SATURDAY opinion 11l05l2019 8-9

HERITAGE MATTERS ASIA PACIFIC TRIENNIAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART AN AUSTRALIAN JOURNEY ustralia has travelled a long way to im- merse itself as an integral part of the Pa- cific Asia Region. Contemporary art has been an invaluable agency. Initiating a Bi- ennale or Triennial is a bold new step for any country or organisation. In 1993, Aus- tralia ventured to maximize its economic Aengagement with what was called the East Asia Ascendency. in Asia and Asia in Aus- tralia policy framework of the government pro- vided the right environment. ’s own PROF. DR. engagement with the countries of East Asia pro- vided promising ground. The first (APT) Asia Pa- AMARESWAR GALLA cific Triennial of Contemporary Art was launched. Dr Caroline Turner as the curator and Doug Hall director@ as the Director of the pro- inclusivemuseum.org vided the critical leadership. The 9th production (Professor Dr. of the Triennial continues the engagement under Amareswar Galla, an Chris Saines as the Director and Zara Stanhope Indo Australian, has heading the inhouse curatorium. The show is had a long relationship made more extensive with the opening of the Gal- with the APT since its lery of Modern Art, and together with the Queens- land Art Gallery the two under one management, foundation) provide flexible and integrated exhibiting spaces. APT’s history and the details of the artists, in- 5 6 PHOTO CREDITS: THE 9TH cluding the ones profiled in this Column, and cu- ASIA PACIFIC TRIENNIAL ratorial visioning can be accessed on the website: OF CONTEMPORARY ART, https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/about/our-story/ region which constitutes more than sixty percent taste light.’ The recalibration of the mores and he- QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY apt. The central and ongoing concern is best of the world’s population. The colonial legacies of gemonic structures and constructs of the Homo & GALLERY OF MODERN summed up in the quote from the Women’s Wealth ART (QAGOMA), , the Pacific had to be addressed. It is an aquatic Hierarchicus (remember the work of the famous 1 AUSTRALIA Project in APT 9: ‘…. to Bougainvilleans, land is continent, the largest water mass in the world with sociologist Louis Dumont) has been made reflex- like the skin on the back of your hand. You inherit dispersed Island Nations. It is no mean feat to sus- ive and confronting through Mithus’s UnMYthU it, and it is your duty to pass it on to your children tain the APT given the constant struggle of the installation. In another installation Shilpa Gupta in as good a condition as, or better than, that in management to diversify their budget and find uses her ability to create a nexus of interrogation UnMYthU: UnKIND(s) Alternatives, Mithu Sen, New Delhi, which you received it.’ (Raphael Bale, 1969) In generous public private and people partnerships, through asking us to explore as to how we form India, 2018 1 1993/1994, I was commissioned by the Australia the 4Ps that are critical for sustainability of any and foster our relationships though emotional and Council for the Arts to review its Asia focused innovative and inspirational project in the present contextual engagements. She creates another im- funding for creativity and cultural exchanges. It global economic environment. mersive atmosphere through the installation ‘For, Thabeik Hmauq (bowl upturned) by Htein Lin, Myanmar, 2017. included the foundational APT 1. All the seventeen The overall direction of the APT 9 could be fath- In Your Tongue, I Can Not Fit.’ Rosary of 108 bowls. Symbolic of meditation, healing, resistance recommendations from the report were taken up omed in the evocative and summative essay titles/ APT is facilitated over the Australian summer and protection, but capable of inciting hatred and violence in by the APT management. To the credit of Dr Caro- words of the curatorium. Zara Stanhope - We Jour- and into the start of the academic year. Research- contradiction of the values they represent. Installation reflects the line Turner, she convened an open and inclusive ney On Through These Rough Waters. Diane Moon ers and students are always involved with APTs. history of Myanmar from the 1920 anti-colonial demonstrations 2 seminar on the recommendations. It was a mo- – Islands: Some Kind of Paradise. Tarun Nagesh APT Kids works well for families vacationing and 2007 Saffron Revolution to the recent violence toward Muslim ment of decolonisation of what was then dubbed – To Define