Original subtitles

fleeting glimpses suggest that many

modern cities are very much alike even

in the asia-pacific region

a more searchable reveals differences

out of the shadows comes distinctive

identity it is this sense of identity

that distinguishes the contemporary art

or just in many countries of the region

brought together in the first Asian

Pacific triennial of Contemporary Art at

the Queensland Art Gallery in late 1993

Thai artists tend to get tired of trying

to think that they should own identity

trying to get back to that one touch

modern Western painting has contributed

to the development of contemporary

Chinese art since the practice of

open-door policy

have we got the culture do we have

culture is it loss it is gone is it gone

is it damaged etc etc we are no more

strictly confined in a national or

cultural enclaves there is going to be

and continuously a tremendous exchange

and flow and inter flow of all kinds of

cultural and intellectual activities and

products it's probably fair to say

there's no such thing as an Australian

identity particularly now more than ever

it is in fact a range of identities that

make up the whole

great diversity also characterizes the

asia-pacific region

these must be recognized the region is

only defined by Janome

people and nations bring their past with

into the present and on into the future

exhibition organizers chose to display

contemporary art produced over

pronounced differences

spirituality Australia changes taking

place

the assumption by Australians richness

durability

more aware about its own responsibility

and also its position in the world

society that we have to initiate our own

point of view and home direction the

current art the polymeric the

contemporary art is a very good means of

doing that artists are treating issues

of traditions and change within their

own cultures as well as global issues

smoky mountain and vanilla the world's

largest garbage dump with an estimated

population of 20,000 is a monument to

the high price cultural pays for

consumerism what I'm trying to do in

this pain is not just involve the

community but of course to give them a

dramatic example to my work how how

garbage efficient is really because this

problem about garbage garbage is it's

not just this what you see unsightly

thing over here but also the insane

thing and the insane thing in garbage is

actually found in a big world based

world cities

Jenny's work confronts the global issue

directly by focusing on garbage as the

raw material for his art

Janey's work goes beyond the problems of

consumerism to the point of questioning

what constitutes art in today's society

performance art has brought art down off

the wall and pedestal ritual is reworked

to address issues of identity

alienation and the perception about

intonation is all thin traditional

primitive and classical in the area of

contemporary art of Indonesia I would

say that he is the one a set of artists

in Indonesia this performance I make

touch

you know long time ago deeper just

misunderstanding they make war dating

Indian people or Aboriginal people like

mosquitoes and they just destroy them

contemporary artistic expression is

provided an avenue for women to explore

their positions in society and culture

label from South Korea is a sculptor

installation

pursuing identity and feminist issues in

the world

sorry I didn't do it generally my work

is about moments of identity and

experience of our everyday life this

it will be the same everywhere but as

measuring career

feminist concerns are bound up with

other issues such as the issue of

Philippine history and the emergence of

a national identity I belong to have

women artist organization and have

become quite conscious of the Filipino

women conditions and issues and problems

and so what I did was thought of taking

themes from history and also social

issues contemporary issues so each each

drawing with focus on a particular theme

in the history of Filipino women the

delicate works of Brenda Fajardo fused

folk traditions social customs and the

mysterious qualities of the Tarot to

present the many roles of women in

society from mother to prostitute we

have very very many problems women are

leaving their families to work abroad as

domestic helpers some us entertainers

and a lot of women who are poor and yet

have to be the breadwinners

Julie Luke uses the softness of clay

transformed by Maya to assert her

strength of identity I draw

material from personal experiences my

life is actually they take off point my

ideas my thoughts themes of my subject

matter the choice of what clay was very

deliberate because I after I discovered

it I thought it was very very feminine

material it's soft obedient and it's

very pleasurable to you so that touch is

easy to to manage this new work is

Adobe's one one is a life which is six

salt and cheese

she sent an attitude of praise

thanks kidding

the other one is sent flying down it's

just lifeless dead

I would say very generally the work is

about a kind of dualism in the way I

look at things like your posse of a

negative good or bad deaths and life it

represents a conclusion to my past work

for our Iyar tractor broseph I figure

works very strong and it touches on the

space of the woman type objects in this

fellow centric male-dominated society

where woman is regarded as you know

second-class citizen you can feel that

then this woman is trying to express

through drowning you know there is lack

of oxygen lack of space lack of

breathing and she reflects the condition

with a feeling of many knots not just

women artists and women in entire

society the color black features

prominently works from south korea is

korean art response to the country's

history and issues of identity in the

divided nation

the artworks selected from individual

countries also display considerable

diversity of approach New Zealand has

