The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art
9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, QAG & GOMA, Brisbane
In the crowded marketplace of biennales and triennials, the Asia Pacific Triennial (APT), after quarter of a century, is still going strong and now has reached its ninth reiteration.Back in 1993, the first APT struck one through its unconventional character. It explored the art of our neighbours – big and small – presenting many artists who were then totally unknown. The geographic spread of Asia and the Pacific was somewhat nebulous and, as illustrated in subsequent APT exhibitions, could include Turkey, Iran and Iraq, China, India and Pakistan, as well as Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia. What I learned early in the piece is that the APT is something that you need to accept as a given, rather than question too closely or intellectualise.
