‘The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT6)

APT6 reached further than ever before: it looked towards the dynamic region of West Asia while continuing to explore the art of the Pacific. The 2009 exhibition included more than 100 artists, many from countries that had never featured in a Triennial, including Tibet, North Korea (DPRK), Turkey, Iran, Cambodia and Myanmar. Expanding the Triennial’s geographical reach resulted in three major multi-artist projects being coordinated by co-curators in the field: The Mekong was an ambitious consideration of art from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar; Pacific Reggae: Roots beyond the Reef revealed reggae music’s ability to respond, adapt and influence; and a major display from North Korea (DPRK), a central component of which was a group of works from the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang, was seen in Australia for the first time.

Three exceptional filmmakers — Ang Lee, Takeshi Kitano and Rithy Panh — had retrospective seasons during the exhibition, and the Australian Cinémathèque produced two curated programs for APT6 Cinema, screening contemporary films hailing from the Indian subcontinent (‘Promised Lands’) to West Asia and the Middle East (‘The Cypress and the Crow: 50 years of Iranian Animation’, which featured the popular animated adaptation of Iranian graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis 2007).

Kohei Nawa’s crystalised deer intrigued, Shinji Ohmaki’s immersive string cloud delighted, and Hiraki Sawa’s three-screen video commission O 2009 gave audiences an experience of ‘active stillness’, based on the artist’s travels through the outback. Visitors to APT6 were rightly awed by the breathtaking mirror mosaic Lightning for Neda 2009 by Monir Sharoudy Farmanfarmian and learned about the DPRK through the immense tiled mosaic commission Work team contest 2009, led by Kim Hung Il and Kang Hong Sam of the Mansudae Art Studio. The collaborative ‘mobile studio’ by YNG (Yoshitomo Nara and graf) and Thukral & Tagra’s dream/e/scape installations invited audiences to peek inside otherwise private worlds, while Shirana Shahbazi’s super-sized tropical still lifes loomed large on GOMA’s ground floor. The Pacific Reggae Sounds live music event was an important coming together of local communities, with performances enjoyed by a capacity crowd.

APT6 artists included Minam Apang, Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Chen Qiulin, DAMP, Solomon Enos, Subodh Gupta, Gonkar Gyatso, Ho Tzu Nyen, Emre Hüner, Raafat Ishak, Runa Islam, Ayaz Jokhio, Rudi Mantofani, Mataso Printmakers, Bùi Công Khánh, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Sopheap Pich, Manit Sriwanichpoom, Svay Ken, Vandy Rattana, Tracey Moffatt, Farhad Moshiri, The One Year Drawing Project, Reuben Paterson, Campbell Patterson, Wit Pimkanchanapong, Qiu Anxiong, Kibong Rhee, Charwei Tsai, Vanuatu Sculptors, Robin White, Leba Toki and Bale Jione, Zhu Weibing and Ji Wenyu, Yang Shaobin and more.

‘The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT7)

By 2012–13, the Triennial had already exhibited works by more than 500 artists from over 30 countries, significantly expanded its geographical focus, and reached over 1.8 million visitors. Moving on from the achievements of the first six iterations, one of the central themes of APT7 was how the built environment influences people’s engagement with their surroundings.

Ephemeral structures and transitory spaces were evident in many APT7 works, suggesting ideas of regeneration, re-evaluation and renewal: spectacular examples included two major commissioned structures by Abelam and Kwoma artists from the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea (co-curated with architect Martin Fowler). The project 0 – Now: Traversing West Asia (co-curated with November Paynter) encompassed work from Turkey through the Middle East to Iran and Central Asia — a region characterised by diverse histories, cultures, religions and politics, and which has long been a route for cultural exchange between East and West.
 

Heman Chong’s artistic interpretation of materials from the Gallery’s own Australian Centre of Asia Pacific Art (ACAPA) archive joined with interpretations of other such archives in the region for The 20-Year Archive project; while the commissioning of the remarkable bronze The World Turns 2011–12 by Michael Parekowhai, situated on the riverbank near GOMA, is an enduring testament to cultural exchange.

APT7 Cinema screened two retrospective programs: ‘Change: Paths through 20 Years of Film’ and ‘Mountains and Waters: Chinese Animation since the 1930s’; and visitors of all ages enjoyed a major installation of primary-coloured cardboard across GOMA’s River Room by artist Richard Maloy.

Rendered in Japanese cypress, Takahiro Iwasaki’s intricately crafted and suspended reflection of a Buddhist temple was popular with audiences, as was Tiffany Chung’s delicate glass-animal exodus. Huang Yong Ping’s Ressort 2012 — a giant, skeletal, serpentine sculpture — symbolised cultural connections in the Watermall; while Bidjara artist Michael Cook’s lush photographic prints, depicting the dreamscapes of imagined colonial subjects, were instantly recognisable.

APT7 artists included Mohammed Qasim Ashfaq, Rina Banerjee, Daniel Boyd, Louisa Bufardeci, Neha Choksi, Lorraine Connelly-Northey, Timothy Cook, Atul Dodiya, Inci Eviner, Graham Fletcher, Parastou Forouhar, Gimhongsok, Uji Handoko Eko Saputro (aka Hahan), An-My Lê, Shirley Macnamara, Basir Mahmood, mixrice, Nguyen Minh Phuoc, Manuel Ocampo, Paramodel, Phuan Thai Meng, The Propeller Group, Wedhar Riyadi, Edwin Roseno, ruangrupa, Greg Semu, Raqib Shaw, Tadasu Takamine, LN Tallur, Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi, Tromarama, Yuan Goang-Ming and more.