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

EMBODIED FOOTPRI NTS OF I NDIGENEITY WITHIN A CONTEXT OF GLOBALISATION M ichael A. Mel Abstract Globalisation threatens the world and its patchwork with the all-encompassing images of technological networks and the hedonistic palpitations of uniformity, containment and consumption. These are compounded by the apocalyptic predictions with the world poised on the brink of a new century and a new millennium. I suggest that within the context of the West's teleological frame of structuring history, apocalyptic predictions have a way of appearing now and again. l ndigeneity as a concept and as a way of looking at the world has a history and cannot be subsumed in the context of globalisation. The multivocal and multilocal images and ideas created by artists and which have and continue to emerge in PNG (some of which were/are in the APTs) are testimony to this continuing process. Global isation ! I think that word and its related meanings find a very neat bedfellow in modernity. Modernity as a concept has its roots located in Enlightenment. In terms of the history of the West, Enlightenment was a project that based itself on reason . With reason as its foundation the basic agenda of the project, with the support of science, was to progressively lead humanity into a glorious future . Modernity encapsulated the hope of find ing answers to all things in nature, and therefore control the world . The conceptual framework was developed in the earlier centuries and this closing century has seen qu ite dramatic changes includ ing the motor car, spacesh ips, computers, and communication systems. Humanity can take some pride in its achievements to date. Global isation/modernisation these days can also mean a world where marketing gurus race to dispense to the masses pre-packaged consumables that look the same, sound the same and taste the same. Multi-nationals roam the globe and set up offices and networks with the objective of making the expected returns at all costs (be that environmental, health or cultural). Within such a context the world with all its patchwork of colour in terms of languages and cultures may appear to be moving inexorably to cultural annih ilation . It is ironic that we have achieved much yet we may be losing in many ways . As we count down to the new century there appear to be more uncertainties than certainties; more questions than answers . Humanity seems to be concerned about this sense of an end ing. We are approaching not only a new century but a new millennium, and these changes have given rise to an apocalyptic view about our existence. Such views or rather hauntings seem to want to turn the tables on the project of modernity that encapsulated progress and development with 'wondrous and glorious future' as our final destination . There is much angst and anxiety. Why? Where are we? Possible answers to these and other related questions have been tossed about in discussions for new ideas in the context of the postmodern . Postmodern arguments have largely been about living in a time of uncertainty. Meaning, subject, subjectivity, structure, reality, simulation and so on have become part of the armoury of postmodernist debates . But let me assure you that my paper is not about to add to that conundrum of books and papers on Postmodern ism. What I would want to share with you are some perspectives about this time of change and the future with in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Wh ile I agree that this is a rather paroch ial view at an international conference, I think the thrust of my paper about the local within the global context will provide a window into giving hope, if not certainties, about our existence as human beings in the new millennium. Nowhere is this sense of uncertainty and anxiety more acute than in PNG. PNG has many histories because of its indigenous groups, but only a very short one in terms of modernisation . In fact, this century has been a period of much upheaval because people have had to grapple with new and d ifferent languages, technology, knowledge, religion and systems of government. In the initial stages of contact, people were literally deprived of any 95