The Asia-Pacific Triennial Resists Eurocentric Models

At QAGOMA, Brisbane, a steadfast commitment to plurality knits together deeply disparate works

BY Sophia Cai in Exhibition Reviews | 30 JAN 25

Since the first Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) was held in 1993, the organizers of the triennial have continuously pushed back against Eurocentric tropes that pervade exhibition-making in Australia by putting the continent’s cultural output in conversation with that of its neighbours in Asia and the Pacific. The eleventh edition of APT, on view at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), showcases over 500 artworks by more than 200 artists from some 30 countries. Per the wall text, the curatorial premise is ‘concepts of crisis, community and care’. However, as with any exhibition of this scope, this brief thesis does not fully convey the expansive nature of the show.

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Kawita Vatanyankur and Pat Pataranutaporn, The Machine Ghost in the Human Shell (from the ‘Cyber Labour’ series), 2024, performative hologram projections with AI, dimensions variable. Courtesy: © Kawita Vatanyankur, the artists and Nova Contemporary

In addition to the in-house curatorium at QAGOMA, APT11 includes a number of projects developed with external curators, which are a great strength of the presentation. A highlight is the installation of textile works from Vanuatu’s Torba Province, guest curated by Dely Roy Nalo, who has worked with women weavers across the islands of Gaua, Merelava and Mote Lava. The textiles on display, including garments ornamented with palm seeds, are presented alongside a short film by Regina Lepping, Torba Weavers (2023), which shows the intergenerational women at work and highlights their sustainable use of natural materials, such as pandanus and coconut leaves.

A visually powerful installation by Papua New Guinea collective Haus Yuriyal, on view at Queensland Art Gallery, is another standout. Their vibrant works include an architectural structure, Kamkau Ike (Haus Toktok) (2024), and Veronica Gikope’s garden, GOMA Suna (2023–24), planted with sugar cane, banana and taro. The dazzling geometric designs that adorn the indoor structure and gallery walls alike are based on the Yuri tribe’s customary kuman (shield) paintings, which translate the boldly coloured fighting shields in paint, paper, plywood and wool. The cohesiveness of visual language across these forms is an assertion of Indigenous presence and a testament to the steadfastness of cultural expression.

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Haus Yuriyal, Kamkau Ike (Haus Toktok) and Kalabus, both 2024, and Yuriyal Bridgeman, Yuri Alai Eagles (ceiling shield paintings), 2024, exhibition view. Courtesy: © QAGOMA; photograph: C. Callistemon

While replete with large-scale installations, APT11 also features subtler artworks that invite intimate reflection. Sancintya Mohini Simpson’s kūlī / khulā (2024), for instance, foregrounds the stories of indentured women labourers from India. Across nine paper scrolls, the artist has painstakingly rendered daily scenes from colonial histories and records, working with traditions of Indian miniature painting. The piece compels visitors to spend time engaging with its rich stories, which are impossible to ascertain from a passing glance.

Among the works that merit – and reward – prolonged viewing are Mai Nguyễn-Long’s ceramic arrangement, The Vomit Girl Project (2024), and Zhang Xu Zhan’s nearby video installation, Compound Eyes of Tropical (2022). Nguyễn-Long’s array of uncanny hand-built ceramics referencing Vietnamese mythology elicits totemic interpretations, blending contemporary body-horror with questions of cultural identity, while Zhan’s video transforms the common material of joss paper – usually reserved for funerary customs – into a curious stop-motion animation. Put in conversation, Zhang’s and Nguyễn-Long’s works invite affinities based in ritual and folklore while remaining interpretatively open-ended.

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Mai Nguyễn-Long, The Vomit Girl Project (detail), 2024, glazed and unglazed clay, dimensions variable. Courtesy: © Mai Nguyễn-Long, the artist and Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin

With hundreds of artworks representing a multiplicity of practices and forms, APT11 is an overwhelming experience for even the most dedicated viewer. Yet, the show’s steadfast commitment to plurality knits together even deeply disparate works. The ‘care’ espoused by the curatorial rationale is realized in part through bilingual wall labels that expound upon each artist’s work in their own language. This institutional investment into translation is a meaningful gesture of inclusivity, not only for the artists featured, but also for the diverse audiences to whom the works speak.

The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art is on view at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art until 27 April

Main image: AWA (Artists for Waiapu Action, including Graeme Atkins, Abraham Karaka, Natalie Robertson, Alex Monteith, Lionel Matenga and Maree Sheehan), He Uru Mānuka, He Uru Kānuka, 2024, exhibition view. Courtesy: © the artists, © QAGOMA; photograph: Nicholas Umek

Sophia Cai 蔡晨昕 is a curator and writer based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. She completed her Masters in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

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