Seventy artists, collectives and projects from more than 30 countries (full list of Triennial artists below) will feature in the eleventh chapter of the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) flagship exhibition series, ‘The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art‘, opening on Saturday 30 November 2024.
Artists including Dana Awartani, Brett Graham (illustrated), D Harding, Mit Jai Inn, Kikik Kollektive, Saodat Ismailova, Dawn Ng, Yeung Tong Lung and Haus Yuriyal will continue the Asia Pacific Triennial’s commitment to representing the region’s most dynamic and exciting contemporary art.
The much-anticipated Asia Pacific Triennial has showcased an evolving mix of the most important developments in contemporary art from across Australia, Asia and the Pacific for more than three decades. As the Gallery works towards presenting an exhibition of key works acquired by QAGOMA through the thirty-year Asia Pacific Triennial series at the V&A Museum, London in early 2026, it has reflected closely on the significant cultural impact of the Triennial regionally and globally.
As with previous Triennials, the eleventh chapter will be presented throughout both the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and include works produced across vast geographies and cultural contexts, offering audiences a multiplicity of experiences, perspectives and diverse approaches to both contemporary and community-based customary art practices.
Developed and researched by QAGOMA’s specialist Asian and Pacific curatorial team, with collaboration from co-curators and interlocutors in the region, this Triennial will feature over 500 artworks including major new commissions by artists Jasmine Togo-Brisby, Kawita Vatanajyankur (illustrated), Trương Công Tùng, Paemanu Contemporary Art Collective, ‘Aunofo Havea Funaki and the Lepamahanga Women’s Group, Mele Kahalepuna Chun and Mai Nguyễn-Long.
Artists in the exhibition consider knowledge in its many forms, following thematic threads such as care for natural and urban environments, intergenerational experiences of migration and labour, and nuanced approaches to storytelling, materials and technique. For the first time in the series, this Triennial will include artists and works from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Timor-Leste and Uzbekistan.
Among the many highlights in the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial will be:
- A vibrant multi-part project by Haus Yuriyal, a collective of 28 artists living and working in Jiwaka/Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea, led by Brisbane-based artist Yuriyal Eric Bridgeman. Kuman (fighting shields) paintings, carved tree fern sculptures, embroideries and a range of innovative bilum designs will be shown alongside a video picture house and a lush harvest garden in QAG’s sculpture courtyard.
- Leading Thai artist Mit Jai Inn’s three-dimensional installation reimagining painting and abstraction in a dramatic interactive environment on the QAG Watermall. With suspended tunnels, cascading curtains and towering scroIls, the work will encourage visitors to enter and explore its maze-like structures.
- An evocative installation of monumental sculptures and video by Aotearoa New Zealand artist Brett Graham. Occupying the full length of GOMA’s Long Gallery, Tai Moana Tai Tangata will represent the relationship between Taranaki and Tainui Māori and the pact of solidarity they forged during the New Zealand Wars.
- A large-scale mural by Kikik Kollektive from Iloilo Province in the central Tul-an sang aton kamal-aman (Bones of our elders) will reframe the stories that have formed the history and culture of Iloilo, depicting a sinuous serpent deity associated with the moon alongside imagery of local figures, community traditions, ancient cultivation practices and spiritual beliefs.
- Standing by the Ruins, a stunning floor-based installation by Dana Awartani (Saudi Arabia/Palestine) combining the artist’s knowledge of Islamic geometry and craft techniques with tropes of Arabic ruin poetry to address war, cultural destruction and healing.
- A mesmerising new multi-channel video installation by Singaporean artist Dawn Ng, capturing a timelapse of a large sculptural block of frozen pigment melting and disintegrating sublimely representing the ephemerality of time, beauty, destruction, love and loss (illustrated).
- Innovative portraits of everyday life in Hong Kong by senior painter Yeung Tong Lung, deploying unusual perspectives with an affectionate eye for detail. The paintings range from intimate vignettes to an epic 20-metre, multi-panel panoramic view of the city.
- Five Asia Pacific Triennial Cinema programs exploring central Asian cinema and futurism on screen, alongside comprehensive career surveys of prominent film directors Tsai Ming-liang, Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Kamila Andini and a live music and film event with composer and musician Eiko Ishibashi.
The Triennial also includes four projects co-curated to enable a deeper investigation into rarely platformed regions, artworks and cultural contexts:
- TAMBA, a project co-curated with Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung, and featuring artists, activists, and Indigenous communities from Nepal and the surrounding region. It encompasses diverse narratives across video, woodcut prints, textiles, installation, photography, music and poetry.
- Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, co-curated with Abraham Ambo Garcia Jr with the assistance of Al-Nezzar Ali and Emi Englis. Recent customary and ceremonial works by Indigenous and Islamic communities will be shown alongside painting, video and sculpture. Highlights include abaca ‘dream weavings’ by the T’boli people, ochre paintings by Talaandig cultural leader Salima Saway Agra’an; and okir (botanic) kite sculptures by Tausug artist Rameer Tawasil, as well as works by Kiri Dalena, Adjani Arumpac, Cian Dayrit and others.
- An immersive sound and video installation created by Dreamcast Theatre and the KAWAKI women’s collective from The Solomon Islands, co-developed with The Nature Conservancy to highlight KAWAKI’s ongoing relationship to their natural environment and custodianship of the Arnavon Islands.
- A showcase of customary and innovative weavings by artists from across five of Torba Province’s islands, curated by Dely Roy Nalo.
The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial artists
Kim Ah Sam Kalkadoon, Kuku Yalanji people. b.1967, Brisbane, Australia / Lives and works in Brisbane (illustrated)
Bernice Akamine Kanaka ‘Ōiwi. 1949-2024 / Lived and worked in Hawai‘i
Tully Arnot b.1984, Gadigal Sydney, Australia / Lives and works in Hong Kong
Ataúro woodcarvers Ataúro, Timor‑Leste
AWA (Artists for Waiapu Action) est. 2023 Aotearoa New Zealand / Live and work in Te Tai Rawhiti, East Coast Ngāti Porou homelands and Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand
Dana Awartani Saudi Arabia, Palestine, b.1987, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia / Lives and works in Jeddah, and New York, USA
Abdul Halik Azeez b.1985, Nawalapitiya, Sri Lanka / Lives and works in Colombo, Sri Lanka
William Bakalevu b.1961, Suva, Fiji / Lives and works in Nakorolevu, Namara Tailevu, Fiji
Nadiah Bamadhaj b.1968, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia / Lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
BOLOHO est. 2019, Guangzhou, China / Live and work in Guangzhou
Bùi Công Khánh b.1972, Đà Nẵng, Việt Nam / Lives and works in Hội An and Bát Trang, Việt Nam
Etson Caminha b.1984, Lospalos, Timor-Leste / Lives and works in Dili, Timor‑Leste
CAMP est. 2007, Mumbai, India / Live and work in Mumbai
Szelit Cheung b.1988, Hong Kong / Lives and works in Hong Kong
Masaya Chiba b.1980, Yokohama, Japan / Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan
Mele Kahalepuna Chun Kanaka ‘Ōiwi. b.1969, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i / Lives and works in Honolulu, Hawai‘i
Chung Seoyoung b.1964, Seoul, South Korea / Lives and works in Seoul
Community Partner Program South-East Queensland
Karla Dickens Wiradjuri, Irish and German heritage. b.1967, Gadigal land Sydney, Australia / Lives and works on Bundjalung Country in Goonellabah, Lismore, Australia
Dulguun Baatarsukh b.1984, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia / Lives and works in Ulaanbaatar
Ana Estrada, Nasrikah, Okui Lala / Ana Estrada b.1984, Mexico City, Mexico / Lives and works in Brisbane, Australia; Nasrikah b.1979, Tulungagung, Indonesia / Lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Okui Lala b.1991, George Town, Malaysia / Lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Harold ‘Egn’ Eswar b.1980, Keningau, Malaysia / Lives and works in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
‘Aunofo Havea Funaki and the Lepamahanga Women’s Group / ‘Aunofo Havea Funaki b.1972, Vava’u, Tonga / Lives and works in Vava’u; Lepamahanga Women’s Group est. 2016, Tu’anuku Village, Vava’u
Angela Goh b.1986, Canberra, Australia / Lives and works in Sydney, Australia
Brett Graham Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Tainui. b.1967, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand / Lives and works in Waiuku, Aotearoa New Zealand
Ishu Han b.1987, Shanghai, China / Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan
D Harding Bidjara, Ghungalu and Garingbal people. b.1982, Moranbah, Australia / Lives and works in Brisbane, Australia
Abolfazl Harouni b.1998, Karaj, Iran / Lives and works in Tehran, Iran
Haus Yuriyal est. 2015, Jiwaka Province, Papua New Guinea / Live and work in Jiwaka and Simbu Provinces, Papua New Guinea
Shahla Hosseini b.1954, Tehran, Iran / Lives and works in Tehran
Katsuko Ishigaki b.1967, Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan / Lives and works in Naha and Okinawa City, Okinawa
Saodat Ismailova b.1981, Tashkent, Uzbekistan / Lives and works in Paris, France and Tashkent
Mit Jai Inn b.1960, Chiang Mai, Thailand / Lives and works in Chiang Mai
Madina Kasimbaeva b.1981, Tashkent, Uzbekistan / Lives and works in Tashkent
