The Eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

this is no benign display of devotion — there is no danger in this ceremony. Ergun’s Ashura 2011 honours tenets of a religion followed across much of Asia and invites the audience to understand something of what it means and the role it plays in this particular corner of the world. 3 In Shiite belief, the annual Day of Ashura commemorates the death of the prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein ibn Ali, who was killed on a battlefield in Karbala (in present-day Iraq) in the year 680 CE. Ergun’s multi-channel video installation shifts from the gatherings to an amateur theatrical rendition of the battle, before depicting a room full of weeping men. This emotional outpouring, a common practice among the religious minority of Caferi Shiites in Turkey, is imbued with austere passion. Ergun presents these ceremonies to convey the purposes they serve this community; they address the population that participates, reinforce cultural codes, act as a resistance to assimilation, and maintain community. 4 The performative aspects of devotive and ritualistic acts form the subjects of several other works in APT8, across a range of social paradigms: from a Robin Hood- like dance involving a group of poised sculptures and a choreographed rehearsal of faithful gestures in Georgia, to gatherings on the streets of Lahore. Like Ergun, Haider Ali Jan is fascinated with Shiite public rituals — particularly the Mourning of Muharram that memorialises Hussein ibn Ali’s death — and the role of performance surrounding him: ‘the celebrations are both routine and larger than life. It is reality as a carnival where everything is exaggerated and everyone is involved in some sort of performance’. 5 Where Ergun emphasises the emotion of the ceremony, however, Jan alludes to contradictions in political rhetoric and institutional belief systems. In Laughing Series 1 and 2 2008, digitally illustrated photographs show the streets lined with Pakistani locals awaiting the sacred coffin believed to carry the body of Muhammad’s grandson. Jan observes the irony that participants wait for many hours to view an empty coffin, likening the spectacle to Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play Waiting for Godot by depicting casually gathered figures in rapturous laughter. 6 In Let’s Walk 2009, the same laughing characters carry shrouded remains through the streets of Lahore and distinctions between good and bad, right and wrong and the question of who is glorified and who is victimised, are confused. In Bouillon Group’s Religious aerobics 2010–13, acts of devotion are combined and democratised to identify points of difference, similarity and repetition between different faiths. Both the group’s name and the work’s title are rich in metaphor. Bouillon’s Caucasus home of Georgia is a complex mix of cultures and histories located at the nexus of West Asia and Eastern Europe; in addition to its religious references this performance conjures the mass parades of socialist states alongside the capitalist ideal of self-improvement. At the direction of an instructor, all are welcomed to participate no matter their beliefs — an inclusiveness not always apparent in the religious systems enacted in this work. Inspired by the groups of combatants in the Bayeaux Tapestry, as well as battle renditions by Renaissance jesters and court actors, Francis Upritchard’s Bearer , White knight , Rider , Run 2012 and Action 2015 appear to be caught in a state of devotion to an unknown cause. The tactile sculptures made of modelled fabrics, plastics, feathers and shells are curiously dwarfed, poised atop bases that precariously emphasise their gestures. Eyes closed, the audience and other participants are shut out of a battle that proceeds with lonely detachment. Upritchard has a history of exploring characters fighting for utopian causes and her combatants in this installation, originally created in Nottingham, UK, bring to mind the stories of Robin Hood. Caught in their own whirlpool of action, the group seems poised between an inclusive, joyful dance and an act of aggression. Upritchard welcomes the uncertainty in who HAIDER ALI JAN Pakistan b.1983 Let’s Walk (detail) 2009 Digital print on paper, ed. 4/4 / 114.3 x 76.2cm / Purchased 2015. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery