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

Purtang reshape encounters between indigenous people and western observers with the intent to correct the distortions and to renegotiate the cultural relations between individuals from different backgrounds. Norman Song has built h is squat from cast-off corrugated iron , bits of timber and other found materials . La maison des segregations (The house of segregations) is the reality of fringe­ dwellers, outcasts of both urban and tribal society, facing poverty, family d isruption , alcoholism and untreated illness. Yet, despite all the abuses squatters face, and the ugliness and deprivation of their environment, there is the seed of hope, the symbol of the regeneration of the human spirit, which may survive even the most abhorrent conditions. Social concerns are also evident in Paula Boi's Le respect du sang (Respect for blood) . Since the eighteenth century indigenous populations have been decimated by epidemics introduced by Europeans; smallpox, tuberculosis, measles, venereal disease. Now Kanak society is threatened by another introduced epidemic - AIDS. in order to impress upon people of her community the urgency the situation , Paula uses material and symbolic forms that have been instrumental in the transmission of Kanak culture since time immemorial . But she deftly intertwines these with western materials, giving greater universality to her message and signall ing that ind igenous people are adept at appropriating what is useful and necessary for the future development of their society. Although not structured as shrines, both Daniel Waswas' paintings and the continuous bi/um weaving Bilong of meri (Belonging to the women) of the Aketauka Sori Mama Group, place the desire for unity of purpose and community development in Papua New Guinea beyond the divisive politics and corruption presently embroiling the country. Bilong of meri is indicative of the respect and appreciation for the arts of weaving in Pacific islands cultures . Its presence in this APT signals the abandonment of the prej udicial concepts that women's art and creativity was inferior, utilitarian and insignificant in the h ierarchy imposed by western interpretations of it. This continuous bi/um also illustrates the change of knowledge and new directions in bi/um-making (making for different people and new purposes, investigating new materials, extending th is traditional form into new context which the artists have d iscussed, negotiated and completed as a collaborative enterprise) . At first glance, Daniel Waswas' paintings appear to be impressive portraits of PNG people in traditional garb. But perhaps he is also renewing the act of body painting , which is an inherent part of his Southern Highlands culture. Stimulated by the integration of 'found' elements into headdresses and self-adornment seen and participated in since his childhood , it seems logical that Dan iel has taken another step in ways of painting, transferring body art onto canvas. Respecting and continuing the Pacific custom of live art, around the theme of a kava ceremony, is one message of Michel Tuffery and Patrice Kaikilekofe's Kava ceremony. The western practice of singling out certain types of objects and valorising them as 'art' is perplexing to many Pacific people. An object is part of a whole creative process: it is enveloped by oral history and stories, it shares the mana and serves the protocols of the community, it is touched by dance and moved by music, it is a l iving art form . Povi tau vaga (The challenge) also investigates changing cultural perspectives in the Pacific through a performance involving two life-size, mechanised bulls, constructed from corned beef tins. As Tuffery explains, the 'bullfight' performance, 'takes as its theme the tension that lies between communities, whatever nationality they may be, when cultures evolve, a process which witnesses the passing of old trad itions, the assimilation and adaptation of customs from other cultures, and the creation of new expressions'. Principal sh ifts: The realisation that the core Anglo/European culture is distinctive but that the core of indigenous cultures is as d istinctive and can be as stubborn as their western counterpart. 56