Established in 1993, the Asia Pacific Triennial (APT) focuses on the contemporary art of Asia, the Pacific and Australia. The 6th edition of the event runs at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane) from 5 December 2009 to 5 April 2010.
APT6 will have a number of specific focuses and thematic links (yet to be announced) while considering recent shifts in contemporary art in communities that have not been represented in the APT before, including works by artists from Tibet, North Korea, Turkey and Iran, and from countries of the Mekong region such as Cambodia and Myanmar. It will take in performance and music in Asia and the Pacific. To this end, the Pacific Reggae Project will look at this musical genre as it has developed in Hawaii, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and New Zealand. And cinema will also feature in the event with a programme that looks west, beyond the edge of the Asia Pacific region, to explore cultural constellations across the Indian subcontinent (Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Kashmir, Pakistan) to West Asia and the Middle East (including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine).
Meanwhile we await news of our own Auckland Triennial (Last Ride in a Hot Air Balloon), curated by Natasha Conland and scheduled for 2010.
Image from the APT website: Zhu Weibing, Ji Wenyu, People holding flowers (detail), 2007, collection of the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
