The Ninth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

195 ESSAYS Iman Raad, 2018 / Image courtesy: The artist We journey on through these rough waters We live in a time when the narratives of art from the Asia Pacific are in flux. 1 QAGOMA’s Asia Pacific Triennial (APT), first established in 1993, nourishes our experiences and knowledge of the art of our region, 2 and is unique in its ongoing presentation of the manifold ideas, forms and values of contemporary art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific. 3 Bringing together work by over 80 artists and collaborations from disparate contexts across more than 30 countries, APT9 is an exceptional opportunity to consider both singular artworks and the current state of many artists’ practices, together with emerging dialogues and developing narratives of contemporary art. Throughout the 25 years of the Triennial, QAGOMA’s longstanding commitment has been to create a space for engagement with the contemporary art of the region. This has involved an imperative to avoid framing artworks within interpretative theories as much as possible, while acknowledging that the exhibition format and the context of Australia’s negotiation of its Indigenous and settler histories are in themselves intrinsic and deterministic. 4 The Asia Pacific Triennial explores the experience and the meaning of art in all its diversity and specificity — it does not seek to characterise the region as a whole in any way. Nevertheless, APT9 is occurring in the context of heightened perceptions of ‘Easternisation’, or the shifting of power and wealth from West to East within a finely balanced contest for national supremacy, 5 in which the Pacific plays an integral role. 6 Geopolitical flux in the region — from the rise of nationalism to the fracturing of former global power equations — inevitably influences the tenor of APT9 and, in turn, flavours our experience as viewers. Across the Asia Pacific, populations are affected by authoritarianism, militarism, rapid urbanisation, environmental damage, and the struggle for improved standards of living, while some even live under threat of nuclear strikes. 7 People are on the move at historically high levels, power and allegiances are shifting, and extremism is intensifying. Meanwhile, there are promises of independence, political and economic collaboration, and increased connectivity via technology, all of which are helping to expand knowledge and influence mindsets and behaviours. 8 At a time of calls for ‘rules-based order’ (with respect to China), never has it been more important to question authoritative voices, both regionally and globally, or to understand the current realities and histories of multifarious cultures, not least those of First Nation peoples. With APT9, QAGOMA continues to unfold the contemporary art of the region, as part of its decades-long practice of generating knowledge about the art of Australia, Asia and the Pacific. (UN)WRITING AND REWRITING ART Since the concerted focus on categorising contemporary art in the 1970s, curators, artists and scholars have been making new spaces within critical discourse for the narratives of art from across Asia and the Pacific. Much work has been focused on the de- and re-centring of Western thought, including art history, away from discourses of international Modernism and Euro-American legacies. More work is needed to shift anthropological outlooks in order to recognise the unique contemporary cultural conditions and diverse voices of the south, where national histories often include centuries of colonialism and imperialism, as well as underdeveloped arts infrastructure. Furthermore, indigenous world views are essential in the ‘critical need [of] a new old way now’. 9 In particular, the concept of regionality and the philosophical positions of World art, Global art (or mondiality) and the Global South, although contested, have been useful in supporting and connecting local voices in ways that counter prevailing Euro-American theories. 10 Art writers from Asia have long warned against the totalising ambition or pretence of ‘the global’; 11 however, such ideas continue to energise the critical discussion of contemporary art and its recent histories. This can be seen in theorist Geeta Kapur’s recent manifesto to reclaim the Avant-Garde in order to activate the role and practice of art theory or criticism, the ‘frisson between poetics and politics’. 12 Developing discourses are now unravelling how the production and presentation of art is interconnected with political, economic and social conditions, both regionally and globally, including the transnational movements of writers, artists and audiences. 13 Institutions and exhibitions are creating spaces for art in ways that raise historical consciousness and connect art with contemporary issues. 14 Recent exhibitions (Dansaekhwa as an artistic form of Korean art that arose in the second half of the 1970s is a recent case in point) are encouraging academic research and publishing, as well as influencing