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

and thinking, that rejects the messy grey zones of complex real ity and nuanced scenarios. Media propaganda from both sides of the geo-pol itical divide delight in broad brushstrokes and knowing expert prognostication . They proffer an 'apocalypse now' version of Realpol itik thinking for mainstream news consumers. It is reporting that advertises itself in the name of national interest and makes a show of being aimed at the concerned and informed public. Moreover its purview of historical m ission is usually wedded to national interest by writers who argue that what is good for us is good for everyone else. 2 But our concerns in this Triennial move beyond those caricatures and the conflict between them . I prefer instead to consider some of the other work by Mikhail Epstein in helping me formulate ways of approaching past and the futures that may be born of it. Epstein has written broadly on issues related to culture and philosophy, the history of the defunct Soviet Union and the future of Russia, and I think it helps us imagine some of the possibil ities we have expressed perhaps momentarily in our crimson exclamation marks at the entrance to the gallery. Much will be made of transnational modernity in the following days. I will presume to pre-empt this important discussion by entering a 'plea bargain' right here and now. My plea is not for the soi-disant transnational , but rather for the transcultural. With all due respect, and in consideration of the broad purview of our discussions here, I would like to take some inspiration from Merab Mamardashvili ( 1 930-90), a Russian philosopher of Georgian origin who discussed the transcultural not in the sense of the canny purloin ing of artistic tropes from East, West, and Other, but more in the sense of the supracultural. Mamardashvili's last years were spent in Tbilisi 'where he suffered throug h the delights of Georgian cultural and political nationalism exacerbated by the downfall of the Soviet empire.' The appreciation of diverse cultures, the revival of those repressed by a monolithic state, while liberating also leads to a !ionisation of ethnic diversity for its own sake. Mamardashvili objects that 'the defense of autonomous customs sometimes proves to be a den ial of the right to freedom and to another world .' And he says, 'Perhaps I am suffocating within the fully autonomous customs of my complex and developed culture.' Thus, to quote Mikhail Epstein , who discusses Mamardashvili's views, perhaps 'what needs to be preserved is the right to live beyond one's own culture,' the ability to exist on the borders of cultures, to 'take a step transcending one's own surrounding, native cultu re and milieu not for the sake of anything else. Not for the sake of any other culture, but for the sake of nothing. Transcendence into noth ing . . . such an act is truly the l iving, pulsating centre of the entire human universe. This is a primordial metaphysical act.' Rather than being reduced to either oppose one powerful cultural canon or 'the reduction of a d iversity of personalities to their native, "genetic" culture.' The otherness that allows appreciation, even if it is only the alienation with in the heart of every thinking being, the alienation of cultural certainty and egotistical claims on value. As Epstein tells us, 'the discussions of "d ifference," which have been so popular in academia, remain superficial if they fail to include its crucial aspect: the d ifferences within an integral personality that can embrace "otherness," by occupying the standpoint of different cultures.' 3 It's perhaps in a transcultural moment that Sang Ye and I , when asked to participate in the Triennial last year, began thinking about our rudely-coloured exclamations. It was Spring Festival in Beij ing and we had our conversation about the APT while sitting in a theme park reconstruction of an imperial garden-palace on the outskirts of the city. We were overlooking the swastika- or fylfot-shaped pavilion Wanfang Anhe, a favourite retreat of the Yongzheng emperor in the 1 720s, and a large marble palace of European design. This was one of the buildings that was created during the reign of Yongzheng's son , the Q ianlong emperor. Qianlong had ordered his court Jesuits - missionaries anxious to curry favour with the Chinese ruler - to design and oversee the construction of a series of European follies at the gardens. It was an example of the imperial will to embrace all under heaven, even if only in m in iature. This mock environment of cultural appropriation was an ideal spot for Sang Ye and 26