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ARCHITECTURE
REVIEW
Ai Weiwei makes sense of what humans make at the Design Museum
EXHIBITIONS The new Victor Pasmore Gallery in Valletta | Epic photographic story on Valletta in Paris | 17th century tapestries restored, at St John’s Co-Cathedral INTERVIEWS Charcoal artist CO-MA | London-based photographer Stephanie Galea
ARCHITECTURE Outlining a decolonised approach to Maltese built and cultural heritage ART TOURS Little grand tours for children in London
EXHIBITION
LONDON
June 2023 heralds Malta’s first participation in the London Design Biennale, an international showcase of design-led innovation, contemporary creativity and research at Somerset House on the banks of the Thames.
>> Interview, page 17
MALTA
maltabiennale.art 2024
Malta announces artist call for its first international art biennale: maltabiennale.art This special debut edition invites international artists to create works that arch from the islands’ abundant history.
>> Spotlight, page 12
Two Maltese contributions to Time, Space, Existence collective exhibition in Venice LONDON 2023
Editor
Dr. Joanna Delia
Managing Director & Sales
Lily Agius
Graphic Designer
Nicholas Cutajar
Contributors
Lisa Attard
Luke Azzopardi
Alexandra Aquilina
Sebio Aquilina
Trevor Borg
Kane Cali
Matthew Joseph Casha
Roderick Camilleri
Sarah Chircop
CO-MA
Alessia Deguara
Dr. Romina Delia
Ramona Depares
Ann Dingli
Charlene Galea
Charlie Cauchi
Stephanie Galea
Erica Giusta
David Pisani
Margerita Pulè
Sandro Valentino
Julian Vassallo
Sam Vassallo
Sarah-Lee Zammit
Supported by Architecture Project
Arts Council Malta
Exclusive Venues
Festivals Malta
Heritage Malta
Malta Tourism Authority
Ministry for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government
Nicolas Van Patrick
No. 43
People & Skin
The Little Grand Tour
The Thin White Duke
Unbound
Art Galleries + Museums
Adrian Bondy Galerie, Paris
Art Sweven, Malta
Blitz, Malta
Christine X Curated, Malta
Design Museum, London
Fondazzjioni Patrimonju Malta
Lily Agius Gallery, Malta
R Gallery, Malta
London Design Biennale
Maltabiennale.art
Marie Gallery5, Malta
Palazzo Moro,Venice
Spazju Kreattiv, Malta
The Malta Society of Arts
Valletta Contemporary, Malta
Victor Pasmore Gallery, Malta
And we’re in London!
On months like these I reaffirm my mission to make the Maltese local art scene more visible to those who remain blind to it.
Malta is participating for the first time at the London Design Biennale with the project titled Urban Fabric by the design team Open Square Collective at Somerset House between the 1st and 25th of June 2023; commissioned by Arts Council Malta and project led by Internationalisation Executive at Arts Council Malta, Dr. Romina Delia, it seeks to re-contextualise the traditional Maltese village core by merging traditional city planning and the Phoenician-Maltese tradition of fabric production and dyeing.
At the time of going to print with this edition of Artpaper, the City of Arts hosted Decadence Now. at Society of Arts, with a fine program of trans-disciplinary events.
A call for artists for the first edition of maltabiennale.art 2024 is out and closes in August - the excitement is palpable - finally Heritage Malta’s extraordinary portfolio of buildings and spaces will host world class contemporary art!
In the online edition, Jimmy Grima tells us about The School of Wind and Waves which continues to explore, navigate and document the wild habits of communities and ponders on the need for re-wilding
ourselves. Artist Norbert Francis Attard has his first solo show in a while at Gozo Contemporary with a satalite show at R Gallery - both unmissable!
Gender Boss, a performance piece conceived for this year’s Ziguzajg children’s art festival by artists Romeo Roxman Gatt and Martina Georgina generated a nationwide discussion highlighting the power of art in its ability to gauge social consciousness. Artpaper met up with the artists behind the work.
A virtual collective exhibition #BetweenSeaAndLand organised by MICAS, the Malta International Contemporary Art Space, with works by artists Caesar Attard, Matthew Attard, Aaron Bezzina, Ruth Bianco, Vince Briffa, Austin Camilleri, Charlie Cauchi, Patrick Fenech, Norbert Francis Attard, Romeo Roxman Gatt, Anton Grech, David Pisani, Pierre Portelli, Teresa Sciberras and Raphael Vella, curated by Jo Baring is currently on at micas.art/digital
So, support, discuss, watch, get inspired, and visit Malta!