essentially a bicultural population

Maori artists are attempting to retrieve

the great traditions of Polynesian

culture

nice Tahiti and inside walk and my whole

works based around that myths and

legends from the artists that my

grandfather my grandmother sort of

passed down to me so I felt I was deaf

that was I couldn't speak

sorry one more day she survived spend

some time there I want to see she find

out more about my background

Vincent Liao is a creature of the city

that is his habit

traverses it walks through fix things up

responds to the vibrations and the

dynamics of the city and in turn shapes

what he considers to be the city his own

work the kinds of scenarios that he

presents do not have finite answers of

finite conclusions they are open-ended

and they provide an incredible variety

of interpretations

the do painting I'm showing and the show

is car like about my friends and we shot

gay and they are living together and

they want to get together as a couple

like any other any other couple did

heterosexuals so to me about a lot of my

paintings is about people and the human

condition and above any things that I

come in contact visually with which I'm

very interested and I wanted to create a

painting that is not saying is something

political or is something right or wrong

but a painting that any person can

relate to in their own way that I know

something they always bothered me about

the government trying to promote your

own culture what is your own culture

it's about right now and anything that

I've learned is going to be part of my

world

independence since its origin as a

nation Thailand was never colonized in

recent times it is experienced found a

climate change

modernization

back off seven and a half

city in danger of being suffered

shadows of some artists exhibiting the

training take into account the cost of

breweries to newly industrialized

country status

tired students are being introduced to

first and

you have to be trained and later on they

be introduced to do something more

creative whether or not they

the influence from the West or they go

back to their own version that means

that they could revitalize Buddha's arts

or traditional arts by combining

traditional emotive with contemporary

life

attempting a Buddha come to Bangkok 1992

because I want to let heart what

happened in Thai Thailand in last year

thank you

of a synthetic he actually showed the

Buddha image traditional buddha image

but surrounded by images of the thai

generals the dictators and glimpses of

pollution aids sensitive images of monk

kneeling masturbating himself such

images were actually shown and accepted

Hasaan leaves no doubt about his

feelings for the multinational investors

north affect the contemporary Thai

pursuits frequently compromised buddhist

teachings nothing known in america and

all these sins that happened affecting

the world why all these things happen

it's because of the bangs the bangs

created money to lend to the people so

they can start businesses and the result

was the biggest destroy of the world

that cannot be stopped

I've painted the picture of Jesus he

came back and destroyed the banks with a

cross greed the degradation of the

environment pollution and loss of

identity our issues directly addressed

in many works by Thai artists the rivers

died because today Bangkok has grown so

big

and the people's life is also changing

very rapidly in the way they live

estimated about ten million people are

now using the river

letting raw sewage and rubbish into the

river and polluting

sooner or later in

ratified the powers

I think the river will be completely

dead 5 to 10 used

Gamal was concerned the well-being of

the child crying River is expressed in

terms of his Buddhist beliefs rather

than Kalama tree of damning statements

the best

they're bringing up the question of

identity in in a rather they're

re-evaluating rituals they're

re-evaluating icons images symbols and

in the process they're also making us

aware that a lot of what culture is

about at any given time is a matter of

choice it's a matter of picking from the

past repackaging

they're from sump'n honk wonder what

they're nerdy imagining but money I'm

talking about the bond between people

and the trembles in the past and at

present times I've tried to add and

create the old and the antique hood and

feel onto the paint I've got the idea

from the painting on the walls in this

tender we no longer live in the society

or in the condition of you know Buddhist

values or very serene very bucolic lives

that we live in the Society of Kentucky

Fried Chicken we live in the society of

Michael Jackson and for Jovi it has

become the dilemma and I think that art

is chosen in this particular tribe

Triana actually reflects this kind of

tension that is going on

we'll have a gallon in the middle - bah

hey Danny pan mama be the object of this

painting started from what a hammer man

in the middle of May the year 1992 there

was a fight that's why there was so much

bloodshed in marked contrast of a

contemplative or spiritual

by artists like Monty Emunah there's

serious artists but they they work in

non-traditional you would see

how sexual

installation actually

the birds with

John our subjects in style recalling

French colonial influences by new NZ NTM

from Vietnam reaffirm life and human

values after 30 years

Effects husana from Indonesia uses

images from ancient temples and the

recent struggles in Indochina to protest

violence and to plead for human rights

to take presidents over war hatred and

investors violence they face

reaction to disturbing or distressing

events may find artistic expression in

photography what may be interpreted as

protest symbolically in opt-in Pandora's

box the tragedy which took place Indiana

is amazing

let Jo Yong Chi drowned in response

installation works such as drown three

swimming in the dark

