The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial: 20-Year Archive
The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial (APT) at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art marked the 20th anniversary of the flagship exhibition series committed to an investigation of Asian, Pacific and Australian contemporary practices. Reflecting upon the event’s own historical significance was ‘APT7: The 20-Year Archive’. An exhibition within the exhibition, the project sourced material from across the APT’s two-decade history, situating it in dialogue with artist interpretations of archives across the Asia Pacific region. Reuben Keehan is Curator, Contemporary Asian Art at QAGOMA and was part of the curatorial team for the archive project.
Tess Maunder: There is a lack of documented resources available on the art of the Asia Pacific regions. Is there now more than ever, a greater urgency for enabling this material to be more available to the public?
Reuben Keehan: Throughout the Asia-Pacific, entire societies have evolved largely independent of the guarantee of the institutionalised culture and knowledge that underwrote the development of civil society in the West. Archives and related forms of research, such as recorded and transcribed oral histories, have been instrumental in registering the passage of time in contexts where European-style universities, libraries and museums are not the primary site of cultural consolidation and analysis. A number of archives in the Asia Pacific region have been initiated as a form of civic action, separate to institutions. The Western notion of the museum as authority to the archive simply does not exist within Asian and Pacific cultures. Throughout history, individuals have largely maintained these archives, motivated by their own curiosity.
TM: Memory is a thematic focus within the ‘20-Year Archive’; do you think this is reflective in... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline
APT7 Archive, Installation view, Queensland Art Gallery. Photograph Mark Sherwood.