In addition to the printed version, The Malta Artpaper will continue to report on the ground as events transpire, providing exclusive coverage on its online platform www.artpaper.press
12. ARTIST CALL For maltabiennale.art 2024
17. INTERVIEW Malta Pavilion makes its debut at London Design Biennale
37. ART SPACES A selection of art galleries and museums in Malta
07. EXHIBITION A New Gothic: 4th solo for Gulja Holland
09. RESIDENCY My Body (is) (not) ur Business Card?
09. RESTORATION 17th Century tapestries at St John’s Cathedral
34. BOOK A site specific art intervention across the Maltese islands
14. LONDON Ai Weiwei makes sense of what we make at London Design Museum
32. MALTA Audio installation, video, photography and built structures by Charlie Cauchi
33. MALTA colourful and vivacious work is a celebration of popular culture and everyday objects
34. PARIS An epic documentation of Valletta
35. MALTA Exploring the artist’s drive to create and represent images, meanings, and emotions through line.
36. MALTA visionary manifestations of beauty
11. VENICE Time, Space, Existence collective at Venice Architecture Biennale
26. HERITAGE A decolonised approach to Maltese built and cultural heritage
22. ABOUT The Malta Arts Council; building connections
25. ART SPACE Unfinished Art Space; a contributor to the Maltese visual arts scene
38 FOR SALE A selection of art for sale
29. PHOTOGRAPHY Edgy editorial shoots by Stephanie Galea
31. DRAWINGS Figures with mystical, otherworldly overtones by CO-MA
COVER IMAGE: DG Corallo Campaign by Stephanie Galea
SALADS BY DAY | DRINKS BY NIGHT @ NO.43
43, MERCHANT STREET, VALLETTA, MALTA
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Spazju Kreattiv presented a solo exhibition last month titled A New Gothic by Gulja Hollandan artist whose career trajectory continues to evolve and to find acute ways to interpret vividly
social conundrums. During the exhibition, the artist also collaborated with RCA alumni Rieko Whitfield on a 40-minute performance in the galleries of Spazju, curated by Andrew Borg Wirth and featuring interpretive work by multidisciplinary artists Charlie Cauchi and Rieko Whitfield.
“Gulja showcases an intimate understanding of society and some of the most profound life troubles. A collective of works that elicit the vibrant Mediterranean basin, and its conflicted undercurrents, that seek to erupt in a volcanic eruption of emotive realisation. A gathering of creatures, so abstract yet evocative of real beings, absorbed in their sole minds, yet paradoxically intertwined in a holistic search for purpose and existence… In this constructed framework, the artist invited visitors on a journey into these wondrous landscapes, full of curious creatures, and as they do, let themselves be transposed in a myriad of thoughts that can lead to a better understanding of our world, our community, and ultimately ourselves.” Daniel Azzopardi, Artistic Director of Spazju KreattivMalta’s National Centre for Creativity.
From the cavemen through to modern technology we have been learning about our world through images. In order to create and document stories we look to the past to understand history, geography and society. Art and literature also go hand-in-hand and the Little Grand Tour brings together all aspects of learning through their gallery and museum visits.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, men and women ventured across Europe on a ‘Grand Tour’ to experience high culture and see the wonder of Italian
art and sculpture first hand. The Little Grand Tour aims to inspire a community of little grand tourists across London to its many secret and varied collections in well known and not so well known galleries and museums. Lasting 2-3 hours depending on the tour, with a picnic pit stop, The Little Grand Tour focusses on a number of works of art which will not only encourage a love of art but also contribute towards school learning.
For more information contact us on +44 (0)7815007161 or thelittlegrandtour.london@gmail.com www.thelittlegrandtour.co.uk
Robustly titled ‘My Body (is)(not) ur Business Card?’, was a month long residency hosted by Charlene Galea in the National Museum of Malta (MUZA).
The community project focused on shame, guilt and failure - topics with her participants (of which the majority aren’t art connoisseurs). Roaming the museum they observed the lack of female artists represented in the traditional space and the style of how women have been represented, which contrasts the flyer on display; Charlene flaunting a seductive pose whilst advertising a male six pack shirt.
Using a pedagogical style of creation, Charlene and the crew drafted several scripts (Queenie, Confession to Queen E, Walk Of Shame) using the whole museum as a site specific space to challenge the norms of the traditional practices of the institution, giving performance art a new forefront in the local cultural sector, begging the question: ‘When will traditional institutions truly embrace community engaged arts as a cultural forte rather than a mischievous nuisance?’