fish have limited freedom vision

isolated bubbles adjacent the last

vestiges of life in a series of most

immersed in closeted

little teaching there for the past

hundred s Shanghai has been a little

city in terms of communications with

West

80 or 90 years ago Shanghai school art

originated in Shanghai

and contributed to the development of

contemporary Chinese American TV

fatality the development of art is tied

up with the development of the economy

if the economy develops and the

communication with the outside world

improves the number of people able to

appreciate Western art will also

increase for the time being Chinese

painting still dominates however from a

long-term point of view western-style

painting apparently will keep on gaining

popularity in reality however in a

country of over 1 billion people

contemporary art occupies only a

peripheral position in the daily life of

the population in an age of pronounced

development the long-standing traditions

of the world's oldest continuous culture

remain influential the work of son Liang

is rarely salt or purchased by Chinese

collectors or museums its market is

outside China

for a long time we learned from western

art before this time I had been a

painter of traditional paintings I used

some techniques from traditional ink

paint and also explored the theme of

sexuality which is a very sensitive

topic to the Chinese fact that's the

authorities wouldn't interfere if you

paint a theme of sexuality in an

implicit way but if your paintings are

too explicit they will interfere in the

70s in up to mid-1980s I spend a lot of

time reading it was a time so the

downfall of the Gang of Four in China

there was an influx of books from the

West

my experiences of reading have directly

influenced my life and my view of art

some Chinese art is full of cycle

illusion and symbolism in reality one

artists expression can only be a whisper

in the vast political and social

dimensions of China use of painting

abstract art made me feel I have

detached myself from the social reality

as if I had turned my back on society

going inward to explore my inner self

made me feel like this at that time the

society was at a stage of turbulence as

an artist I felt it was necessary to go

back to the social realities I may be

able to express myself and using the

circle it's the symbol of the universe

that is why I painted these abstract

paintings at a time but I gave it up to

try some other means of expression

I used pop art a totally new way of art

at first I explored various themes and

subject matter later I started to paint

bouncy tune the significance of mousie

tune to contemporary China is obvious to

everyone high temperature it can hardly

be called respect it's more than our

generation who have experienced a

particular historical period now review

our history with some bitter and mixed

feelings probably it's a kind of

nostalgia

new generation of artists are fusing

tradition with innovation traditional

materials are redeployed in experimental

and expressive formats using change as a

constant of the universe some

contemporary Chinese artists would like

to have a foot in both

and combine traditional imagery and

values with contemporary approaches

hidden in the suburbs of Brisbane is 69

year old Irene Chu from Hong Kong her

work reflects the time-honored brush and

ink method of Chinese painting with

contemporary influences I start painting

from a Chinese Oh master and them just

doing the copy of wood copy and poppy

and I feel so boring I think I have to

create something so I study some other

literature's and philosophies of Western

and Eastern and once I found out the

Western and Eastern are always the same

I'm emphasizing my Chinese precious of

course I like it I'd like to make the

run circles it's very content

a complex web belief systems unleashes

the asia-pacific region India and

China's fountain approaches that

pervaded many countries faiths such as

Hinduism Buddhism and Islam for the

dominant religions Chandrasekaran

passionately concerned traditions

particularly Indian traditions and his

concern is not so much to revive those

traditions neither neither is he trying

to perpetuate them but trying to

understand traditions in ways that can

have validity and currency frame

the performance is based on a concept of

duality which is male and the female

elements and also purely from the Asian

point of view we are very much ritual

for man and ritual in one sense is very

much shamanistic

the one wish I did on the mother floor

which is since circular form is purely

represent the male's female sexual

symbol well that the others are the male

sexual symbol this is two different male

and female existence except the

multicultural nature of many of the

countries is well illustrated in the

multiplicity of religious and

philosophical beliefs that are

incorporated in artworks in the

triennial

I try very hard not to be personal for

something in the West Center parties and

self-expression but in Islamic art the

participant is objectively it has been

science it is on principles and one has

to master this in order to do in slam

Akkad why the reason behind this is that

in Islam the purpose of art is not to

project myself you know but to project

the idea of divine presence I go back to

my tradition you know as I said you got

empathic technique and also I also

welcome new technique from the West so

offender is not ease it is not enough to

just to just sort of accepted people in

the West without giving something in

return so these are highlighting how

approach question of identity younger

artists in Malaysia like Mistura Abdul

Rahman approached their art from

different perspectives but similar

religious and decorative traditions I

was influenced by the Bartok design

motive because I'm a typical slave woman

besides that I like tabarak design very

much as a result I used them in my