Kawaki and Dreamcast Theatre / Kawaki est. 2016, Arnavons, Solomon Islands / Live and work in Katupika, hoiseul Province, Wagina, and Kia, Isabel Province, Solomon Islands; Dreamcast Theatre est. 2005 Honiara, Solomon Islands / Live and work in Honiara
Kikik Kollektive est. 2017, Iloilo province, The Philippines / Live and work in Iloilo province
Laresa Kosloff b.1974, Naarm Melbourne, Australia/ Lives and works in Naarm Melbourne
Zac Langdon‑Pole b.1988 Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand / Lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Lê Giang b.1988, Hà Nội, Việt Nam / Lives and works in Hà Nội
Lê Thuý b.1988, Thanh Hóa, Việt Nam / Lives and works in Hội An, Việt Nam
Jeremy Leatinu’u Ngāti Maniapoto; Safune, Puʻapuʻa, Vailoa, Fatausi, Safotu, Safotulafai Samoa. b.1984, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand / Lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau
Charles Lim Yi Yong b.1973, Singapore / Lives and works in Singapore
Muhlis Lugis b.1987, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia / Lives and works in Makassar
Eleng Luluan Rukai people. b.1968, Haocha (Kuchapungan) community, Pingtung County, Taiwan / Lives and works in Dawu, Pingtung County
Rithika Merchant b.1986, Mumbai, India / Lives and works in Mumbai, India and Barcelona, Spain (illustrated)
Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago Co-curated with Abraham Ambo Garcia Jr with the assistance of Al-Nezzar Ali and Emi Alexander Englis
Filwa Nazer b.1972, Swansea, United Kingdom / Lives and works in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Dawn Ng b.1982, Singapore / Lives and works in Singapore
Mai Nguyễn‑Long Việt Nam / Australia b.1970, Tasmania, Australia / Lives and works in Bulli, Dharawal Country, Australia
Nomin Bold and Ochirbold Ayurzana / Nomin Bold b.1982, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia / Lives and works in Ulaanbaatar; Ochirbold Ayurzana b.1976, Sukhbaatar Province, Mongolia / Lives and works in Ulaanbaatar
Oecussi woodcarvers Oecussi-Ambeno, Timor‑Leste
Haji Oh b.1976, Osaka, Japan / Lives and works in Wollongong, Dharawal Country, Australia
Paemanu Kāi Tahu. est. 2009, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand / Live and work in Ōtautahi, Ōtepoti, Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa New Zealand
Sarker Protick b.1986, Dhaka, Bangladesh / Lives and works in Dhaka (illustrated)
Joydeb Roaja Tripura people. b.1973, Kagrachari, Bangladesh / Lives and works in Kagrachari and Chittagong, Bangladesh
Varunika Saraf b.1981, Hyderabad, India / Lives and works in Hyderabad
Albert Yonathan Setyawan b.1983 Bandung, Indonesia / Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan
Wardha Shabbir b.1987, Lahore, Pakistan / Lives and works in Lahore (illustrated)
Hema Shironi b.1991, Kandy, Sri Lanka / Lives and works in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Darrell Sibosado Bard people. b.1966, Marapikurrinya/Port Hedland, Australia / Lives and works in Lombadina, Australia
Sancintya Mohini Simpson b.1991, Brisbane, Australia / Lives and works in Brisbane
TAMBA Co-curated with Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung, Nepal and surrounding region
Jasmine Togo‑Brisby Australian South Sea Islander. b.1982, Murwillumbah, Australia / Lives and works in Brisbane, Australia
Torba Weavers Co-curated by Dely Roy Nalo with the assistance of David Nalo, Torba Province, Vanuatu
Trương Công Tùng b.1986, Đăk Lăk, Central Highlands, Việt Nam / Lives and works in Hồ Chí Minh City, Việt Nam
Alexander Ugay b.1978, Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan / Lives and works in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Seoul, South Korea
Kawita Vatanajyankur with Pat Pataranutaporn / Kawita Vatanajyankur b.1987, Bangkok, Thailand / Lives and works in Bangkok; Pat Pataranutaporn b.1995, Boston, United States / Lives and works in Boston
Wang Tuo b.1984, Changchun, China / Lives and works in Beijing, China
Yeung Tong Lung b.1956, Fujian, China / Lives and works in Hong Kong
Yim Maline b.1982, Battambang, Cambodia / Lives and works in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Zhang Xu Zhan b.1988, Taipei, Taiwan / Lives and works in Taipei
‘The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ is made possible by Founding Supporter the Queensland Government and Principal Partner Creative Australia; and is supported by Strategic Partner Tourism and Events Queensland; Principal Benefactor Haymans Electrical & Data Supplies; Asia Pacific Triennial Kids Principal Benefactor Tim Fairfax Family Foundation; Major Partners Shayher Group, Urban Art Projects and Crumpler; and Grantor the Office for the Arts, part of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.
The Triennial will be on display from 30 November 2024 to 27 April 2025 throughout both QAG and GOMA.
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