The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation is delighted to announce that The Set of Tapestries are exhibited at St John’s Co-Cathedral until the 24th of June, after an extensive restoration process that lasted 16 years at De Wit Laboratories in Belgium. The last time they were displayed was during Pope St John Paul II’s visit to Malta in 1990.
The set of tapestries was commissioned by Grand Master Ramon y Perellos upon his election in 1697 and consists of 29 pieces depicting the Triumph of the Roman Catholic Church, scenes from the life of Christ and the twelve apostles. The majority of the tapestries were based on cartoons by the renowned artist Peter Paul Rubens and woven in Brussels by the weaver Judocus De Vos.
www.stjohnscocathedral.com
‘My Body (is)(not) ur Business Card?’ .
ERICA GIUSTA
with the Maltese cultural and built heritage and aiming at rediscovering and redefining what the elements of a truly Maltese architectural identity are. “We need to experiment with our own materials and modern technology, respect the context, and come up with creations that will mirror our identity for the next 50-100 years” said Maurizio Ascione, cofounder of 3DM, at the local preview of the installation, earlier this year. The multidisciplinary team including Antonio Lorusso, Berta Calleja, Diego Acero Rangel, Kenneth Rausi, Luca Zarb, Mariel Vignoni, Matthew Farrugia, Michele Azzopardi, Paul Dalli, Luke Lee Vella Mintoff, Peter Zabek, Poppy Cambridge, Sigmund Mifsud, Wafik Nasri, Tuan Bui and Ken Chircop, hopes to “provoke an emotional reaction, a sensitive awareness” into the visitors who will be experiencing the installation.
The growing interest of Maltese architecture firms in contributing to Time, Space, Existence - the satellite event of the Architecture Biennale di Venezia organised by the European Cultural Centre Italy - starting from the first participation of AP Valletta in 2014, is signalling the need for more opportunities for local architects and curators to join international platforms focusing on the debate on the built environment. “Time, Space, Existence has given us an opportunity to be present within the far-reaching scope of this year’s Biennale. It positions us in Venice at a time when all of the world’s designers, critics and place-makers are gathering to talk and think about what will matter most as we continue to physically and intellectually build our futures”, said Ann Dingli (writer and curator) and Sandro Valentino (Valentino Architects), part of the team behind GHALLIS, which includes Sumaya Ben Saad, Matthew Farrugia, Luca Zarb and Tara Žikic, a group of students from University of Malta. In line with the curatorial statement of Lesley Lokko for the main exhibition at the Arsenale, under the title “The Laboratory
of the Future”, the team hopes to position its proposal for the adaptive reuse of the 17th century Torri tal-Ghallis as a prompt for exploration around flexible retrofit, introducing a new counter to a local cult of newbuild development. “The premise of Lesley Lokko’s curation is a need to amplify historically hidden, overlooked or subjugated voices. In a local context, this translates to the people who want to preserve what’s good about Malta’s urban heritage, whilst propelling forward ideas that align with environmental and social longevity. Sensitive, ethical architecture is now the clear underdog in the conversation and practical evolution of Malta’s built environment. GHALLIS is an ambassador for that underrepresented voice, and a showcase of what wellmeaning, sensitive architecture can do to add value to our built fabric. This, we hope, tallies with Lokko’s call for agency, change and action” explains Ann Dingli. Their aim is to explore how historic, fortified structures like Torri tal-Ghallis might be creatively adapted, as well as their potential for becoming more accessible to wider public use. As such, the functional flexibility of new architectural elements is driven by an end-goal of inclusiveness, resisting any prescribed function. “In
Malta we are missing a discussion around how we can hybridise a solution to conserving heritage assets and allowing them to be commercially viable, whilst simultaneously recovering them for public use. We hope this will translate into a message on why heritage retrofit needs more attention and more lateral thinking, and how it could be the answer to making existing buildings more open and usable”, concludes Sandro Valentino.
In the same spirit, local architecture firm 3DM will present ISSA, an installation inviting the visitor to actively re-engage
In both cases, the eagerness to actively engage with heritage in an innovative manner highlights an important shift in focus for the local debate on heritage, identity and sustainability.
