Việt Nam and the Asia Pacific Triennial

This excerpt is drawn from Asia Pacific Art Papers: Việt Nam and the Asia Pacific Triennial (QAGOMA, 2025)

When artists from Việt Nam featured in ‘The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT1), at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, in 1993, both nations were looking outward — Australia to the Asia Pacific region, and Việt Nam to a capitalist world, following a period symbolised by the collapse of state-controlled, subsidised systems and the adoption of Đổi Mới economic reform policies in 1986. Over a period of some 30 years, more than 25 artists from Việt Nam have exhibited in the Triennial, their work offering a snapshot of Vietnamese contemporary art and society, and evolving curatorial and artist relationships. . . . [READ MORE]

Feature image: A view of works installed for APT5 at GOMA in 2006: of Lotusland 1999 by Đinh Q Lê (Fibreglass, polymer, wood and synthetic polymer paint / Purchased 2006. The Queensland Government's Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund) with a glimpse of Đinh Q Lê, Tuan Andrew Nguyen and Phu Nam Thuc Ha's The farmers and the helicopters 2006 (Three-channel video installation / Purchased 2007. The Queensland Government's Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund) / © The artists / Photograph: N Harth, QAGOMA