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

To compare the situation in New Zealand I gather it's much easier to get money for music and performance art, preferably opera or ballet, than it is for visual arts. I don't know exactly what this had to do with Michael Parekowhai's installation Ten guitars, which is about music and performance, but I do know that it got government funding. The most radical and progressive art in New Zealand is often shown in rather unofficial locations - small contemporary art spaces that receive little or no government funding . New Zealand artists there have various strategies for dealing with financial d ifficulties . While Michael's work has the glamour of showbusiness, other artists make work which is assertively scruffy, and often has a sharper intellectual edge than Australian art, which may be inclined towards seductive illustrations of theoretical orthodoxies. Or to put it more simply, art that you can feel more comfortable about hanging on your wall . Asian curators visiting Australia and New Zealand are often puzzled that we place so much emphasis on the culture of indigenous peoples in our countries. We are often puzzled that Asians don't put more emphasis on theirs . Possibly because the history of d isplacement is more recent in this part of the world , our guilty conscience is more active, but the sheer qual ity and confidence of Ind igenous Australian art, compared to the current uncertain self­ examination of non-indigenous art, is the main factor. The attention given to indigenous culture in Australia has been prompted to a large extent by interest from other countries, but also by our realisation of how great the loss would be if it was extinguished , which was an unofficial pol icy until the mid-twentieth century. The trad itional I ndigenous societies in Australia were based on a system of sharing everything and not accumu lating property because people were constantly on the move; when white settlers arrived we grabbed everything, and told them to move on. When the white settlers arrived in New Zealand the situation was a little d ifferent. There they met their match because like theirs , traditional Maori society also had a military basis, had evolved with in fortified settlements and during the wars with the colonists had access to western weapons (purchased from Australia incidentally). Australia's economy relies heavily on selling off bits of the country to other countries, either as real estate, business corporations or shiploads of minerals. It is a prosperity based more on good luck than good management. Things are harder in New Zealand , and greater ingenuity is required. Art reflects this, Australian artists can afford more time for the luxury of making aesthetic deliberations, New Zealand artists have to work with greater intensity and concentration , I th ink they travel lighter, faster, and carry less excess baggage. When New Zealand business people or artists move to Australia, they do very wel l , because they've trained in tough cond itions. The same thing happens when , for example, Chinese business people or artists move to either country, and for the same reason . It's easier here than it was back home. It's not easy to be an artist anywhere, but I think it may be easier in this part of the world than in most other parts . To visitors, Australasia must seem like the cultural club-med of the South Pacific. So when you see Wang Jun-J ieh's Neon urlaub image on the APT po�ter, of a glamorous­ looking North Asian tourist smiling at a blue sky and a palm tree, you m ight as well be looking at an APT visitor to the Australasian art world, getting a reg ional perspective. It's up to you to decide whether it's real or an artificial ly created virtual fantasy. Comments Fiona artist: I wanted to make some comments in relation to Tim Morrell's speech . I just think that some of the things that you said about Indigenous Australia being settled peacefully need to be challenged because that's not the case at all . There were many wars in this country and many massacres, and people are still fighting for their land today. I don't know what you base your information on. TM: I think what I said was that it was an easier process than it was in New Zealand and that would have been more relative than an absolute. I'm not suggesting that it was as simple as just walking in. 72 Foley,