Both GHALLIS and ISSA, inaugurated on the 18th of May 2023, as part of the collective exhibition Time, Space, Existence in Venice - GHALLIS at Palazzo Mora, ISSA at Palazzo Bembo. Both venues will be open to the public until 26th November 2023.
For more information and updates, visit the official website https:// timespaceexistence.com/
Spotlight /Open Call / Artists / maltabiennale.art
London 2023
The biennial, or biennale as it is sometimes referred to, has become a flagship event; a magnetic sea that pulls in all types of players in contemporary art.
In simple terms, a biennial is a large exhibition held every two years, the first in 1895 in Venice, which is today the Mecca of biennials throughout the planet. Just as the 59th edition, Milk of Dreams drew to a close in 2022, the Mediterranean islandmuse Malta announced its first call for an international biennial: maltabiennale.art.
maltabiennale.art is proudly presented by MUZA, Heritage Malta and Arts Council Malta in cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade, VisitMalta, and Spazju Kreattiv. In this special debut edition, international artists are invited to create works that arch from the islands’ abundant history.
Directed by established Italian curator Sofia Baldi Pighi, maltabiennale.art 2024 will conjure some of the islands’ most cherished historic sites into venues for contemporary artistic expression. On islands woven by centuries of complex
cultural fabrics, from the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs to the Order of St. John, French and British, maltabiennale.art will engage and reflect on the overlooked narratives of history in order to catalyse new frames of being.
The title of the debut is aptly called bahar abjad imsagar taz-zebbug; asking participants to engage with the core and edges of the geographic and cultural Mediterranean landscape. This small archipelago has played a crucial role throughout the pulls and pushes of history; unravelling and connecting different cultures into an idiosyncratic identity.
This islands’ identity is being challenged to find its ground in the world of existing histories of contemporary Western and non-Western art due to its periods of colonisation and peripheral location. Now, the maltabiennale.art will present under-explored narratives that form shared realities to stimulate an opening of alternative and informed conversations.
Individual artists and associate groups wishing to form part of Malta’s contemporary history of maltabiennale. art are asked to submit their proposals through the artists’ portal on maltabiennale.art’s website. Each artist or associated group selected is eligible to receive up to €13,000 of financial support
for their project. Proposals are to be submitted by no later than noon (CET) on Friday 25th August 2023.
Each submitted project will then be analysed by a select team, which includes the president of the maltabiennale.art, the artistic director and the curatorial team of national and international critics, curators, architects and art dealers.
This is an exciting and unique opportunity to see artworks and pavilions installed in heritage sites across the islands including
forts, palaces and the unique megalithic UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The main exhibition will be set in the Grand Master’s Palace in the 500 year old capital city of Valletta, a World Heritage City.
bahar abjad imsagar taz-zebbug seeks to reflect meaningfully on the predominant and overlooked narratives about the Mediterranean cultural landscape
inherited from past generations. The first edition of maltabiennale.art promotes insight into the present and catalyses new encounters; enriching ideas about the future using venues of poignant historical relevance locally and internationally.
To submit and find out more information, please visit www.maltabiennale.art
One room, forty-two works, thirty years of widespread urban development addressed through a series of mammoth exhibits. Ai Weiwei enters the Design Museum’s ground floor exhibition space with concise yet unrelenting impact, his power of artistic advocacy for the first time positioning ‘design’ as its bullseye – albeit without explicitly defining the remit of what ‘design’ means to the mind of the activist artist.
It seems it means everything. From Neolithic fragments of tools and weaponry to Lego pieces, life vests, porcelain cannonballs, and thousands of abeyant teapot spouts. Ai Weiwei is liberal with how wide he casts his net over human beings’ moulding of the social, ethical, and material pathways of the world through design. The exhibition is touted in its promotion as including “brand new works exploring different forms of making through the ages”. And so it does. But that feels secondary to the comment Ai Weiwei is making on humanity’s self-ordained authority over the world’s resources, materials, and even people.
He divides this collection of works into three categories: ‘evidence’, ‘construction/destruction’, and ‘ordinary things’. Respectively, the categories demonstrate a methodology of fragment gathering, a recording of inflicted ruin,
Ai Weiwei makes sense of what we make
HUMANITY’S DESIGN AND DEMEANOUR:ANN DINGLI Detail from Water Lilies #1, 2022, by Ai Weiwei. Lego bricks. Photo © Ela Bialkowska/OKNO studio. © Image courtesy of the artist and Galleria Continua
ANN DINGLI is an art and design writer with an MA in Design Criticism from the University of the Arts, London. She has worked as a freelance writer and content consultant for four years, writing remotely from London, New York and Malta since 2016. (anndingli.com)
and conversion of accepted meaning or use into something else. All categories do subscribe to the testimony of the artist’s use of “design and the history of making as a lens through which to consider what we value”. But the focus on ‘design’ somehow falls into the distance as the subject matter of each segment draws viewers in with a magnetism so characteristic of Ai’s oeuvre.
