INTERVIEW Austin Camilleri’s solo show

Review /Malta / Austin Camilleri

June - August 2022

MALTA

JOANNA DELIA

LE.IVA: SUBLIME FURY AND EXQUISITE OUTRAGE.

LE.IVA - Anger is a Lazy Form of Grief a solo show by Austin Camilleri was held between the 25th of February and the 10th of April, 2022, at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta.

LEAP, Unpatinated bronze, orbital sanding, 2021. Photo: © Brian Grech Courtesy: Austin Camilleri Studio

JOANNA DELIA is a medical doctor who specialises in cosmetic medicine. She is also a cultural consumer and art collector who tirelessly supports local contemporary art and culture.

Ibelieve Austin Camilleri likes to have fun with his works. He clearly likes to create works which can be likened to fantastical toys, props, immersive theatrical sets and juxtapose them to a community, forcing us to play with them in our heads with him. And in doing that, we play in our heads with him. With the games, and the rules for the games his mind conjures. The thought games he uses to deal with whatever society is doing to piss him off. The aspects of human behavior which consciously or unconsciously cause pain and trauma to other fellow humans and the lies the same humans use to cover this up.

LE.IVA - yes/no, seems to mean thoughts like Should I, or should I not? Should I look, or should I look away? she loves me, she loves me not. Shall I give up, or not?

He ponders these questions, these states of confusion and pours the results of his disorienting conclusions into works using media as diverse as it gets. In fact, the only unifying thread is that each work is in itself made of diverse media. From recovering a migrant boat engine propellor, which he then gilds to a wooden architectural model of a bombed opera house, which he then burns, to a passport which he destroys and paints on, each work is a process in itself. It is the half-baked result of a journey. It is the documentation of a journey to nowhere.

Almost all the works seem to show two sides. Two states. The artist seems to want to present a symbiotic relationship between perceived truth and fiction, and the honesty and dishonesty society is presented with, or chooses to contend with when it comes to issues such as post-colonial turmoil, racism and blind fury at illegal migrants, misogyny and so on. At the same time this dichotomy is transcribed when he made each work both beautiful and classically ugly at the same time.

Hence the title. One might see it as polarisation, something Camilleri’s birth country aces in. The work calls out the immature us and them, black and white mentality which is so typical of the debate process in this country. But rather than be separated, the issues have been forced to coexist within each physical structure.

Take Leiva, a public sculpture, placed in the niche of Palazzo Castellania, former Court of Justice of Malta and current headquarter of the Ministry of Health. She is equally small, but fierce, hamalla

GHOSTTRIP SERIES, Magnani paper, Rosaspina paper, non-Newtonian ink, etching ink, 180 individual works, 2015/2021 Photo: © Brian Grech Courtesy: Austin Camilleri Studio

Curator Rosa Martinez and Austin Camilleri give exhibition tour

Review /Malta / Austin Camilleri

June - August 2022

MALTA

Continued

but commanding, furious but demanding of justice. Livid but harmless. It obviously reminds me of the statue of the Fearless Girl by Kristen Visbal which for a while was so perfectly placed in front of the bull in Manhattan, except that in Malta Leiva, the fierce one is stuck in a niche like the ones which once housed a religious figure. Except that Historically, the plinth on Palazzo Castellania never housed the statue of a saint or apostle but in stark contrast to the many other corners of Valletta people found guilty of robbery or other minor crimes where exposed to public mockery on that plinth, so they could suffer the shame of being judged and punished by other fellow citizens. Leiva seems like she would like to face the world but is relegated to her pedestal of piety. And is allowed to confront no one. Her issues are not even given enough credit to be discussed or debated. She is strong but she is weak. She is seen but not respected.

Our society is thus fragmented. Bipolarity and Fragmentation of opinion is pretty much the case with every hot topic of the moment. And whereas most contemporary art shows would usually somehow deal with a stream of consciousness stemming from the wish to explore a single or closely knit set of issues or emotional reactions, Austin seems to start from the notion of power and fly with it. He starts with a Hamalla tal-belt ends with queen Victoria - or her absence. When something is removed - do you have less meaning? Less significance? Or more? Yes or no?

He dedicates a room to the thousands of human beings dying in our sea while we watch and munch popcorn and badger the dead with virtual spit and vitriol and then makes a shiny golden, larger than life monumental statue of our very own super hero - the man who conquered this same sea and

ANGERISALAZYFORMOFGRIEF 1, 4K video, 3 screens in sync, 2021/2022 Photo: © Brian Grech Courtesy: Austin Camilleri Studio

broke world records. Although he, like Leiva, is facing no one. All that power staring into space.

