ESCAPE! FOR THE DREAMLAND | 2009
The sixth exhibition in the Gallery’s Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art series occupies the entire Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) as well as the iconic Watermall and adjoining galleries at the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG).
APT6 includes the work of more than 100 artists from 25 countries, including collaborations and collectives, which reflect the diversity of practices across Asia, the Pacific and Australia.
APT6 has a number of specific focuses and thematic links while considering recent shifts in contemporary art in communities that have not been represented in the APT before, including works by artists from Tibet, North Korea (DPRK), Turkey and Iran, and from countries of the Mekong region such as Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma).
APT6 also acknowledges the innovation that exists in performance and music in Asia and the Pacific. To this end, the Pacific Reggae Project looks at this musical genre as it has developed in Hawai’i, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and New Zealand.
The major thematic cinema program for APT6 looks west to explore cultural constellations across the Indian subcontinent (Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Kashmir,Pakistan) to West Asia and the Middle East (including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine).
For APT6, Thukral and Tagra have created an installation that brings together their varied work in art and design. The work is conceived around the dreams of young people in India, in particular the Punjabi people of the country’s north, dreams that involve emigrating to other countries, often at great cost to themselves and their families. Thukral and Tagra’s work will explore the tension between aspiration and reality through a highly constructed domestic space, featuring paintings, sculpture, video and consumer objects.
Related Links:
qag.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/past/recently_archived/apt6 and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/queenslandartgallery/sets/