In the face of the individual works, it becomes challenging to remember what the show is about in its entirety. Each and every one of his copious compositions demands an explicit reckoning over the nuanced subject it addresses. This is not a curatorial failure per se, but the automatic effect
that the potency many of Ai Weiwei’s works have on their viewer. For example, the ink and paper series titled Nian Nian Souvenir is devastating as an exposé of the 5,197 schoolchildren who died in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, rendering its viewer less concerned with the way its hand-carved jade seal has been designed to yield repeated symbols, and fully consumed with the message of volume vis-à-vis the event’s fatalities.
Design, therefore, often feels like a distant – or even mildly immaterial –framing point as the works are navigated across the large room. Subjects of exploitation, material gluttony and waste usurp attention. In Bejing 2003, a 150-hour video piece that marks the way the city has irrevocably changed from 2003 to present day through the filming of every single narrow alley and street of Bejing, seems to only have one focus: unchecked urban corrosion. Design as a touchpoint, in this instance, feels evasive.
Design becomes more dominant in the show’s smaller pieces – its sculptures that re-frame hangers, handcuffs, sex toys, take-out paraphernalia, cosmetics and so on as vehicles of consumerism, convenience, censorship, and other human malaises. Here the works do draw attention back to how these objects are ‘made’, and by extension
what their design engenders and enables in human behaviour.
Despite the oscillation between tenuous and evident in its relation to a declared theme of design, the exhibition movingly succeeds in ‘making sense’ of things. But there again, this is the signature of Ai Weiwei – his sophisticatedly brazen input has always succeeded in turning people’s ethical heads, whether by spectacle or by substance.
Perhaps the christening of design as a thread throughout the exhibition merely works to give it allegiance to the museum that hosts it. Either way, the reason behind why these works were brought together takes a backseat to the impressions they individually leave – impressions of shock, sadness, acknowledgement, and repentance. Ai Weiwei’s manner of making sense is more about the design of human fallibility than the design of the things they make. Although that might be the exact point, and if so, the artist’s multi-layered grasp on the power of art as a tool for didacticism rests unrivalled.
Ai Weiwei: Making Sense at the Design Museum runs until 30 July 2023. Open every day 10am to 6pm, except Saturdays until 9pm. www. designmuseum.org
During the final preparations for Malta’s participation in the London Design Biennale, we meet the team behind the concept and actualisation, to hear about their intention behind the design.
June 2023 heralds Malta’s first participation in the relatively new London Design Biennale, an international showcase of design-led innovation, contemporary creativity and research at Somerset House on the banks of the Thames. Arts Council Malta has invested considerably in exporting its creative industries in recent years, with a pavilion at the Venice Biennale since 2017 and several Maltese appearances at international architecture biennials.
I meet the team responsible for the Malta’s pavilion, just a few short weeks before the set-up of their installation; the Open Square collective is made up of four creative practitioners from different fields, fitting nicely with the Biennale’s theme of The Global Game: Remapping Collaborations.
Their work, Urban Fabric, proposes a re-contextualisation of the traditional Maltese village core, combining elements of vernacular urban design with traditional fabric weaving and
MARGERITA PULÈ is an artist, writer and curator, with a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts, and founder of Unfinished Art Space. Her practice and research are concerned with the contradictions of politics and social realities.
dyeing techniques. Wood, re-used stone and organic, sustainablyproduced fabric take centre-stage in the installation which is at once structured but also soft and sail-like, placed within a large, formal Georgian square in the centre of London.
The team tells me how Open Square collective came together. Lead creative artist Matthew Joseph Casha and architect Alessia Deguara presented the element of spatial planning and an immersive space. Trevor Borg is an artist and academic, and an established figure in Malta’s contemporary art scene. It was important for the project to have an awareness of the environment, both in terms of the space around it, and in terms of its impact on the earth’s resources. And with couturier and designer Luke Azzopardi on board, the team of four was complete; he brought with him his interest in the specialised techniques of the ancient Phoenicians who for millennia lived, produced and traded in the Mediterranean. The team were inspired by the Phoenicians’ weaving and dyeing techniques in particular, as well as the ingenuity of their use of resources. This ethos; careful attention to
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“The installation will create its own histories and narratives; natural colours may fade, timbers may shift, and fabrics may billow and float –this is part of the life-cycle of the natural materials it contains.”
