APT9 Exhibition Report

Installation view of Pannaphan Yodmanee’s In the aftermath 2018 / Photograph: Natasha Harth FOREWORD The remarkable success of ‘The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT9) is a testament to the wide-reaching network of artists, curators, staff, partners and supporters that brings QAGOMA’s flagship exhibition to life every three years. From November 2018 to April 2019, APT9 attracted a stellar attendance of 718 369 across the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), with a record average daily attendance of 4665. Interstate and overseas guests accounted for 35.5% of visitors, emphasising the Triennial’s status as a destination event for art lovers, and the exhibition contributed close to $35 million to Queensland’s economy. Taking a longer view, an impressive 3.7 million people have now seen the Triennial over its nine exhibitions to date. APT9 has also had an outstanding popular and critical response. Its depth and diversity — with more than 400 artworks by over 80 artists and groups from over 30 countries — has been a common theme in visitor feedback and reviews alike. As always, the exhibition has enriched our Collection, and 244 of the works displayed in APT9 have been gifted or acquired for future generations. From Aisha Khalid’s stunning tapestry of pins to the sweeping visual poetry of Jonathan Jones’s installation and the sublime contrasts of Pannaphan Yodmanee’s work, they represent incredible technical achievements while expressing in complex layers the elaborate cultural and political dynamics of each creator’s place in the world. APT9 put emphasis on community participation, especially with female artists in the Pacific, through co-curated and deeply collaborative projects such as Women’s Wealth. APT9 Kids featured eight interactive projects developed with leading artists from the region, and the APT9 Cinema programs included three strands focusing on screen productions from India, East Asia and the Marshall Islands. Throughout the five months of the exhibition, the Gallery ran more than 150 programs for both QAGOMA Members and the general public, many of them held across a massive weekend of events during January’s Summer Festival, during which we had the highest attendance at an Up Late event to date. More than 26 000 people attended in booked groups, including class groups from as far afield as Melbourne and Wellington. Volunteer guides hosted hundreds of tours, and we were pleased to also make the Triennial more accessible with tours and programs for visitors who are Deaf or have hearing loss, visitors with dementia and those with no or low vision. APT9 Kids on Tour also travelled to a record number of venues across the state. The APT continues to be instrumental to Queensland’s reputation as a global innovator in bringing contemporary art to a wider audience. Moreover, by featuring art and artists from diverse cultures across the region, the exhibition plays an important role in encouraging conversations around understanding and tolerance of difference. At the culmination of the exhibition, QAGOMA was proud to receive the ICOM Australia Institutional Award 2019 in recognition of the groundbreaking APT series. The series was lauded as ‘the only exhibition of its type in Australia that can lay claim to being truly globally significant’, demonstrated to an outstanding level through APT9. On behalf of the entire Gallery, we extend our sincere thanks to the artists, partners, supporters and sponsors who helped create and sustain APT9 through its formidable season. We also acknowledge the generosity of benefactors who, through the QAGOMA Foundation, have helped bring so many memorable artworks into our Collection. We could not be prouder to have delivered this remarkable exhibition for our audiences, nor happier with the response it received. We look forward to seeing you at the tenth anniversary of this incredible project in 2021. Professor Emeritus Ian O’Connor AC Chair, Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees Chris Saines CNZM Director, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art 7 FOREWORD