Looking back: The birth of the Asia Pacific Triennial

Sat 2 Nov 2024

The 11th chapter of the Gallery’s flagship exhibition series — the Asia Pacific Triennial — opens on Saturday 30 November 2024. We look back at the circumstances of how and why ‘The 1st Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ was conceived, developed and realised… it’s a story interwoven with politics and rejuvenation.

For more than three decades now, the much-anticipated, home-grown exhibition has showcased the most exciting developments in contemporary art from across Australia, Asia and the Pacific and been instrumental in shaping the Gallery and Brisbane’s identity and global prominence.

Until 1982, the Queensland Art Gallery never had a purpose-built permanent home, now that it did, this was an opportunity to rethink almost everything about what its future might be. The new building is important to this story as to how a contemporary art museum might function with the phenomenon of the ‘blockbuster’ exhibition — its large temporary exhibition space was in the centre of the building and built for purpose.

Queensland Art Gallery 1982

Australian state galleries were creations of the nineteenth century, and Queensland’s is one of the youngest. It collected in the longstanding and traditional areas of Australian, British and other European art, but could never compare itself with the expansive collections of the other state institutions even though there were subtle and interesting distinctions to the Queensland Art Gallery’s collections, and acquiring contemporary Aboriginal art happened relatively late in the piece. Any prospect of becoming a timid version of other state galleries made no sense.

There was no logical historical connection the Gallery had with the arts of Asia. The idea of an Asia Pacific exhibition was just an idea, as the twentieth century marched on, Western museums collected less and less Asian art of its time.

In 1989, after a change in Queensland’s state government, the incoming Premier took on the arts portfolio because political and administrative reform was certain, he wanted Queenslanders to think differently about themselves, and ‘that’s where the arts come in’… a sense of new possibilities took hold for an Asia Pacific exhibition. In 1990, the first Triennial was thought of as a risk, but an acceptable risk, and the concept of regional cultural diplomacy wasn’t lost either.

What marks the Asia Pacific Triennial as different from the proliferation of other biennials and triennials over the past three decades is that it is institutionally based, becoming inseparable from the conduct of a well-established art museum — countries were not represented by artists — the triennial represented the work of artists who lived in particular countries.

After years of planning, the first Asia Pacific Triennial opened on 17 September 1993 and ran until 5 December 1993. Its legacy endures within an art-museum context.

Shigeo Toya | 1st Triennial

Neil Dawson | 1st Triennial

Roberto Villanueva | 1st Triennial

The purchases of works of art made for the first Triennial helped consolidate the dovetailing of a major project and the way the Gallery would operate with works across all media acquired by artists from every country.

Indonesian artist Dadang Christanto’s For those who have been killed 1993 (illustrated) was a moving installation that included a performance component. It was a haunting work about Indonesia’s missing people, including the artist’s father, who were targeted by previous government authorities, and the Gallery acquired it. It was also a participatory work for the public: private notes made by visitors were left under a suspended bamboo arrangement and collected daily.

Dadang Chistanto | 1st Triennial

The scale of the Triennial was ambitious, In some cases, the Gallery was the first major Western museum to exhibit or collect substantial work by artists such as Cai Guo-Qiang, Xu Bing, Montien Boonma (illustrated), Takashi Murakami, Lee Bul and Zhang Xiaogang. Yayoi Kusama is well represented, including a major room installation Soul Under the Moon 2002. Ai Weiwei was first collected before his near-cult celebrity status took hold.

Montien Boonma | 1st Triennial

The Triennial was the product of a state government cultural policy imperative, an institutional realignment and how the Gallery sought to avoid becoming a pale reflection of other Australian curatorial conduct. It never tried to match what other collections had brilliantly achieved and which it had no chance of emulating.

The first exhibition opened with close to 200 works by 76 artists from South-East Asia, East Asia and the South Pacific. Perhaps the most unanticipated characteristic of the Triennial was its broader public reception — what’s fascinating is that new art, made by artists the broader public had never heard of, from cultures they often knew little about, aroused considerable curiosity.

Whatever expectations people might have had — Korean artist Lee Bul’s performance Fish 1993 (illustrated) made an amusing and poignant point about cultural and gender constructs. The opening crowd knew nothing about the planned and unannounced performance. It was an ongoing sequence of clothes-swapping involving audience participation. At the end of the performance, the artist was wearing none of her own clothes. Many in the audience had to find and negotiate the exchange of their own.

Lee Bul | 1st Triennial

The Gallery had begun to buy contemporary Asian art. It was always planned that each Triennial — and the activity in between — would provide an opportunity to acquire work for the Collection.

The exhibition became central to the Gallery’s role and reputation and it was also the cornerstone of advocacy for the case for a Gallery of Modern Art. The success of early Triennials was central to a separate purpose-built gallery to sit alongside the Queensland Art Gallery.

The ambition and success of the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art series convinced government supporters that the show needed its own modern gallery to do it justice. The Queensland Art Gallery was the first state gallery in the country to have a second building for contemporary art.

The Asia Pacific Triennial came to represent the Queensland Art Gallery, not only as an event but also as an enduring commitment to our region.

Gallery of Modern Art

Edited transcript from ‘The birth of the Asia Pacific Triennial’ published in the Asia Pacific Art Papers. In acknowledgment of the 10th iteration of the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Doug Hall reflects on the challenging circumstances that led to this groundbreaking exhibition series that has gained an international reputation. Doug Hall AM was Director of the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art from 1987 to 2007.

Art that captures the moment
Asia Pacific Triennial
Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art
30 November 2024 – 27 April 2025