APT7 Exhibition Report

offiCiaL opeNiNg More than 500 guests attended the Official Opening, held on the morning of Saturday 8 December. Speakers included Suhanya Raffel, then Acting Director, QAGOMA, as master of ceremonies; Uncle Des Sandy, who provided the Welcome to Country; the Honourable John‑Paul Langbroek, mp , Minister for Education, Training and Employment, then Acting Arts Minister; and Mark Macfarlane, then Vice President of Santos GLNG. As part of the official proceedings the Yulu‑ Burri‑Ba dancers from North Stradbroke Island performed a Welcome to Country dance. puBLiC programs Ten international curators and researchers and over 30 artists participated in opening weekend programs, which attracted 2869 people to 33 events, including various performances, discussions, artist talks and tours. The APT7 opening weekend included the major commissioned performances Hu: In Meditation by ethnomusicologist Dr Nicholas Ng (performed by local Iranian musician Ceiavash Arean in response to Parastou Forouhar’s Written Room installation) and the Family Butchers’ performances developed in response to ruangrupa’s multimedia installation THE KUDA: The Untold Story of Indonesian Underground Music in the 70s 2012. Other highlights included performances by APT7 exhibiting artists Kwoma Arts and Brikiti Cultural Group from East Sepik, Papua New Guinea; a cooking demonstration by Malaysian artist Roslisham Ismail (aka Ise) and QAGOMA Executive Chef Josue Lopez; and a keynote address from esteemed art historian and critic Claire Bishop, Professor in Art History, CUNY Graduate Center, New York. The twentieth anniversary of APT7 was also celebrated with the Two Decades of Exchange panel discussion, which focused on developments influencing contemporary art from the region in the two decades since the commencement of the APT. Exhibiting artist Daniel Boyd discussing his work with Bruce McLean, Curator, Indigenous Australian Art, GOMA, December 2012 40 opeNiNg eveNts aNd programs