Overview
Filling your summer with overseas travel mightn't quite be on your agenda yet, but packing it with artworks from around the Asia Pacific can be at the Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art. As the two Brisbane galleries do every three years, they're turning their attention to the Asia-Pacific region — to take stock of Brissie's place in this part of the globe, and to celebrate the exceptional work being created by the area's talented artists.
Displaying across the two South Bank sites from Saturday, December 4–Monday, April 25, this Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art marks the tenth hosted by either QAG, GOMA or both — and has been its flagship series since first gracing Queensland Art Gallery's walls almost three decades ago. To celebrate, APT10 is showcasing 69 artworks from more than 150 Asia-Pacific creatives, covering more than 30 countries.
Among both newly commissioned and recent pieces, one key highlight is participatory shrine installation Shrine of Life/ Benjapakee Shrine by Vipoo Srivilas. It'll feature five hand-crafted ceramic deities decked out with gold and floral embellishments, with the quintet signifying identity, love equality, creativity, security and spirituality.
Or, there's also the striking Hairloom by Rocky Cajigan, which does indeed possess a descriptive title. The Filipino artist has made a ten-metre-long loom of human hair, which is designed to comment on the Cordillera region of the Philippines.
Vipoo Srivilasa Thailand/Australia b.1969. Shrine of Life / Benjapakee Shrine (detail) 2021. Mixed-media installation with five ceramic deities. Installed dimensions variable. Commissioned for APT10 / Purchased 2021 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Photograph: Simon Strong ©Vipoo Srivilasa.
Also on the bill: a cave-like environment made out of found materials, as crafted by Balinese artist I Made Djirna; huge sculptural vessels fashioned out of fibreglass and synthetic resin by Kuwait City- and San Juan, Puerto Rico-based artist Alia Farid; and Indonesian Australian artist Jumaadi's large-scale painted stories on cloth prepared by Indonesian artisans. Plus, Chong Kim Chiew will provide an installation that paints maps directly onto tarpaulin, and comments on reorientiation — geographically and politically — in Malaysia and throughout southeast Asia.
The full roster of APT10 participants also spans artists from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Myanmar, Iran, India, Singapore, China, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan and Vietnam — and yes, the list goes on.
Shannon Novak. Aotearoa New Zealand. b.1979. Nexus Central Installation (Installation detail). Pataka, Wellington, New Zealand, 2018. Courtesy: the artist.
Announcing this year's lineup, QAGOMA Director Chris Saines said that "APT10 is full of stories of travel, journeys, migrations and connections to place. It's layered with responses, questions and ideas about the present moment, the many issues facing humanity, and propositions towards the future from a diversity of cultural perspectives. It includes works of art that are by turn highly personal, deeply political, and full of joy."
He continued: "with the global impact of COVID-19, APT10 has presented logistical challenges, but it has also been exceptionally rewarding to see how artists work through such tremendous change. It has necessitated new approaches to exhibition-making, and we've worked virtually with artists, advisors and collaborators to facilitate exchanges and outcomes from afar."
Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art's 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) will run from Saturday, December 4–Monday, April 25. For more information, head to the GOMA website.
Top image: Rocky CajiganFontok and Kankanaey people, The Philippines. b.1988. Hairloom 2021 (installation view, APT10). Human hair, cotton thread, gauze, wood bars, acrylic glass, wooden beater, bamboo shed rod, aluminum heddle rod, wooden shuttles, rope, carved wooden board, carved hands, colonial sandstone piedras (bricks), gauze and woven shirts, fishhooks, stainless steel racks and rods. Case of Emergency (Dalican, Bontoc, Mountain Province 2616 Philippines) 2021. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas with etched acrylic glass, wooden box frame and stainless steel fastenings. Commissioned for APT10. Courtesy: The artist. Photograph: Chloë Callistemon, QAGOMA.