The Sixth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

31 publication. The discrete projects — such as The Mekong, Pacific Reggae: Roots Beyond the Reef, the works from North Korea (DPRK), and the thematic film programs — each concentrate on particular regions to present more in-depth perspectives on art history and contemporary ideas. For example, The Mekong uses the river as metaphor for the movement and exchange of knowledge. As Rich Streitmatter-Tran, co-curator of The Mekong states: The Mekong region is often referred to through a variety of organisational frameworks including historic–cultural areas, sociolinguistic zones, and by the borders of the nations themselves. It has always been a shifting territory — an ebb and flow of conflict and cooperation, modernisation and preservation, exploitation and conservation. Each struggle can be found documented in the arts, whether in historical artefact or in the contemporary work featured in APT6. 6 There is always more to be said about contemporary art and art-making in Asia and the Pacific and, as we approach the second decade of this century, the economic, social, political and cultural dynamics of the region — and its relationships with the rest of the world — are more intense than ever. Every three years, the APT revisits this territory. Within Brisbane and internationally, this exhibition marks a point of concentration and deliberation valued by many. To return to Storr’s apt observation, ‘a good exhibition is never the last word on its subject’. Endnotes 1 I would like to acknowledge Runa Islam for her wonderful work The Restless Subject 2008, which effortlessly captures the complexities involved in the act of ‘seeing’. 2 Robert Storr, ‘Show and tell’, in Paula Marincola (ed.), What Makes a Great Exhibition? , Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, Philadelphia, 2006, p.14. 3 Hou Hanru, interviewed by Robert Leonard, ‘The biennale makers’, Art & Australia [APT6 special issue], December 2009 [forthcoming]. 4 Sharmini Pereira, ‘The Asia Pacific Triennial: A forum’, in ‘21st century art history’, The Australian & New Zealand Journal of Art , vol.9, no.1/2, 2008–09, p.210. 5 Sandy Nairne, ‘The institutionalization of dissent’, in Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W Ferguson and Sandy Nairne, Thinking about Exhibitions , Routledge, London, 1996, p.396. 6 Rich Streitmatter-Tran, ‘Mapping the Mekong’, The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art [exhibition catalogue], Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2009, p.128.