Ever hip to shifting cultural and economic boundaries, previous Asia-Pacific Triennials have tended toward jamboree-style inclusiveness, forging important institutional alliances along the way. This year’s show brings it all back home with a scaled-down lineup of seventeen participants assembled by five in-house curators (led by museum director Doug Hall). Whereas past events have emphasized multicultural description, this one focuses on Asian-Pacific art in relation to the international context. Boasting such heavy hitters as Nam June Paik, Yayoi Kusama, and Montien Boonma amid a roster of younger artists, the APT looks set to become a powerful arbiter in a newly configured East-meets-West art world—and a telling indicator of Australia’s inherently protean identity.

— Jeff Gibson