design

many countries in the regions are

enjoying spectacular economic growth

Malaysia is looking to its future with a

strongly focused

joking ladies practice is immersed in

paper that is the meeting he has gone to

great lengths to explore the realm of

paper from materials indigenous to his

living environment from the floor

with great sensitivity

produced images depicting or rather

alluding to landscape the shifting

nature of the environment through the

use of me

Ishmael Hashim casts a nostalgic look at

a not so distant past

he amplifies the photographic medium

through the injection of painterly

elements in order to construct images

they tell stories about circumstances

about lives about interaction of lives

with environment and so on and so forth

the Chinese Malaysian artist expresses

concern of the received abandoned own

cultural identity by some Chinese people

elements a music me my installation is

from a religious practice so I use my

work to reflect social issues

the boys called the house of death so

it's not very positive issues and in

keeping something

Society

a successful work of art is more than

someone's

Malaysian artist is all chiefly Yusuf's

work immunity formally structures

symbols of power white and black

suggests the power can be either

positive or negative the idea from my

installation escape from my breathing I

like history book by a meter long time

the story about the royal family

something about the law I like to take

that as my idea you can use you still

can see the symbol of the Royals and

power yeah

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim

nation in world yet other belief systems

are comfortably accommodated

sri hadees long journey makes reference

to a spiritual experience associated

with Barbra dude

the ancient Buddhist temple in Central

Java

even segi those mountains

my Japanese mister

Westen's realism

so John occurred records continuing

rural folk tradition

while didi Arisa presages challenge the

belief in development of its purpose

dad impressed Antos with Foreman's and

installations big old Indonesian

believes too concerns his suffering in

contemporary society

I feel not complete if I not make a

performance

I want to say about the humanities

in my conceals

it's a violent issue like my work is

name the name is my work for those who

have been killed and for those who have

been victim in my own system our full

system the concerns of art-making are

exemplified in many powerful works in

the triennial accession

that's what's real and what's not real

he said quite severe you'd swear that it

was a three-dimensional object that was

sitting up in front there I've seen it

sort of looked like a piece of marble if

you've got a macro sky behind it I've

seen a completely silhouetted I often

that looks like a piece of neon as it is

now actually lit her

in the case of Japan that's the one

culture within Australia has had the

longest engagement in Asia so if one

looks at the works of ger Toyo for

example you find he is very much the

high point of the idea of materials as

metaphor

what I try to reproduce is the climate

of natural future of my surroundings

which I carry within me into an art form

natural forest is a very important thing

to us the spirit of people in Asia

especially East Asia has been cultivated

in the forest I try to create a

structure forest

in the case of the photographer Sato not

only is there a particularly strong

social comment there would you

accurately say the intervention of the

artist not only is person but the pro

technique making his presence felt in

those images I think is a one of the

most

qualified man

those masterpieces on 79 18 centuries

today's interpretation that's attract

many people in Japan

Shin wrote arcade and the comic books

that he's done they're essentially

collages the debate together from the

variety of forms of popular culture

comics or manga as it's called in Japan

posters and other forms of popular

imagery they brought together to the

show in a sense the kind of tensions

that exist and the conflicts that exist

through a contemporary Japanese culture

which claims our past but is changing

dramatically now as economics can't be

separated from politics so politics

can't be separated from art if you have

a very primitive stage of politics and

standard of living it's very difficult

people don't think about

occupy curious position in relation to

Asia a history of Spanish colonization

and the influence of Catholicism

followed by a period of American

military and commercial influence has

produced a hybrid culture more aligned

to Latin America in Asia will find very

few Filipinos who find themselves in any

way related to Malaysians or to

Singaporeans and they feel that these

are distant countries people feel more

related to San Francisco here than to to

Bangkok

the adoption of American consumer values

has resulted in a popular culture of

imitation and pastiche a period of

martial law followed by a popular

People's Democratic moment has created

what today is a struggling third world

economy Filipino contemporary art varies

between American influences two styles

and a mix of indigenous traditions

issues explode include identity feminism

in a world of machismo

an attention to third world politics

where is this anxiety coming from some

people say

amnesia because of the 400 years of

colonization and despite the educational

system despite the political system

there are certain patterns of behavior

in this country which are stubbornly

adhered to and what do you call that it

might be I mean it probably is what you

call an identity

the work of Santiago bouce explores the

politics of third-world economists

colonization environmental degradation

cultural exchange and social issues

through his installation evocative

apartments I wanted to show the tension

that occurs when first world products

