The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) is partnering up with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Together they will present highlights from QAGOMA’s Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) and collection of Asian and Pacific art in London early 2026.
QAGOMA Director Chris Saines says: ‘For three decades the APT has been the cornerstone of our Gallery program, bringing together the work of more than 650 artists and groups from across 50 countries in the Asia Pacific region, and the London project will be only the second time that works acquired through the exhibition have toured internationally, following a tour to Santiago, Chile in 2019.
‘It’s a wonderful opportunity to share the cutting edge and customary art practices of our vast and immensely diverse region, which are so richly represented in our collection, with audiences in the northern hemisphere,’ adds Saines.
The two institutions will deliver the exhibition in partnership. It will be co-curated by QAGOMA’s team of Asian and Pacific art curators led by Tarun Nagesh, and Director of Exhibitions at the V&A, Daniel Slater.
APT was first brought beyond Queensland to the Centro Cultural La Moneda (CCLM) in 2019. Slater is also a member of CCLM’s International Advisory Committee and has long engaged with Australia’s cultural institutions, including the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) and ACMI.
The exhibition will showcase works by artists from the mega cities of Asia, to those based in Australia and the Pacific. It will include works ranging from large-scale sculptural installations and miniature painting to works on bark cloth and intricate body adornment.
These include Montien Boonma’s terracotta installation Lotus Sound (1992), Lyno Vuth’s House – Spirit (2018) and Iman Raad’s monumental panel painting, Days of Bliss and Woe (2018).
Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A says: ‘The APT presents a truly global, cross-cultural offering of contemporary practice across disciplines and regions, and we look forward to sharing this with our international audiences in London.’
In a 2021 interview discussing the APT10, Tarun Nagesh told ArtsHub that the exhibition centres ‘Indigenous Futurisms’ and environmental sustainability.
Read: APT10 delivers mature connections
For this collaboration with the V&A, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says, ‘[It] will put our region’s contemporary art and culture in the international spotlight from 2026.’
She continues: ‘The exhibition will feature works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island artists – sharing First Nations stories with the world.’
Chris Saines adds: ‘Since its inception in 1993, the APT has attracted more than four million visitors and extended QAGOMA’s reputation nationally and internationally. Importantly, the APT has enabled us to build an extraordinary, unrivalled collection of contemporary Asian and Pacific art that represents the unique creative voices of world-renowned contemporary artists alongside collaborations with local communities and arts makers.’
Highlights from three decades of the APT are also currently on view at Caboolture Regional Art Gallery in Queensland until 22 July.
