The Ninth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

199 ESSAYS artist Enkhbold Togmidshiirev disassemble Western art conventions and create their own distinct visual language. Visibility and freedom of thought — or its absence — is a common theme in works by artists from Laos, India, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. In their works, Bounpaul Phothyzan, Mithu Sen, Tada Hengsapkul, Harit Srikhao, Martha Atienza, Ly Hoàng Ly and Nguy n Trinh Thi reveal unseen or distorted narratives and recent histories, highlighting non-Western contexts. 27 The role of the museum in providing a space for dialogue and nonconformity is addressed by curator Ellie Buttrose in her essay ‘Museums for our collective future’. Buttrose discusses those artists in APT9 who generate the solidarity of community either by working collaboratively or in their presentation of dissenting voices. In revisiting the dystopian and utopian narratives envisioned for colonial Brisbane, as does Gavin Hipkins, or by inserting himself into public protest, as does Meiro Koizumi, several artists similarly ask us to reflect on how our contested present is embedded in the past and future. A number of APT9 artists also encourage critical reflection on both the individual and the collective experience of self-determination and resistance, and emphasise the necessity of acknowledging others’ experiences. Jeong Geumhyung, Naiza Khan and Latai Taumoepeau analyse the female body as a historical site of regulation and resistance, while Monira Al Qadiri, Martha Atienza, Bona Park, Hou I-Ting and Cao Fei look to the body’s ongoing, and inherently precarious, role as human capital. Other artists encourage critical reflection on the relationality between human and non-human domains during the post-Anthropocene era. 28 Elia Nurvista and Anne Noble remind us of the risks of treating nature as an endlessly renewable commodity, while Kapulani Landgraf and Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner point to the urgency of the irreversible effects of climate change. Complex in its diversity, like the region it is drawn from, the art of APT9 is part of a context of evolving dialogues, identities, cultures, histories and world views, as well as specific global conditions. The works embody the productive possibilities of art’s relationship with the world, a relationship that needs to be urgently addressed in a critically, historically and geopolitically informed way, according to art theorists Geeta Kapur and Patrick D Flores. 29 Unique among many critical exhibition platforms, the Asia Pacific Triennial advances the development of dialogues in relation to the contemporary art of Australia, Asia and the Pacific; however, the individual works of art that constitute APT9 should also be experienced for themselves — they should be seen and appreciated on their own terms as part of the ongoing journey through the waters of contemporary art. Zara Stanhope, with thanks to the artists and curators of APT9. Endnotes 1 The title of this essay is a homage to the late scholar Teresia K Teaiwa; see Teresia K Teaiwa, ‘Charting Pacific (studies) waters: Evidence of teaching and learning’, The Contemporary Pacific , vol.29, no.2, 2017, p.280. 2 A historiography has developed around biennales; for example, see: Elena Filipovic, Marieke van Hal and Solveig Øvstebø (eds), The Biennial Reader , Hatje Cantz Verlag, Bergen, Norway, 2010; Ute Meta Bauer and Hou Hanru (eds), Shifting Gravity , Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern, 2013; Charles Green and Anthony Gardiner, Biennials, Triennials and documenta: The Exhibitions that Created Contemporary Art , Wiley Blackwell, Oxford, 2016; and Panos Kompatsiaris, The Politics of Contemporary Art Biennials: Spectacles of Critique, Theory and Art , Routledge, New York, 2017. The practice of remaking exhibitions, which emerged in the Northern Hemisphere over the last decade, provides opportunities to review institutional and curatorial strategies, the role of the art market, and the contribution of art criticism to art history. 3 Although there are numerous biennales in Asia, there are few in the Pacific. The Biennale of Sydney and QAGOMA’s APT have been mainstays; however, the Auckland Triennial has been discontinued since 2013, and the Honolulu Biennial is entering only its second iteration. 4 As noted by Caroline Turner in ‘Present encounters: Mirror of the future’, in The Second Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art , Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1996, p.11. 5 As argued by commentators, such as foreign affairs author Gideon Rachman; see Easternisation: War and Peace in the Asian Century , Vintage, London, 2017. In geopolitical terms, others have gone further to ask: ‘Has the West lost?’. See Kishore Mahbubani, Has the West Lost It? A Provocation , Allen Lane, London, 2018. 6 The Pacific is integral to these dynamics, as exemplified by the response of recent US administrations in relation to trade and border sovereignty in the face of China’s presence. See Stewart M Patrick, ‘Obama’s plan for America’s Pacific century’, The Atlantic , 25 November 2011, <https://www. theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/11/obamas-plan-for-americas- pacific-century/249045/>; and Alex N Wong, ‘Briefing on the Indo-Pacific Strategy’, US Department of State , 2 April 2018, <https://www.state.gov/r/ pa/prs/ps/2018/04/280134>, viewed July 2018. 7 These conditions have been identified as characterising the region since the establishment of the Asia Pacific Triennial; see Caroline Turner, ‘Introduction: From extraregionalism to intraregionalism?’, in The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art , Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1993, p.9.