2011-12 Report

10 Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees Annual Report 2011–12

Outcomes

The Gallery is committed to the development and profile

of the State Collection and ensuring it is accessible to

Queenslanders. Sustained research into the Collection —

and dissemination of this information through a variety

of exhibitions, publications and public programs — has

ensured it is an enduring resource for a wide range of visitors

and scholars. The Queensland Art Gallery Collection is

distinguished for its holdings of contemporary Australian,

Asian and Pacific art, with a particular focus on Queensland

Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists.

The Gallery reinforced its strong ties with the Asia Pacific

region through initiatives such as the Asia Pacific Triennial

of Contemporary Art (APT); and the Australian Centre of

Asia Pacific Art (ACAPA), the research arm of the Gallery’s

Asia Pacific activities, which has supported artist and curator

residencies, academic research projects, public lectures,

forums and publications. In 2011–12, ACAPA supported

two internships: curator John Ohoiwirin, Asmat Museum of

Culture and Progress, Agats Papua, Indonesia (supported by

the Diocese of Agats, the University of Queensland Museum

Studies Program and ACAPA), and Sushma Griffin, a graduate

of the University of Queensland’s Art History department.

Curatorial staff undertook research throughout Europe and

the Asia Pacific region during 2011–12 for Collection and

exhibition development purposes. Countries visited included:

Indonesia (including Papua), Vietnam, Japan, South Korea,

India, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, China

(including Hong Kong), Spain, the United Kingdom, the

United States of America and France. Gallery staff also

presented papers at conferences and contributed to external

publications, further promoting the Gallery and its Collection.

For more information on these contributions, please refer

to page 99.

The Gallery presents two major exhibition series: the Asia

Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) — the only major

recurring international exhibition to focus exclusively on the

contemporary art of Asia, the Pacific and Australia; and the

‘Contemporary Australia’ series — the most extensive regular

presentation of contemporary Australian art in the country.

This financial year the Gallery presented the second exhibition

in the series, ‘Contemporary Australia: Women’.

Initiatives to increase and diversify membership of the

Gallery’s fundraising body, the Queensland Art Gallery

Foundation, have continued this year, with a focus on individual

giving through private benefaction, as well as a targeted

appeal campaign for the acquisition of new works. For more

information on the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation,

please refer to page 137.

The Gallery’s Research Library collected and maintained

a range of materials related to the Collection, including

catalogues, journals and images, which are publicly

accessible. Gifts and donations contribute to the Research

Library’s collection development and included two significant

gifts this year. These included the addition of resources

on Henri Matisse to the James C Sourris,

, Collection

of Rare Books made possible by the generous support of

James C Sourris,

, through the Queensland Art Gallery

Foundation; and a collection of Australian art books, exhibition

catalogues and journals gifted by the Josephine Ulrick and

Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts through the Queensland

Art Gallery Foundation 2012, donated through the Australian

Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The acquisition and gifting of major works and projects

presented in the Children’s Art Centre has also contributed to

the diverse nature of the Gallery’s collections. As part of the

Children’s Art Centre’s exhibition programming, major works

were commissioned, including an expanded iteration of Fiona

Hall’s

Fly Away Home

, presented in 2012. Yayoi Kusama’s

The

obliteration room

2002, created in collaboration with the artist

as part of Kids’ APT 2002, was gifted by the artist in 2012.

Research, scholarship, publishing, acquisition and

conservation programs throughout the year have ensured the

Collection is maintained to the highest art museum standards

for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future users.

Collection development

During 2011–12, the Gallery continued to develop the

Collection with a number of important acquisitions.

The Gallery is committed to supporting and promoting the

work of Queensland artists, in particular Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander art and culture. The Gallery’s Collection

currently consists of 15 686 works with 680 acquired during

2011–12; 235 were works by Queensland artists. For more

information on acquisitions with detailed captions, please

refer to page 32. The development of the Collection was

pursued in accordance with the

Acquisitions Policy 2009–14

The Collection