come into my country and how third world

peoples interpret this product and it

usually happens in the marketplace

I try to use local materials found

objects indigenous materials that I find

around my city

and I use it to illustrate issues one of

them is about energy prices

dangerous pieces

scepters and very famous

to talk about mail-order brides which is

a

wherever didn't practice that now

another thing about the artists who have

been chosen for the show is that many of

them are associated with grassroots

activities and organizations which have

to do with people empowerment ever since

I started painting I always realize that

the artist should always be part of

society and an artist sharing their

talent

the earthquake Couvillion

Johnson City and we're the artists among

ourselves we get together and came up

with this idea of how we could

helped our community and we as some

artists contribute the artworks and we

hold this auction and then the money

that we made we spend it for holding a

workshop to is the traumatic experience

by the specialty the children Roberto

Villanova's involvement at a community

level in the rehabilitation of

earthquakes shattered cities and tree

planting programs is part of the

indigenous healing process based on

shamanistic practice that is the focus

of his art

I think my art reflects my community and

my art making is influenced from my

environment I started burning in a human

shape and it represents my egos so I

have to burn it every year

now I thought of maybe I need a grape

where to bury those Eagles and I'm

trying my best to burn it all this year

hopefully this will be the last Bernie

this form of direct involvement with

spiritual aspects of healing and

assertion of cultural practices is

outside the mainstream notion of art as

object

it goes beyond performance to the realm

of magical spirituality

two weeks after his performance Roberto

Villanova was diagnosed as suffering

from leukemia at the MARTA Hospital in

Lisbon

Australia is part of this geographically

defined region is as much a paradox as

any an ancient land home to a culture

presumed to be more than 40,000 years

old it is also a comparatively young

nation seeking to find its identity

we didn't want Australia to look aloof

and arrogant as a result of pursuing

rather esoteric Western concerns that's

why the Australian participants in the

training in every respect

they complement the the kind of ideas

and the issues which are happening in

each of those countries whether it be in

the case of Gareth Samson for example

itself the artists are surrounded by a

range of issues which are private and

personal their cultural their sexual and

yet they come out through these amazing

works of art these incredible paintings

the work operates it two levels

basically there's a personal level which

is obviously about where I live and what

I do and what I've seen the second level

is the idea that the worlds in a real

state of transition that nothing means

exactly what you think it does and so in

some of the paintings there are little

symbols that just drift across the

surface of the world and that's I think

you know our perception of the world

right now and particularly in the region

that we live in which is you know

undergoing enormous change very rapid

change in the case of the potaro sisters

from utopia you find a particular

woman's dreaming revealing itself and

you are actually able to find that a

particular story can be retold can be

reinvented and yet can be as relevant

today as it was yesterday in the case of

Judy Watson there's a particular

identity in search for there that is an

artist reclaiming and beginning to

identify again her Aboriginality and so

in the case of Judy Watson and the

patate sisters you find one culture

revealing itself in quite disparate ways

when I make the photograph

an image of the final picture where

they're going to be like that grows out

of the process of making which I then

respond to physically whether with my

own body in terms of gesture or in terms

of light and lighting so in this video

work I was trying to discover my own

position in relation to this history of

the land where we now live you know four

generation Australian so I don't feel

any identity with anywhere else other

than Australia

although host to the exhibition

queensland art gallery did not establish

a rigid framework

the in asia-pacific region is a

legitimate entity abroad from geography

the other thing it's completely been

disproved by this exhibition is the idea

of Asia as a homogenous entity and in a

sense that shown to be another construct

of the West Asia has no one homogeneous

identity it has a whole series of very

vital interesting and changing

identities Asia seems to be the key word

at the moment and culture myth and

economic imperatives tend to be very

interesting for many many countries in

Europe America and Australia so Asian

bandwagoning tend to become quite

popular I think it is particularly

important that Australia who might view

have long time looking toward Europe

rather than to Asia now turns to Asia as

partners this kind of change sudden

change make us a little nervous but

anyway we are playing the game because

art and culture is now part of the

playing of the with the slippery

lubricants

it tends to slip and slide and art and

culture tend to sell so well and selling

of Nations when you the triangles going

to generate a lot of interest but the

exceptional response to we talk conserve

aliens have always seen the answer

to experience an accountant

simply haven't laid any yard sticks or

any things of comparing with other

objects go through the shadows of

uncertainty about the outcome the first

really emerges a clear picture of the

vitality of contemporary art in the

region the positive sense of identity

experienced by so many challengers

Australia's asyou to place this

asia-pacific region

you