Brisbane, Australia
The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) is the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art’s flagship contemporary art event. It is the only major exhibition series to focus exclusively on the contemporary art of Asia, the Pacific and Australia.
APT7 in 2012-13 celebrates the 20th anniversary of the first APT held in 1993.
The APT is distinguished from other international art biennales and triennales by its extensive acquisition program and focus on commissioning the artists to produce new works. For this edition, 51 artworks were commissioned, and 24 of those are now in the collection, including Huang Yong Ping’s Ressort (2012) and Atul Dodiya’s Somersault in sandalwood sky (2012).
“We have really been pushing hard for commissions since the late ’90s, which is a very unusual thing for museums to do, as it’s risky. ”
Over the years they have commissioned major pieces such as Cai Guo-Qiang’s gunpowder drawings in 1996, Yayoi Kusama’s Soul under the moon (2002), Ai Weiwei’s Boomerang (2006) and Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s Lightning for Neda (2009).
This year sees two co-curated projects that explore specific focuses. Works from Papua New Guinea include a group of performance masks and painted and carved structures from New Britain and the Sepik, co-curated by architect Martin Fowler. '0 – Now: Traversing West Asia' displays work by seven artists and collectives from the Middle East and Central Asia, and is co-curated by Istanbul-based November Paynter.
Runs from 8 December 2012 — 14 April 2013 at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and Queensland Art Gallery (QAG).
