APT5 OPENS NEW TWO-SITE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY

The fifth exhibition in the Queensland Art Gallery’s internationally acclaimed Asia–Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art series opens Brisbane’s new Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) and refurbished Queensland Art Gallery.

Arts Minister Rod Welford said the APT was a major international art event so it was fitting that the 5^th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT5) was the opening exhibition of Brisbane’s new cultural landmark.

“Our Government is extremely proud to be putting on this exhibition to coincide with the opening of Australia’s largest gallery of modern and contemporary art,” Mr Welford said.

“APT5 is the only major exhibition in the world to focus exclusively on the contemporary art of Asia, Australia and the Pacific,” Mr Welford said.

“Thousands of people are expected to visit the exhibition, which opens tomorrow and continues until 27 May 2007.

“More than half a million people have visited the previous four APTs, peaking with 220 000 visitors to APT 2002.”

Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees Chairman, Wayne Goss, said APT5 was the most ambitious exhibition in the Triennial series since the first in 1993.

“APT5 presents visual art, film and performance by 37 artists and two multi-artist projects from Asia, Australia and the Pacific,” Mr Goss said.

“The APT has evolved and changed in its 13 year history and APT 5 continues its robust evolution, with the addition of film, and the largest ever representation of work from the Pacific.”

Gallery Director Doug Hall said APT5 comprised more than 300 works, many of which reflected powerful aesthetic connections with histories and traditions and, in some instances, with social and political circumstances within the region.

“About 70 per cent of works in APT5 have been acquired for the Collection, which is a significant point of difference between our event and other recurring international art events,” Mr Hall said.

• Boomerang by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei
• a 300,000-piece crystal chandelier made for the QueenslandArtGallery watermall
• a film program and display celebrating the work of international actor-director Jackie Chan
• a group of ambitious works by Anish Kapoor, from his personal collection, one of the world’s most influential sculptors

The representation of Pacific artists includes works by Michael Parekowhai (New Zealand), John Pule (Niue/ New Zealand), Michael Stevenson (New Zealand/Germany), Sima Urale (Samoa/New Zealand), Gordon Walters (New Zealand), and the Pacific Textiles Project.

The Pacific Textiles Project presents woven mats and textiles by more than 19 women artists from across the region, including Fiji, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti and Hawai’i.

“It is the first time that these works have been brought together for an international contemporary art exhibition,” Mr Hall said.

The other multi-artist project, the Long March Project, which began in Beijing in 2002, retraces the historical route of Mao Zedong’s phenomenal march from 1934-35.

Other works include Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong, two towering 3.2 metre statues by Wang Wenhai, Zhou Xiaohu’s Utopian theatre, a massive sculptural installation of miniature clay sets modelled on news items, and The miniature long march, a series of photographs of performance artist QinGa, who documented his personal long march in tattoos on his back.

“Also continuing its reputation for breaking new ground, APT5 includes the work of seven filmmakers, which will be screened in the Australian Cinémathèque cinemas at GoMA,” Mr Hall said.

APT5 continues the project’s emphasis on performance as an extension of contemporary visual culture.

The performance program, the most comprehensive yet presented by the Gallery, includes contemporary music, poetry and dance over the opening weekend.

Talvin Singh, London-based innovative figure in contemporary electronica and dance music, will perform for the first time in Queensland tonight at the opening of GoMA and APT5, and Indigenous Australian artistic director and choreographer Stephen Page will present a specially commissioned live theatre production, Kin, on Sunday, December 3.

For Kids’ APT, the largest ever presented, interactive works by 13 APT5 artists are displayed in the Children’s Art Centre at GoMA, and at QAG.

Over the opening days, 2-4 December, a program of artist talks, floor talks, tours, panel discussions, lectures, and in conversation sessions with artists will be presented at both galleries.

Media contact: Marnie Stitz on 3237 1000 or 0419 734 985