QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY COLLECTION & ASSOCIATED PROGRAMS

• • The Contemporary Asian Collection at the Queensland Art Gallery includes a group of significant works from across the Asian region, defined as spanning the Indian subcontinent across to Japan and is emerging as the most significant contemporary Asian collection in Australia and has earned the Gallery an international recognition for this pioneering effort and visionary dedication. Endorsing the immense on-going effort and commitment of the Queensland Art Gallery to realise the Asia-Pacific Triennial project, the Contemporary Asian Collection includes at its core a number of important works either made or shown at the Triennials of 1993, 1996 and 1999.

  • The Gallery’s commitment to collecting the finest of Asian contemporary art was confirmed in 1993 when it announced the establishment of the Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art. This development coincided with the First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in 1993 and the Gallery has since consistently used this exhibition as an opportunity for collecting significant works to augment its collection. APT 2002 will continue this momentum with a series of important acquisitions planned in preparation for the new Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. These acquisitions are supported by the Sidney Myer Foundation. Thus the entire Contemporary Asian Collection, which includes the Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art, ensures that the Queensland Art Gallery’s holdings of contemporary Asian art remain dynamic and unique to Australia.

  • What distinguishes the Queensland Art Gallery’s collection of Contemporary Asian Art is the core group of major works of a particular standard, quality and breadth that sets the tone for future acquisitions. Some of the works that have set this standard include Xu Bing’s ‘A book from the sky’, Cai Guo Qiang’s ‘Dragon or Rainbow Serpent’, Shigeo Toya’s ‘Woods III’, Montien Boonma’s ‘Lotus Sound’, Nam June Paik’s ‘The elements’, Rummana Hussain’s ‘Space for healing’, Lee Mingwei’s ‘Writing the unspoken’, Kamin Lertchiaprasert’s ‘Problem-Wisdom’ and Vivan Sundaram’s ‘The Sher-Gil Archive’.

  • Considerable efforts have also been expended over the last twenty years on special exhibitions of Asian art organised in collaboration with institutions such as the Idemitsu Museum in Tokyo, the Museum of Modern Art in Saitama and the Shanghai Museum (in the latter two instances building on sister-state relationships). ‘Indonesian Gold: Treasures from the National Museum, Jakarta’ brought to Australia a historical collection of objects from the kratons of Indonesia. This was followed by an exhibition of Korean art from the Chosōn period titled ‘Earth, Spirit, Fire: Korean Masterpieces from the Chosōn Dynasty’ in collaboration with the Powerhouse Museum Sydney, the National Museum of Korea in Seoul and the Ho-Am Art Museum in Korea.

  • The most significant initiative by the Gallery in the area of pre-modern Asian art was unquestionably the formation in the early 1990s of a collection of representative jars from each of Japan’s Six Old Kiln sites (Tokoname, Seto, Tamba, Bizen, Shigaraki and Echizen). Dating from the early fourteenth century to the late sixteenth century, these masterworks provide a unique survey of such works in Australia. As a group they also serve as the centrepiece of the Pre-Modern Asian Art Gallery. The design of this gallery is based on Japanese aesthetics and looks out onto a small Japanese-style rock garden.

  • The formal establishment of an Asian Art Department in June 2001 at the Gallery was the official recognition of the significance that the Contemporary Asian Collection has gained at the Gallery. This collection together with the continued development of its pre-modern and contemporary Asian art exhibition interests underscores the unique character of this Gallery’s collection ambitions as being one of Australia’s most innovative public art museums.

  • Contemporary art of the Pacific has proven to be a powerful and vital component of the APT project. The Gallery’s ongoing commitment to researching and collecting contemporary Pacific art has been supported by the Darling Foundation which has facilitated focussed research and expanded curatorial expertise resulting in an acquisition program being further developed for this aspect of the Collection.

  • The establishment of professional museum exchanges in the Pacific region was inaugurated with the Tjibaou Cultural Centre in New Caledonia and the Queensland Art Gallery curatorial exchange program in 2000.

  • Throughout the last decade Queensland Art Gallery curators have continued their international curatorial research and engagement by attending and participating as speakers and advisers in a number of important recurring arts events including the First Yokohama Triennale, Havana Biennial, Lyon Biennale, Taipei Biennale, Shanghai Biennale and the Fukuoka Triennale.

 

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