The show is curated by the formidable Rosa Martínez who curated international biennials including Barcelona, 1989-1992; Manifesta 1, Rotterdam, 1996; Istanbul, 1997; SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 1999; Busan, South Korea, 2000; Sao Paulo, 2006; and Moscow 2005-2007. In 2003, she was curator of the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale where in 2005, she directed the 51st International Art Exhibition - ‘Always a Little Further’ in the Arsenale, which made her - together with Maria de Corral, of the Italian Pavilion- the first female director of this event in 110 years of history.

From 2004 to 2007 she was chief curator of the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art and in 2019 she curated the show In the Name of the Father at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona.

In 2018, she organized the project Constellation Malta for Valletta 2018 - European Capital of Culture, and this is where the collaboration with Camilleri was consolidated.

Martinez has evidently formed a strong professional relationship with Camilleri over the years and champions his concepts, processes and works in her statements. In a Times Of Malta interview when asked if the subtitle ‘Anger is a lazy form of grief’ refers to our country’s propensity to wallow in impotency, she answers ‘If you, who are a Maltese citizen, see it that way, there might be some truth in what you say. However, again, all this refers also to many other countries…’

Irene Biolchini, is co-curator - a lecturer in Contemporary Art at the Department of Digital Arts, University

BANDIERA BIANCA,2 channel HD video 03:07, looped, 2018, Edition 3 Photo: © Brian Grech Courtesy: Austin Camilleri Studio

of Malta, and a Guest Curator for the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza since 2012 which are two among many of her international roles.

I caught up with Austin for a few clarifications.

How did you meet your curator and co-curator? How did the idea of this collaboration start? What was your drive and motivation for this show?

I’ve known Irene for quite a long time and we collaborated both locally and abroad. Irene was my curator for the Venice Biennale 2019 bid, BARRA. I first met Rosa in 2018, when she invited me to be part of her international show Constellation Malta. It was an honour to exhibit with Marina Abramovic, Yoshimoto Nara, Chiharu Shiota, Saskia Calderon etc. We have been collaborating ever since. It was natural for me to share and discuss the idea behind a new show with Rosa. She very much liked the works....so it was easy from then onwards:)

Did you work on the individual themes separately? It seems like a response to diverse and yet equally important frustrations/observations. Did one issue lead to another?

All are concerns that I’ve been tackling for the past years...and all share the same root!

The works also seem to me to be a Yin Yang of anger and appreciation as the title suggests I guess… and therefore the work feels very balanced collectively - some bitterness and some awe - is this something you regularly feel and want to transmit?

The title is just an excuse, and doesnt have to be literal. Polarisation was central - its manifestation, not necessarily in the works themselves but in the perception of the works or the perception of the theme of the works by the social fabric itself.

I always feel your works stem from pure concept but then become very tangible, covetable physical objects. And most artists today are happier stopping half way through this journey and publish the documentation - leaving things open ended - like most say pavilions in this year’s Venice Biennale. How do you feel about this ‘trend’? Do you feel compelled to produce a tangible work every time?

Not really. I maneuver between transience and permanence. I have many works that are open-ended, time based or simply instruction-based.

With Le.Iva, I wanted materiality and the expanded form of sculpture, together with its gravity and tradition, to be very much the backbone of the show.

How do YOU think this show was perceived? How do you feel about the malta based audience? Do you see an increasing level of maturity and appreciation of contemporary art as the years go by?

I felt that the show reached an audience beyond the usual art circles, and that’s encouraging. Le.Iva had also an international following and, by default, the works are bound to travel.

Images of visitors to the exhibition posing with the Monumental statue of Neil the record breaking swimmer went viral - and in this way I believe the work fast became possibly the most recognizable contemporary work of art in Malta. And the show sold out although the works live on in unity in the catalogue which accompanied the works. And in our collectively bewildered concerted memories.

HOPE, Stainless steel propeller/migrants boat, 22crt gold leaf, 2018 Photo: © Brian Grech Courtesy: Austin Camilleri Studio

LEIVA, Cold cast aluminium, white paint, 2021/2022 Location: Castellania Palace, Merchants Street, Valletta, Malta Photo: © Brian Grech Courtesy: Austin Camilleri Studio