or exclusive. It can and should be an empowering base from which to fly. It must remain essential in our thinking about the future . See John Wiseman, Global Nation ? Australia and the Politics of Globalisation, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1 998. 1 64 1