Myself, I Must Define Others. Reuben through Brisbane and its hinterland including the Rohingya people as the ‘White Tribe of Asia’. Australia was under- Keehan – Material World. Ruth McDougall – What Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Marine Park. going social transformation that is embodied in its Money Can’t Buy: Relationships of Value in the It is endangered with what has become politically National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia Pacific. Abigail Bernal – Entangled Histories. Ellie the Adani coalmine and the broader and imminent Women’s Wealth Project created by a group of artists from 1989, a non-partisan policy framework of the Gov- Buttrose – Museums For Our Collective Future. global warming. Visitors to the APT 9 are con- 3 Bougainvillea Autonomous Region of PNG, Solomon Islands and ernment. Productive Diversity was one of the These are seamlessly complemented through APT fronted with the realities of the cultural dimen- Australia, co-curated by Sana Balai, 2017. It promotes the capacity main platforms, that recognising and working Cinema and APT Kids programming. sion of climate change and environmental degra- of art as sustainable and socially responsible, illustrating forms 3 with the country’s linguistic and cultural diver- APT is not driven by a single curatorial voice. dation. Nordic visitors escaping the bitter cold in of aesthetic and cultural significances, focussing on weaving, sity is good for economic, cultural and social out- Unlike most contemporary mega art events which their homelands find the APT as an important pottery and body adornment alongside video and new media comes within the country, in the region and proclaim grand curatorial statements and struggle awareness raising stop as much as the cricket cra- 4 beyond. to translate them into the exhibitory complex, zy Indian tourists who now include the APT in APT has evolved into a challenging engagement. APT 9 searches, scopes and negotiates a range of their travel to the adjacent Gabba. Chris Saines’s Aftermath (detail) Site specific installation by Pannaphan It has endeavoured to be relevant to both Australia cultural border crossings and grounds itself as commitment to facilitating an intellectual and in- Yodmanee, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, 2016. New form and and the region and its contingent cultural, social relevant to contemporary realities of the region. formed framework for the APT is critical. ‘… Rath- contextualisation of Buddhist Art focussing on the cycle of and environmental transformations. APT 9 dem- Women, Indigenous Peoples and First Nations are er than imposing a single thematic framework, the destruction and renewal and the role of faith in transcending 4 onstrates that the engagement with the Pacific Is- integrated into the galleries, beyond the tyranny exhibition draws together common threads of con- modern urbanism and its destructive forces land countries has come of age. The shared dis- of the self and the other stereotypical casting cern.’ The visitors are as diverse as the APT itself. course is Australia’s and the Pacific’s commitment which is colonial and so common elsewhere. The collaborative environment across the institu- to the integrity of Indigeneity. Unlike other Bien- Given the obsession of the Andhra/Telugu peo- tion and with relevant stakeholders enables a con- nales and Triennials of art in the world, the APT ple for ICT and AI, I was particularly immersed in tinuum as the APT evolves. APT is not site cen- House – Spirit, Vuth Lyno, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2018 5 is unique in the way it has built cumulative exper- the liminal spaces evoked by Mithu Sen who poses tred. It is not about Brisbane. It is about the tise, a knowledge base and a range of methods and that ‘Languages imposes a strange and alien logic contemporary creativity of the whole region. APT modalities of engagement in the Pacific and Asia that tells us not to smell poetry, hear shadows or is a phenomenon. Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa (Sisters 2 Milada, Czech Republic; Antonella, Philippines; Celia, Malawi, NEXT Past Columns of Heritage Matters can be downloaded at: Terese, Indian - from Vijayawada, AP) appreciating A Chronicle Heritage Matters will focus on the Youth Leadership Forums of the of the Land and People of the Cordilleras, Kawayan De Guia, 6 WEEK Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) http://inclusivemuseum.org/heritage-matters/ Baguio City, Philippines, 2018