Amongst the bustle of streets, marketplaces and public settings of Iloilo on Panay Island, street-side murals by Kikik Kollektive can be found. The works are deeply engaged with local community and bring attention to social and environmental issues through a localised lens. Kikik use their large-scale murals to present these issues ‘as a means to preserve the past and be an active instigator in the dialogue for decolonisation’. ‘Kikik’ comes from the word for cicada in Hiligaynon, a language spoken in rural areas of Iloilo Province. For the collective, the insect’s loud chatter is symbolic of how the artists stimulate dialogue and exchange in the community. For APT11, Kikik Kollektive celebrates significant stories of Iloilo in a vast mural Tul-an sang aton kamal-aman (Bones of our elders) 2024, honouring the indigenous culture of Panay through a tribute to local figures, community traditions, ancient cultivation practices and spiritual beliefs.
This project is supported by the Commonwealth through the Office for the Arts, part of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.
Seventy artists, collectives and projects from more than thirty countries (full list of Triennial artists below) will feature in the 11th chapter of the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) flagship exhibition series, ‘The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art‘, opening on Saturday 30 November 2024.
Artists including Dana Awartani (illustrated), Brett Graham (illustrated), D Harding, Mit Jai Inn (illustrated), Kikik Kollektive, Saodat Ismailova, Dawn Ng, Yeung Tong Lung and Haus Yuriyal will continue the Asia Pacific Triennial’s commitment to representing the region’s most dynamic and exciting contemporary art.
Dana Awartani
Brett Graham
Mit Jai Inn
The much-anticipated Asia Pacific Triennial has showcased an evolving mix of the most important developments in contemporary art from across Australia, Asia and the Pacific for more than three decades. As the Gallery works towards presenting an exhibition of key works acquired by QAGOMA through the thirty-year Asia Pacific Triennial series at the V&A Museum, London in early 2026, it has reflected closely on the significant cultural impact of the Triennial regionally and globally.
Wardha Shabbir
As with previous Triennials, the eleventh chapter will be presented throughout both the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and include works produced across vast geographies and cultural contexts, offering audiences a multiplicity of experiences, perspectives and diverse approaches to both contemporary and community-based customary art practices.
Kawita Vatanajyankur
Developed and researched by QAGOMA’s specialist Asian and Pacific curatorial team, with collaboration from co-curators and interlocutors in the region, this Triennial will feature over 500 artworks including major new commissions by artists Jasmine Togo-Brisby, Kawita Vatanajyankur (illustrated), Trương Công Tùng, Paemanu Contemporary Art Collective, ‘Aunofo Havea Funaki and the Lepamahanga Women’s Group, Mele Kahalepuna Chun and Mai Nguyễn-Long.
Rithika Merchant
Artists in the exhibition consider knowledge in its many forms, following thematic threads such as care for natural and urban environments, intergenerational experiences of migration and labour, and nuanced approaches to storytelling, materials and technique. For the first time in the series, this Triennial will include artists and works from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Timor-Leste and Uzbekistan.
Dawn Ng
Among the many highlights in the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial will be:
A vibrant multi-part project by Haus Yuriyal, a collective of 28 artists living and working in Jiwaka/Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea, led by Brisbane-based artist Yuriyal Eric Bridgeman. Kuman (fighting shields) paintings, carved tree fern sculptures, embroideries and a range of innovative bilum designs will be shown alongside a video picture house and a lush harvest garden in QAG’s sculpture courtyard.
Leading Thai artist Mit Jai Inn’s three-dimensional installation reimagining painting and abstraction in a dramatic interactive environment on the QAG Watermall. With suspended tunnels, cascading curtains and towering scroIls, the work will encourage visitors to enter and explore its maze-like structures.
An evocative installation of monumental sculptures and video by Aotearoa New Zealand artist Brett Graham. Occupying the full length of GOMA’s Long Gallery, Tai Moana Tai Tangata will represent the relationship between Taranaki and Tainui Māori and the pact of solidarity they forged during the New Zealand Wars.
A large-scale mural by Kikik Kollektive from Iloilo Province in the central Tul-an sang aton kamal-aman (Bones of our elders) will reframe the stories that have formed the history and culture of Iloilo, depicting a sinuous serpent deity associated with the moon alongside imagery of local figures, community traditions, ancient cultivation practices and spiritual beliefs.
Standing by the Ruins, a stunning floor-based installation by Dana Awartani (Saudi Arabia/Palestine) combining the artist’s knowledge of Islamic geometry and craft techniques with tropes of Arabic ruin poetry to address war, cultural destruction and healing.
A mesmerising new multi-channel video installation by Singaporean artist Dawn Ng, capturing a timelapse of a large sculptural block of frozen pigment melting and disintegrating sublimely representing the ephemerality of time, beauty, destruction, love and loss (illustrated).
Innovative portraits of everyday life in Hong Kong by senior painter Yeung Tong Lung, deploying unusual perspectives with an affectionate eye for detail. The paintings range from intimate vignettes to an epic 20-metre, multi-panel panoramic view of the city.
Asia Pacific Triennial Cinema
Five Asia Pacific Triennial Cinema programs exploring central Asian cinema ‘Children of Independence: The Rise of Central Asian Cinema‘ and futurism on screen ‘Future Visions‘, alongside comprehensive career surveys of prominent film directors Tsai Ming-liang, Kamila Andini, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi and a live music and film event with composer and musician Eiko Ishibashi.
Director: Tsai Ming-liang
Director: Kamila Andini
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
The Triennial also includes four projects co-curated to enable a deeper investigation into rarely platformed regions, artworks and cultural contexts:
TAMBA, a project co-curated with Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung, and featuring artists, activists, and Indigenous communities from Nepal and the surrounding region. It encompasses diverse narratives across video, woodcut prints, textiles, installation, photography, music and poetry.
Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, co-curated with Abraham Ambo Garcia Jr with the assistance of Al-Nezzar Ali and Emi Englis. Recent customary and ceremonial works by Indigenous and Islamic communities will be shown alongside painting, video and sculpture. Highlights include abaca ‘dream weavings’ by the T’boli people, ochre paintings by Talaandig cultural leader Salima Saway Agra’an; and okir (botanic) kite sculptures by Tausug artist Rameer Tawasil, as well as works by Kiri Dalena, Adjani Arumpac, Cian Dayrit and others.
An immersive sound and video installation created by Dreamcast Theatre and the KAWAKI women’s collective from The Solomon Islands, co-developed with The Nature Conservancy to highlight KAWAKI’s ongoing relationship to their natural environment and custodianship of the Arnavon Islands.
A showcase of customary and innovative weavings by artists from across five of Torba Province’s islands, curated by Dely Roy Nalo.
Kim Ah Sam
The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial artists
Kim Ah Sam Kalkadoon, Kuku Yalanji people. b.1967, Brisbane, Australia / Lives and works in Brisbane (illustrated)
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