Launched in 1993 in Brisbane, Australia, the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art has a 30-year history. Its host institution, Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), has gained international legitimacy through its events. While the 10th edition in 2021 received limited attention due to the pandemic, the current edition, on view from November 30, 2024 – April 27, 2025, has raised greater expectations. Yet, it surprises with its refusal to opt for a scenography tailored to the pieces on display without explicitly framing interpretations of the works. Notably, it avoids the pitfall of presenting a disconnected accumulation of contemporary creations, which is remarkable given the vast geographical scope of this edition, spanning from Saudi Arabia to Hawaii. What holds it all together? This success lies in an organic approach, allowing two main guiding principles—both formal and conceptual—to emerge.

An aesthetic of suspension and spreading

In the exhibition, floors and ceilings are favoured over walls, the traditional framing of art galleries. When walls are used, it’s to showcase a set of woollen felt blankets by Brisbane-based artist D Harding (b. 1982), unframed images made from recombined jigsaw puzzles by New Zealand artist Zac Langdon-Pole (b. 1988) or terracotta pieces by Indonesian artist Albert Yonathan Setyawan (b. 1983). Suspended works are particularly abundant, such as the monumental installation by Thailand-born artist Mit Jai Inn (b. 1960) in the atrium of the Queensland Art Gallery. Resembling an arbour or a tunnel, it consists of long, thin strips of canvas painted in pastel-coloured oils, playing with the traditional medium of art museums to create an architectural ensemble.

In the adjacent gallery, the suspended soft sculptures of Kim Ah Sam (b. 1967), an indigenous artist from Queensland, evoke a similar arrangement. Made from raffia and emu feathers, these pieces stand out for their lightness and mobility, resembling floating jellyfish, though they are inspired by the shape of termite mounds. This formal focus is revisited at the Gallery of Modern Art with Open City (In Suspension), a flat metal installation shaped like a boat by Australian artist Jasmine Togo-Brisby (b. 1982). Togo-Brisby references her ancestors from the Vanuatu islands, who, along with 62,000 other Pacific Islanders, were abducted between 1863 and 1904 and forced into slavery, primarily on Australian sugar plantations. This historical reference to ‘blackbirding’ sheds light on a dark chapter in Australia’s modern history.

The floors of QAGOMA are similarly activated. New Zealander Brett Graham (b. 1967), who gained prominence at the last Venice Biennale, designed a long, dark carpet for visitors to walk on. This space is dominated by three monumental structures inspired by the control towers and forts used by British colonists to seize Maori lands. Uzbek artist Madina Kasimbaeva (b. 1981) also presents carpets, the largest of which extends from the top of a wall down to the floor. Equally notable is the geometric pavement made of handmade adobe bricks in three distinct shades of earth, featured in the installation by Saudi artist Dana Awartani (b. 1987). Titled Standing by the Ruins (2022), it draws on her Palestinian and Syrian heritage to offer an artistic reflection on the conflicts ravaging the region. The Earth is an Hourglass (2024), a multi-channel installation by Singaporean artist Dawn Ng (b. 1982), offers an original extension to the leitmotif of spreading. She documents her distinctive artistic process of using frozen blocks of coloured pigments, which she lets melt and sediment on wooden panels or paper laid on the ground. The result is a visually striking effect, oscillating between natural flow and artistic gesture in a hybrid form of sculpture and painting.

Weaving as a conceptual and curatorial lever

This aesthetic of suspension and spreading is accompanied by a strong emphasis on the practice of weaving. This is immediately apparent in the numerous textile works, such as biomorphic creations by Cambodian artist Yim Maline (b. 1982). Made from recycled materials, her compositions captivate when suspended or deployed horizontally. Shuttle, a video by Thai artist Kawita Vatanajyankur (b. 1987), in which she uses her own body as a shuttle on a loom, presents itself as an energetic manifesto with feminist undertones. Like Yim Maline, she denounces the devastating effects of the textile industry, fast fashion in particular, on both the environment and the human condition, including women’s labour. Bombay Tilts Down (2022), a seven-channel video installation by the Indian collective CAMP (active since 2007), features sequences recorded by surveillance cameras scrolling horizontally or vertically, offering a less literal but equally fascinating take on weaving, set to a lively soundtrack. Previously shown at the last Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2022, its ability to map the urban landscape of Mumbai, as if the video sequences were threads of images, gives the viewer a ubiquitous feeling and an addictive experience. Its ability to map the urban landscape of Mumbai. Additionally, there are several basketwork installations, such as one by a women’s collective from Vanuatu, a project led by artist Dely Roy Nalo (b. 1983), accompanied by a poem titled Né Vé Fé (Woven). She begins by declaring: “I am woven”, adding an intellectual depth to the practice of weaving, applied to life experiences with territorial, cultural and familial intricacies. Threading is also present, notably in the monumental installation of metal skulls by the Mongolian duo Nomin Bold (b. 1982) and Ochirbold Ayurzana (b. 1976), who designed the Mongolian pavilion at the last Venice Biennale, as well as in the ceramic work of Vietnamese artist Bùi Công Khánh (b. 1972).

The curatorial direction of the triennial, led by Tarun Nagesh, curatorial manager of Asian and Pacific Art at QAGOMA, and four other curators, Abigail Bernal, Ruha Fifita, Reuben Keehan and Ruth McDougall, weaves together inspired artistic connections from a wide variety of visual creations. It is made possible by a large number of commissions, many of which are included in QAGOMA’s permanent collection. This generous patronage policy reflects the Queensland Government’s impressive 2024 budget of US$530 million (AUD$850 million) for arts, culture and entertainment events. Additionally, all of the scenographic arrangements are notably facilitated by the institution’s vast spaces and volumes, the largest of any museum in Australia.

Xenophilic, this curatorial approach offers an artistic journey across half the globe, while remaining highly accessible thanks to a free-flowing itinerary, accompanied by inspiring labels for visitors. The museum’s staff and docents are also particularly dedicated and eager to share insights on the works. Neither better nor worse than a more linear and structured curatorial approach, this method is undeniably heuristic in its ability to indigenise contemporary art. It contributes to museographic research on vernacular creations from the Asia-Pacific region, which, from Aboriginal sand paintings to Tibetan textile banners and Persian carpets, diverge from Western hierarchies and canons. Although it may sound both anachronistic and Eurocentric, the triennial recalls the role of the 'Salon des Refusés' (french for ‘exhibition of rejects’) in the 19th century, offering a flexible platform for contemporary art from the Asia Pacific to grow and bloom without exogenous constraints—an ideal configuration for writing art history.

The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art is on view from November 30, 2024 – April 27, 2025, at Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Australia.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position of STIR or its editors.)