The Eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

APT8 Kids connects children and their families with contemporary art and artists from the Asia Pacific region through a dynamic program of interactive artworks developed with exhibiting artists, just for kids. Children from Queensland and the artists’ home countries have also helped to develop a number of the works. Interactive projects and a publication designed for younger audiences feature artists from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, India, Iran/UAE, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, as well as, for the first time in an APT, Mongolia and Georgia. Performance is a vibrant part of life in the Asia Pacific and features prominently in contemporary art practices. The role of the body in art and performance is a key focus of APT8 and is also explored in a number of the APT8 Kids projects. For example, Angela Tiatia is interested in representations of Pacific people made after World War Two largely for American and European consumption. Her performative installation for APT8 Kids challenges self-perception — young visitors are presented with different views of themselves, but never able to see their own faces. Both frustrating and intriguing, this installation promotes bodily awareness, with children seeing how their actions and reactions shape and transform their representation on screen. Richard Bell puts the spotlight on children and provides an opportunity for them to have a voice in 15 Minutes , a new video work that looks at the cult of celebrity and fame. Compiled from a series of interviews the artist conducted with children from a number of Queensland schools, this humorous and insightful work gives participants an outlet to talk about themselves and prompts young viewers to contemplate their own talents or interests. Hetain Patel explores how perceptions of self can be transformed through the use of costume. As a child of Indian descent growing up in the UK, Patel’s favourite superhero was Spider-Man, who, unlike other superheroes, was completely concealed by his disguise. This allowed Patel to assume a new, neutral identity without being labelled the ‘Indian Spider-Man’. For APT8 Kids, the artist worked with families from different cultural backgrounds in his home city of London to create portraits of children dressed as their favourite superhero. This work provides young viewers with a glimpse into the lives of children living on the other side of the world and an opportunity to consider how they may be alike, as well as different. The performance of identity through make-up, costuming and adornment is explored in Justin Shoulder and Bhenji Ra’s work illustrating the stories of mythical creatures. For APT8 Kids, they present Club Anak (Club Child) , a world of fantasy in which children can explore alternative identities by assembling different physical attributes to create their own avatar. Children are then able to enter a performance space and add their avatar creation to a mythical landscape. The artists in elaborate costumes will activate Club Anak during opening and closing weekend performances.