The Ninth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

INTRODUCTION 23 and emergent figures, such as Vincent Namatjira, is typical of preceding chapters in the APT’s story. Compelling site-specific commissions animate signature spaces in both buildings. A fantastical mapping of technological ethics by China’s Qiu Zhijie commands GOMA’s Long Gallery, and a major installation from Singapore’s Donna Ong and Robert Zhao Renhui, exploring the natural history and tropical identity of that place, finds an apt home on QAG’s Watermall. A major outcome of our exciting work with the Singapore Art Museum is the co-commissioning of an installation by Indonesian-born, Singaporean artist Boedi Widjaja; the work makes its debut in Brisbane before appearing in the Singapore Biennale in 2019. Reflecting on what physically and metaphorically constitutes home, Widjaja’s gravity-defying work dramatically connects a mezzanine space with a ground floor gallery. APT9 also includes significant locality-focused projects from the Pacific — an outcome of the pioneering support of the Oceania Women’s Fund and Jennifer Taylor Bequest — that are collaborative undertakings in partnership with leading regional creators. There is a focus on textiles by women across the region, including Pakistan’s Aisha Khalid, whose extraordinary triptych uses thousands of tailor’s pins to inscribe the fabric of its double-sided design. Her work was commissioned with the generous support of The Myer Foundation to commemorate a quarter century of the Gallery’s Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art, a collection that has helped the Gallery to map the course of every APT from the first. APT9 includes work by artists from rural Malaysia, artists from Laos (for the first time), and a focus on artists from Bangladesh, particularly through a new partnership with the Dhaka Art Summit. The APT9 Kids projects, presented by the Children’s Art Centre, highlight the importance of community, storytelling, revisiting histories and the preciousness of life and natural resources for the Gallery’s younger audiences. From Chris Charteris’s immersive Kiribati fish trap to Vincent Namatjira’s playful look at power dynamics in portraits, these projects make the exhibition’s concerns meaningful to kids and their families. Our Australian Cinémathèque again tackles the frontiers of regional cinema by exploring video from the Marshall Islands and new Indian and East Asian film in its programming for APT9 Cinema. With the work of over 80 artists, collaborations and projects, APT9 adds a vital new chapter to the larger story of the Asia Pacific over the Triennial’s 25-year history. It is their inquiry, thoughtfulness and innovation that makes the APT one of the most anticipated art events in the Asia Pacific, if not the world, and that inspires us to be the leading contemporary institution for their work. I welcome everyone to Queensland and to Brisbane, to QAGOMA and ‘The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’. Please join us on an exciting journey into the art of our part of the world. Curating, producing and communicating APT9 has been a whole-of-institution undertaking, buoyed by QAGOMA’s formidable executive management, Simon Elliott, Tarragh Cunningham, Duane Lucas and Simon Wright, and their senior leadership teams. The exhibition has been organised by a curatorial team that has travelled widely, consulting with artists and a broad network of advisers. Former colleagues initially set the course for APT9; however, the skilful leadership and expert oversight given by Dr Zara Stanhope requires special acknowledgment. The valued members of the Asian and Pacific art team, including Reuben Keehan, Ruth McDougall, Tarun Nagesh, Abigail Bernal, Ruha Fifita and Emily Wakeling, and indeed the Gallery’s entire curatorial cohort, also deserve recognition for their dedication and expertise. ZAHRA IMANI Iran b.1985 Raqs No.2 2016 Textile, cotton, picot, tassel / 250 x 250cm / Image courtesy: The artist / Proposed for the Queensland Art Gallery Collection