Press Release – QAGOMA

Leading artists from New Zealand will feature in the ’7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT7) from December 8, 2012 to April 14, 2013 at the Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane, Australia.

Join New Zealand Artists in Australia for APT

Leading artists from New Zealand will feature in the ’7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT7) from December 8, 2012 to April 14, 2013 at the Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane, Australia.

QAGOMA Acting Director Suhanya Raffel said the APT was the world’s only exhibition series of Australian, Asian and Pacific contemporary art and looked set to attract more than 50,000 international visitors.

‘We are proud to be showing the work of Graham Fletcher, Joanna Langford, Richard Maloy, Greg Semu, Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi, and a Pacific group multimedia project including Torika Bolatagici, Teresia Teaiwa and Mat Hunkin as part of APT7,’ said Ms Raffel.

This APT will mark the 20th anniversary of the series and will include new and recent work by 75 artists and artist groups from 27 countries across Asia, the Pacific and Australia.

Highlights of the exhibition include a major display of architectural structures and masks from Papua New Guinea; work by young generations of artists from Indonesia and Vietnam and a special focus on West Asia.

The exhibition’s wider programs will include Kids’ APT with interactive artworks and activities; a major program of Chinese animation from the 1930s onwards that has rarely been screened outside of China; and performances, artist talks and lectures.

Ms Raffel said the APT was QAGOMA’s flagship exhibition and since its beginning in 1993 the series had attracted 1.8 million visitors, 15% of those from overseas.

‘Brisbane is recognised as one of Australia’s major cultural tourism destination with APT adding to the diverse range of cultural experiences on offer,’ she said.

The New Zealand artworks included in this year’s APT include:

• Graham Fletcher’s ‘Lounge Room Tribalism’ paintings, stemming from his interest in the collection and display of Pacific ethnographic material, with imagery sourced from periodicals, design books and online resources.

• Joanna Langford’s delicate and site-specific construction made from silage plastic, LED lights and precarious ladders, which she calls a sort of ‘anti-engineering’.
• Richard Maloy’s 30-metre long amorphous structure of cardboard boxes that can be entered by visitors and will be prominently visible from outside the Gallery.

• Greg Semu’s meticulously composed photography which re-enact iconic artworks while critiquing the historical use of photography to document Pacific people.

• Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi’s contemporary reinvention of the Tongan art form of lalava (lashing), a technique for joining and binding materials together, including sculptures, wall works and lyrical line drawings based on lalava patterns.

• the multimedia project ‘{disarmed}: imagining a Pacific archive’ project by Torika Bolatagici (Australia/Fiji), Teresia Teaiwa (USA/Kiribati/New Zealand) and Mat Hunkin (New Zealand/Samoa)

New Zealand artists participating in APT7 have received major public funding from Creative New Zealand.
‘As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the APT series, I encourage New Zealand visitors to come to Brisbane and experience this engaging and diverse exhibition,’ Ms Raffel said.

APT7 is on at QAGOMA from December 8, 2012 to April 14, 2013. For further information on the APT exhibition, programs and events visit www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/apt

ENDS

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