The Eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Like the seven exhibitions that have come before it, ‘The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT8) is developed out of the concerns facing the Asia Pacific region over the last three years. These concerns can be celebratory, like the triumph of art practices in locales devoid of supporting infrastructure, or propelled by a re-appraisal of common materials into wondrous, imaginative structures. For many artists though, the focus has been economic development and crises; environmental exploitation and natural disaster; technology; democracy and human rights; border disputes; and the operation of the politics of nationhood. Our global connectedness means that people separated by geography can also share similar interests and participate in concurrent world discussion—at arm’s length. Yet the sheer volume of information and ubiquitous capacity to be connected has the effect of flattening individuality and diversity, on the one hand, and galvanising opinion, building momentum and catalysing social and cultural change, on the other. The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan, the Arab Spring in the Middle East, the anti-nuclear movement in Japan and the political turmoil in Thailand and other parts of South-East Asia are examples of political movements played out in the public sphere through social media in the last few years. In the round table discussion in this publication (p.210), Russell Storer, QAGOMA’s former Curatorial Manager of Asian and Pacific Art, poses questions regarding the fascination with the anonymous, unidentified body within the public (media) sphere when he notes: What seems to occupy the public sphere now are bodies that are often unidentified — and in many cases treated as a threat — be they bodies crowded on boats, undifferentiated ‘foreign labour’, women under the veil, or crowds massing in protest. On the other hand are the perfected bodies of popular culture — unattainable and often hyper-sexualised. ZHOU TAO China b.1976 Blue and red (still) 2014 Single-channel HD video, 16:9, 24:25 minutes, colour, sound, ed. 4/7 / Purchased 2015. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery 20—21 HOW FAR CAN YOU RUNWITH THE WORLD BEHIND YOU?