The village core from which the project takes its inspiration is not immediately recognisable in the project’s design. But its conceptualisation is present in its seemingly haphazard layout and its narrow, limestone streets, radiating from the focal-point of the village square and evolving over centuries. What were once thick, immoveable, yellow ochre walls have been transformed into almost its visual opposite; rich purples, vibrating on floating vertical fabrics, on a light and permeable frame. The only trace of the vernacular urban planning of the Mediterranean is its maze-like layout which gently leads the visitor along its streets and towards its centre.
detail and an awareness of the fragility of our ecosystems is present throughout the project – in how its materials are sourced and treated, and the plans for their re-use once the project has finished.
Ultimately, the team has produced a design that is both minimalist and luxurious; where raw materiality takes centre stage, but where design is refined and subtle. The structure’s materials speak with their own voice - materials are left natural and almost untreated; nothing is disguised or hidden. As we speak, it becomes apparent how important a genuine respect for the integrity of the materials is to the team, and consequently, the treatment of these materials. The integral nature of the design is understated, and yet behind it was an ambitious undertaking, with untreated wood, meticulous dyeing processes, and materials that can be disassembled & reused, including working with wood sections left at a length that is still acceptable for re-use after this project’s life-span.
The artists tell me they were aiming for the evocation of a sense of memory as well as space within the installation,
and indeed their concept seems to draw diverse periods of history and memories together; the Phoenician era, much later centuries when Maltese villages began to mushroom around the island, the Georgian period in Britain, and contemporary times during this century flow around each other through the fluid streets of the installation.
And during its time in the square, the installation will create its own histories
and narratives; natural colours may fade, timbers may shift, and fabrics may billow and float – this is part of the life-cycle of the natural materials it contains. Visitors will wander through it and create their own experiences, which will change with the weather and time of day. It is this cyclical, temporal quality which is intrinsic to natural materials and processes that the Urban Fabric project is quietly advocating for.
Take a step back, and the contrast with the surrounding environment becomes clear. The Georgian square of Somerset House, itself steeped in British cultural history and characterised by symmetry, balance and proportion has become home to a fluid, almost breathing structure. But there exist other contrasts in this design exercise; a battle of architectures, and a subversion of hierarchies. The vernacular architecture of southern Europe, with its connotations of sun-soaked walls and Mediterranean living has shifted northwards. Its fluid and floating aesthetic and its temporality contrast with the solid walls which surround it, and their grandiosity and permanence. It inserts a chink – of light, of air, of mutability – that may come to represent something more in future times. The design contains a subversive element – whether intended or not - sneaking a village ‘pjazza’ into a square of palatial grandeur: interrupting its symmetry and poise with irregular pathways and billowing sails. The decolonial act lends importance to vernacular and organic urban planning, and places it on a world stage.
The installation proposes a collaboration with its surroundings, with the architecture around it, with the sprawling city of London and with the visitors who walk through it. But it also offers a conversation with the natural elements that it will face; the wind that will buffet it sails, the sun that will lighten its colours,
and the rain that will, no doubt, soak it quite thoroughly. It lays down a challenge too, to the ugly concrete structures that have mushroomed in Malta over the past decades, all but obliterating its more dignified indigenous architecture.
We also talk about the technology that is employed in the piece; the heat-mapping tools that will reflect visitors’ movement within the space - that ebb and flow of people which any public space experiences as the day progresses. As in a village square, visitors may pass by slowly or quickly, may spend hours lingering, or may arrange to meet friends alongside it. Their movements will change the character of the space, and the light and colour within it.
Ultimately, good design is thoughtful, intuitive and sensitive; if it has a point to make, it doesn’t force that point home. This project has been conceived with a quiet certainty, one that allows it a feeling of fluidity and intimacy within an environment of grandeur.
The fourth edition of the London Design Biennale will take place from 1 to 25 June 2023 at Somerset House, London. The Malta Pavilion “Urban Fabric” by Open Square Collective, is commissioned by Arts Council Malta under the auspices of Malta’s Ministry for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government.
Open Square Collective, is an art and design collective by creative lead Matthew Joseph Casha, fashion designer Luke Azzopardi, artist Trevor Borg, and architect Alessia Deguara, supported by Ramona Depares and Gilbert Micallef.
