The Seventh Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

DADANG CHRISTANTO Indonesia/Australia b.1957 For those who have been killed Performance at ‘The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, Queensland Art Gallery, September 1993 Pasifika Divas Sha-ne’ne in performance 2002 / Produced by Lisa Taouma and the Queensland Art Gallery for APT 2002 / Photograph: Lukas Davidson AUDIENCES AND THE APT ANDREW CLARK AND SARAH STUTCHBURY Over the past two decades, the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art series of exhibitions has been inextricably linked to something of a reinvention of the Queensland Art Gallery. It has had a profound influence on the way the Gallery acquires and commissions art, works with artists, and develops and presents programming. It has also greatly influenced the way the Gallery relates to its audiences. While significant shifts have occurred over the last 20 years in the art museum sector, the Triennial has been, and in many ways continues to be, the Gallery’s own particular catalyst for change. From its inception, there has been a unique energy associated with the Triennial — perhaps an energy that accompanies any bold step into the relative unknown. Generated by those who were ‘on the ground’ at the outset of the project — the artists, the curators and, indeed, staff of all disciplines at the Gallery — this energy or momentum continued as a ripple effect and touched many lives far beyond original expectations. The apparent chaos of the first APTs — so many artists and cultures and, above all, so much challenging art — demanded an innovative approach from the Gallery’s staff, like no project had before. And, with that innovation, a palpable excitement was created, an excitement that was contagious for staff and visitors alike. The objectives of the first APT in 1993 were to provide a forum and international context for the diverse visual art of the Asia Pacific region, to develop dialogues and professional relationships that crossed geographical and cultural divides, and to raise public awareness in Australia of Asian and Pacific societies, and vice versa. Although these aims were worthwhile, they were perhaps not so tantalising to a populist audience. So it was something of a surprise to some when audiences flocked to the exhibitions. While the APT’s internal objectives may not have had immediate relevance for Gallery visitors, the art — and, by extension, the voices and the concerns of the exhibiting artists — provided the connection. On the fine line that represents the balance between curatorial, academic rigour and a crowd-attracting spectacle, the Triennial has more often than not proved sure-footed and true. Word-of-mouth has consistently been the most significant factor in attracting audiences to the APT — more than 1.8 million people have visited the six exhibitions to date. 1 Locally, the sense of community involvement in, and ownership of, the APT has always been strong: like the Gallery itself, audiences have evolved with each incarnation of the APT. Over time, this collective education has built the foundations for an informed and discerning public who is open to the challenges of the new. There is less emphasis now on the ‘exotic’ and the ‘other’ — a concern of earlier APTs. Rather, the dialogue of recent APTs has focused on mutual understanding. This is one of the advantages of the Triennial being undertaken by a permanent, collecting institution — knowledge and expertise is cumulative and is retained. The core of each APT has always been its exhibiting artists. The common thread in attracting diverse and broad audiences, ensuring the success of every APT, is the artists’ interactions with visitors and the resulting lasting connections. Following the first APT in 1993, artist Selwyn Muru commented: I felt . . . that the Queensland Art Gallery’s invitation to artists to speak about their own art works directly to the public was a major innovation. The receptiveness of the public to our talks is more than proof to me that [audiences] prefer utterances straight from the horse’s mouth rather than eloquent conjecture by an outsider. 2 For some artists, this breaking down of barriers is already central to their work. At the first APT in 1993, Indonesian artist Dadang Christanto transferred elements of the performance associated with his work For those who have been killed 1992 to Brisbane’s central business district. In APT3, Singaporean artist Lee Wen took to the streets of Brisbane to continue his ‘yellow man’ series of ritualistic journeys. Painted bright yellow from head to toe, Lee walked and took public transport to travel from the suburbs to the city. Reverently carrying an ox’s heart in his hands as he walked, his journey ended at the front doors of the Gallery. Both Christanto and Lee embodied a quiet, yet visually disruptive, presence when they encountered the general populace, jolting people from the routine of their everyday lives and offering new experiences and understandings — a fitting metaphor for the APT. 50