The Seventh Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

ERBOSSYN MELDIBEKOV Family album: From Queensland to Kazakhstan 2012 Kazakhstani artist Erbossyn Meldibekov’s interactive photography project reflects his interest in the politics and history of significant landmarks and cultural monuments across Central Asia. Relating to his Family album photographs, this project is designed to introduce young visitors to Meldibekov’s homeland, its history and culture. Children are invited to have their photograph taken with one of six key sites in Kazakhstan and its surrounding areas, making them virtual tourists. Accompanying their photograph is information about the selected location — for example, a photograph of a mountain tells of the competitive naming, by former Soviet leaders such as Lenin and Stalin, of the highest mountains in Central Asia. When complete, participants add their photograph to a virtual album screened in the space or they can send it to family and friends via email and social media streams. PARAMODEL Japan Est. 2001 Children’s workshop, Paramodel joint factory 2012 Photograph: Mark Sherwood PARAMODEL Paramodel joint factory 2012 [We] simply liked toys. We saw kids playing with rails and thought ‘That’s it, we can use this!’ Somehow, we started from there . . . We didn’t really set a theme or the meaning of it. We just did it naturally. Paramodel Paramodel joint factory transforms the white gallery space into a colourful environment made of construction materials and toys. Recognising and appropriating the formal properties of a popular Japanese toy — a vibrant blue train-track set — the artists embellish the wall and ceiling surfaces with stunning abstract patterns, building artificial landscapes with white styrofoam moulds as snow-capped mountains and synthetic green carpet as ovals and fields. To complete the installation, overhead and vertical scenes are populated with plastic farm animals, toy cars and trucks. The work acknowledges the powers of the imagination that Paramodel shares with children — that each is able to be immersed in play through building and creating. Over the course of the exhibition, children are invited to make patterns and trails across the floor using extra supplies of the blue tracks. ERBOSSYN MELDIBEKOV Kazakhstan b.1964 Children’s workshop, Family album: From Queensland to Kazakhstan 2012 275