Internationalisation Executive at Arts Council Malta, Romina Delia, is project-leading Malta’s participation at the London Design Biennale 2023.
“This project has been conceived with a quiet certainty, one that allows it a feeling of fluidity and intimacy within an environment of grandeur.”Computer generated render of the Malta Pavilion at Somerset House for The London Design Biennale 2023
For any island state, international relations and trade are vital to a healthy, vibrant cultural scene. International collaborations, cultural exchanges and uncomplicated mobility all contribute to a healthy creative sector and a thriving economy.
Arts Council Malta works tirelessly to forge stronger global cultural relations, enabling a sustainable development of the Maltese creative sector. This is being done through the creation of numerous opportunities for international collaboration and exchange.
An international outlook is a prerequisite for professionalisation and growth in today’s globalised world.Anna Horvath, ‘SORGI’ collection launch, 2021.Courtesy by AnnaHorvath. Photo by Therese Debono
In line with the country’s National Cultural Policy, Arts Council Malta’s new strategy advocates for an open and receptive approach to cultural relations, encompassing open dialogue with diverse stakeholders at all levels in order to engage artists, civil society and cultural institutions. Building trust and nurturing relationships across national borders are integral to this strategy, as are supporting and facilitating cross-border creative experimentation and new international cultural projects.
Arts Council Malta’s role as a national entity within international networks contributes invaluably to global conversations which can enable the trajectory of international cultural relations.
With improving digital technologies and easier access to mobility, Malta’s creative practitioners are fast becoming increasingly engaged in international exchanges and collaborations. Things change quickly in the sector; with constant evolution comes a need to develop skills, build expertise and facilitate access for creative professionals.
This includes building new and diverse audiences around the globe in order to sustain the growth of cultural and creative entrepreneurs, and facilitating this exposure through participation in large-scale global cultural initiatives.
This ease of access to international audiences and markets has positive effects on other sectors, including tourism, technology, and the service industries. The cultural and creative sectors have been proven to be a significant source of income for any economy, generating important spillovers to the wider economy. Thus, Malta actively views the internationalisation of its creative professionals, as a wise and valuable economic investment.
Arts Council Malta has invested in numerous international initiatives in recent years. The International Cultural Exchanges scheme managed by ACM, for example, has funded numerous international projects by Maltese artists. Arts Council Malta has also in recent years joined several international networks such as IETM, the International network for contemporary performing arts, Sound Diplomacy, the Salzburg Global Forum, and EUNIC, the network of EU National Institutes for Culture. Malta annually participates in numerous EUNIC events around the world; recent projects are UN/MUTE and Eco- Solidarity, both highly successful events organised by the EUNIC Cluster in
New York. Arts Council Malta also actively participates in annual literature events, music festivals and film festivals organised by EUNIC Clusters worldwide.
Other initiatives include Malta’s participation in the Creative Business Cup and the Malta Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia. The latest of these initiatives is Malta’s Pavilion at this year’s London Design Biennale at Somerset House in June 2023.
Of these initiatives, Romina Delia, Internationalisation Executive at Arts Council Malta says “Given our geographical context, Arts Council Malta recognises that building trust and understanding globally is fundamental for Malta’s creative sectors to flourish. Arts Council Malta’s aim is to support artists to reach out to new and diverse audiences, to build connections and to sustain the growth of cultural and creative entrepreneurs”.
And indeed, an international outlook is a prerequisite for professionalisation and growth in today’s globalised world.
Given Malta’s geographical contexts, Arts Council Malta recognises that forming and maintaining international connections is vital to the success of Malta’s cultural and creative sectors.
Ultimately, and driven by its commitment to cultural rights and its belief in the creative sector, Arts Council Malta invests in the arts and creative industries in order to strengthen Malta’s creative and cultural ecology.
Arts Council Malta’s new strategy advocates for an open and receptive approach to cultural relations, encompassing open dialogue with diverse stakeholders at all levels.
Since the spark of an idea, just five years ago, Unfinished Art Space has matured into a respected contributor to Malta’s visual arts scene. As Unfinished celebrates its fifth birthday, founder Margerita Pulè writes about how the organisation started, what it has achieved till now, and its plans for the next five years.
nfinished Art Space is one of the few of independent non-commercial art spaces in Malta. Independent art spaces have had a potted history in Malta; from the now legendary MCA in Marsa, to the ingenious itinerant programme of Fragmenta Malta, but not all have stood the test of time. Unfinished Art Space was borne out of this environment, out of a need for a flexible and open space, one that champions contemporary, experimental and research-based practices, while also providing a supportive context within which to work.
