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

Another comparison can be made with the neural network of the brain. Th is circuitory network is a template that provides the basis for potential action . External stimuli fire the nerve end ings at the points of intersection , leaping synaptic gaps. And it is in these gaps, or spaces, that the creative action occurs . Tradition similarly is a template providing unlimited possibilities stimulated by external stimuli. These spaces, metaphorically speaking, ind icate the spaces between different cultural trad itions, the space where the static from each inter­ mingles. In the Pacific, one island is part of many other island cultures . It may be an independent nation and simultaneously part of a region that includes Australia. This is because m igration and interaction between peoples make places parts of each . Now we are talking about twenty-two major islands with myriad smaller ones, comprising some seven million people on a total land mass of half a million square kilometres (excluding Austral ia and New Zealand). More significantly, this region covers half the world's surface including land and sea while Europe by contrast covers about 6 .9%.These broad figures are raised to show how important the sea is to the cultures and trad itions in this region of seafarers. It is the sea that is the conduit for transcultural traditions, the contact zones, the networks and not just the islands. Also there are over 800 active languages and cultural traditions. Artists who travel between these places, and particu larly to and from Aotearoa/New Zealand, carry with them frames of reference of old and new homes and as Dr N icholas Thomas suggests they form 'nations' of personal spaces . These are mapped over geopol itical boundaries, erasing the colonial boundary-making that cuts the Pacific basin into d iscrete regions. It is this idea of moving to and from New Zealand, the biggest island in the part of the Pacific we deal with , that was explored in the past two APTs, 1 996 and 1 999. In 1 996 we specifically looked at the movement of artists from various Pacific islands to New Zealand, and this time ( 1 999) we explored the idea of looking back to the homelands and followed artists who had returned to their roots for the cultural strength to go forward . The age-old Polynesian practice of interchanging material , ideas and histories from island to island continues in the performance event Poi tau vaga (The challenge) . Michel Tuffery, of Samoan, Tah itian and Rarotongan descent and a resident of New Zealand and Patrice Kaikilekofe of Wallis and Futuna Island ancestry infused their work with elements from at least six cultural traditions. The net of 'interlacing lines' in which they perform expands to draw in the cultural traditions of the observers, and takes on another life in another place. Interactions are different at West End , Brisbane with a largely Asian and Eastern European population than at what is known as K-Road (Karangahape Road) in Auckland wh ich has the largest Polynesian population in the region, or among the French and Kanak population in Noumea; New Caledonia where performances have also occurred . Also refracted through the lens of the receiving culture is this spirit house or Cargoes from New Ireland off the East coast of PNG. Played out in this installation is the intersection of many stories : the spiritual bel iefs related to purification originating from the island, the combination of these with elements of a western religion enacted by villagers who are Christian Brothers , the introduced western culture of materialism revealed by the title of the work Cargoes with reference to the cargo cult and field of transactions that proliferate in this contact zone informed by western, Asian and other lineages. Despite its self-contained presence, the 'spirit house' with its apparent completeness continues to absorb further interaction by encouraging viewers to participate in associated rituals. As Michael Mel says, ' It's an experience rather than an object, a cultural synthesis . It's about finding a private location in the public space of another cultural milieu . ' Marian Pastor Roces' observation in this forum that there is a fear of works in large western art shows such as th is one in attracting expo art could not, in my opinion, be levelled at this installation or indeed at any of the Pacific installations for a range of reasons I am unable to expand in th is paper. This spirit house for example exists in this form on New I reland and was not simply created to match international expectations. It was an installation with the same meaning and form at its point of origin and not designed for the APT. However it clearly brings the village meaning with it and opens a space for itself at this international Triennial. 84