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

GALLERY WELCOME Caroline Turner On behalf of my fellow convenors I extend to you a very warm welcome to the Asia-Pacific Triennial Conference 'Beyond the Future'. I would like to acknowledge and thank Queensland Art Gallery Trustee Lilla Watson and didjeridu player Adrian McAvoy for their moving welcome. While I am speaking we wil l be playing a film compilation of the three APTs which reminds us that the APT is primarily about art and artists . It begins with Dadang Christanto's lament for all the dead that moved us deeply in 1 993, and it includes Heri Dona's ominous, even terrifying, military Wayang puppets and FX Harsono's Just the rights where bound bodies are placed in front of a torn copy of the Declaration of Human Rights. All this was in 1 993 and in every exhibition the Indonesians have spoken out against injustice as is occurring now in East Timar. I would like to acknowledge other long term friends of the APT includ ing Mr Wayne Goss, former Premier of Queensland, who so strongly supported the APT from its inception as M inister for the Arts and who will give the keynote address th is morning, as well as Arija Austin and Dr Richard Austin, an early pioneer of Austral ian relations with Asia in the post­ Second World War period and who, as Chairman of Trustees at the Queensland Art Gallery when the APT was conceived , played an inspirational role at that time for me in particular in turning our thoughts to our reg ion and to Asian art. In his first speech as Chairman of Trustees, Dick Austin voiced h is conviction that a Gallery on the periphery of Asia should take account of our nearest neighbours and advocated at the first APT Conference a multifaceted debate and exchange of ideas that would take account of similarities as well as differences. When Doug Hall and myself worked to put the APT together almost ten years ago it was with these precepts in m ind. I have always bel ieved that critical to an exchange based on mutual respect was an appreciation and understanding of difference; I would l ike to acknowledge M ichael and Ann Gamble Myer for their strong support of the APT, especially through the Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Col lection of Contemporary Asian Art; I would like to acknowledge the central and essential role in developing the APT of the other members of the National Committee for the first two APTs, Al ison Carroll , Neil Manton, David Williams and Ian Howard , as well as friends of long standing from Asia and the Pacific over three APTs who are here, including Jim Supangkat, Somporn Rodboon , Apinan Poshyananda, Kanaga Sabapathy, Furnia Nanjo, Soyeon Ahn, Santiago Bose, Dadang Christanto, Hugh and Marney Dunn, M ichael Mel, Jonathon Mane-Wheoki, Takeshi Kanazawa among many others . I would like to acknowledge some absent friends including the late Roberto Villanueva and the late Sudjana Kerton, artists in the first Triennial, the late Lin Onus, artist in the second Triennial and the late Rummana Hussein, an artist in this Trienn ial who passed away only a few short weeks ago. There will be a tribute to Rummana in the final session of this Conference, 'The Art of Healing'. I would like to thank all the curators, writers, speakers and especially the artists who have worked on the exhibition as well as the staff of the Gallery who have worked so hard on this project. Although they are too numerous to name they are acknowledged in the catalogues and Conference Program . I would like to acknowledge my fellow Conference conveners, Russell Trood, Director of the Centre for the Study of Asia-Australia Relations at Griffith Un iversity, lain McCalman, Director of the Humanities Research Centre at the Austra l ian National University, Morris Low, Doug Hall and Rhana Devenport from the Queensland Art Gallery as well as our 22 person Conference Committee and plann ing team and the staff who worked on the Conference, in particular Robyn Ziebell, Bronwyn Mahoney, Christine Clark, Katharine Myres and Julie Walsh. 20