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

SPEAKER: Susan Cochrane Thank you for all being here today. Both personally, and on behalf of the participating artists from the Pacific region , I wish to thank the Queensland Art Gallery team for their continuing interest and support. The Asia­ Pacific Trienn ial is one of the very few forums where it is recogn ised that artists from the Pacific islands have much to contribute. Unfortunately, at present, contemporary art from this region is very under-represented in Australia. Only a few ideas can be raised in this brief time. In any case, it is preferable that you have as much time as possible to engage with the a rtists to discuss their vision and interpretation of the works they are presenting in the context of the Asia-Pacific Triennial. This paper will touch on three main points: There is no homogeneity in 'Pacific art', however There are some perceptible tendencies and issues that concern artists throughout the Pacific region The overall concept of the works comprising the 'Shrines for the next millenn ium' project, and the individual works presented for the third APT, ind icate some of the important tendencies and issues. The Pacific Ocean covers one third of the world's surface and contains twenty-four countries , most of them small island states with immense distances between them . The Ind igenous peoples of the Pacific are generally grouped into three ethnic/l inguistic groups: Melanesians, occupying New Guinea and the western archipelagoes from Fiji to New Caledonia; Polynesians, inhabiting all the island groups in the triangle formed between Hawaii , New Zetland and Easter Island, and Micronesians in the north Pacific. As well, due to the history of indigenous migrations and European settlement, some Pacific nations, such as New Zealand , New Caledon ia and Hawaii, have multi-cultural populations, among them many people of mixed descent as well as Europeans and Asians integrated into island communities. There are more than one thousand languages spoken in the Pacific reg ion and, for each language group, a complex social and cultural heritage and a particular environment. Some of these rich and complex cultures are becoming well known and appreciated outside their own community, for example New Zealand Maori , but most are not known . For example, who in this forum was aware of the artistic talents of the people of N iue, Wallis and Futuna Islands or the Eastern H ighlands of Papua New Guinea before this APT? Embark on some artistic adventures and go and find out! The difficulties facing contemporary artists from the Pacific Island nations are leg ion. Lack of resources, lack of access and lack of communication - I can g ive many examples related to each of these central problems , but I will just mention some problems facing artists in Papua New Guinea. I n the past thirty years, Papua New Gu ineans have produced a vibrant contemporary culture in music, literature, theatre and the visual arts. But what has managed to reach local and international audiences is only a fraction of what could be achieved . Because of the weak and unstable economies of Melanesian countries, their governments have other priorities - it is necessary to provide even the most basic health and education services before supporting art. 1 999 was particularly catastroph ic, due to budgetary measures enforced by the World Bank: the Un iversity of Papua New Guinea's Faculty of Creative Arts was closed down and the PNG National Museum and Cultural Commission lost half of their staff. In PNG there are no private art galleries (except for dealers in trad itional a rt), no distributors of art materials and no local publ ishers. Without government-funded cultural institutions and the support of private enterprises to promote their creative efforts , PNG artists must be inventive in what they can use for art materials and promote and sell their own work. This is often difficult when most artists haven't got a telephone or the price of a retu rn fare to Port Moresby where they may have the best chance of selling their work. Earl ier this year when I was in PNG acquiring artworks for an exhibition , some PNG painters had used torn up 54