Photo Credits: Mark Calleja
Once every three years, Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) at the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) holds an exhibition showcasing collaborations and collectives of more than 100 artists from 25 countries all over Asia, the Pacific and Australia – and it is hyped as the sixth Asia Pacific Triennial (APT6) series.
The said art exhibition aims to exemplify the diversities of cultures, perceptions and practices of the artists from countries such as Tibet, North Korea, Turkey, Iran, Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines among others. APT6 opened last December 5, 2009 and will run until the 5th of April this year.
Every art installation piece is remarkable as oftentimes how these artists convey their message, express their feelings and communicate their thoughts somehow give you a sense of comfort in this strange fusion of ideas. APT6 also feature performances in music and film for people to be able to explore, discover and appreciate cultural constellations.
Currently, artists are providing workshops for children aged three to 12 for QAG’s biggest event, the Kids APT Summer Spectacular. The ones stealing the limelight so far are the works of a Japanese artist Shinji Ohmaki, Minam Apang from India, Reuben Paterson from NZ and husband-and-wife team, Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan originally from the Philippines.
The Aquilizans are now working and living in Brisbane with their family and with the relocation and years of continuous transition and integration into a new set of values and cultural norms, they began focusing on communicating the feeling of detachment and the moving on process; the overwhelming emotions of finally making a step for change and traveling the globe. Their past exhibitions since 1997 up to present in Australia, Japan, Korea, USA and Singapore have the same theme.
For the APT6, they made an out-of-the-ordinary collection of tiny aeroplanes made out paddle-pop sticks that will more likely turn out to be a giant aeroplane when finally put together – they called this Connecting Flight. As for the Kids APT Summer Spectacular activity, participants are encouraged to design their own model aircrafts using those sticks and other recycled materials.
Sources: The Observer and Queensland Art Gallery
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