One important characteristic of Unfinished is that we, and our programme are nomadic and fluid. We have produced work with and within national institutions, but we also work in far less conventional spaces, such as a disused building, in public space, or in an online environment. Our first collaboration is still one of my favourites; with Parking Street Events, we recreated Il-Kamra ta’ Barra
beside a huge construction site that had been a blight on a neighbourhood for years. Recreating the atmosphere of respectability and elegance in the street, literally bringing the kamra (room) barra (outside), complete with old clock and chintzy furniture, we invited passersby and neighbours to drink a cup of tea with us on our sofa and tell us about their concerns for the neighbourhood. Thus, Unfinished Art Space was born, often proposing a critical or political position with commentary on feminist and postcolonial questions, working with artists to research and question these areas.
Our early initiatives were mostly impromptu affairs, produced with friends and well-wishers. In 2020, in a small break in the clouds of covid-lockdown, we put on probably our most quickly-produced exhibition to date. Multi-disciplinary artist Charlene Galea had amassed hundreds of photographs of clubbing scenes, from her travels around Europe, from London and Ibiza, to Morocco and Romania. At a time when clubs all over Europe were closed, images of the exhilaration, intimacy and
beauty of these dance scenes brought a club-like queue to the door of the empty house we had commandeered for the project.
After this, our projects quickly became more ambitious. Our two feminist shows, which coincided in 2020 and 2022 with International Women’s Day (both funded through Arts Council Malta schemes) allowed us to collaborate more widely and invite international artists to work with
us. Memorable events include Romeo Roxmann Gatt and dancers performing My Womxn is a God My God is a Womxn in MUZA’s community space (part of Strangers in a Strange Land), Syowia Kyambi travelling from Kenya to install and perform her hard-hitting Kaspale’s Playground, and, in the wind and rain of an early January morning, Edith Dekyndt on a cherry-picker in Valletta’s Independence Square, filming the statue of Queen Victoria for her short film Nursery Crime (part of The Ordinary Lives of Women, co-curated with Elise Billiard Pisani).
The coming few years are all about international collaborations. In early 2024, we will be working in Barcelona with curators Alexia Medici and Pilar Cruz and a number of Maltese and Catalan artists on a site-specific exhibition Mater
Longer-term, we will continue to collaborate and research. We will also continue to support artists, colleagues and the creative sector in general, working towards an environment where more importance is given to contemporary art and artists. The name Unfinished Art Space refers to the process of the creative act; always evolving and never quite finished – we hope that we will keep evolving, developing, experimenting and being ‘unfinished’ for many more years to come.
www.unfinishedartspace.org
Read the full feature on www.artpaper.press
An attempt at outlining a decolonised approach to Maltese built and cultural heritage.
While speaking about the duality of his nature as a bilingual writer, acclaimed Maltese intellectual Francis Ebejer, at an academic conference in Venice in the late ‘80s, described the Mediterranean as “both a potent and turbulent influence” on the characters of his novels and, simultaneously, “an idea which stems from their very personality”. He explained it as something long-troubled, “forever reaching out to the desired syncretism: as perfectly joined a oneness as possible of the best of the old and the new; of tradition and progress, spirituality and material benefaction, technology and humanity […], racial and national divisiveness and friendship; wealth and humanitarian concern; man and woman”, tracing the most representative ambiguities which have been shaping the cultural identity of the islands and its built environment for centuries, in a rather intricately-layered manner.
Amongst these layers, one of the hardest to reckon with, seems to have been (and to still be) the recent past of Malta as a colonial outpost of the British empire, from 1800 to 1964. Since the conference attended by Ebejer in Venice over 30 years ago, and almost 30 years after the Maltese independence, other major forces such as consumerism and globalisation have swept the islands like an unforgiving Gregale, not sparing much of that vibrant post-colonial debate which produced most relevant works of literature, art and architecture. The wider meanings of these works and their very Mediterranean sophistication were the result of a rigorously reasoned juxtaposition of colonial past and present, in which the vernacular was tapped into as a source of stimulation for what today would be described as a ‘decolonised’ mindset – and of which, unfortunately, only very superficial qualities survive.
On the architectural scene, while Ebejer was writing one of his most successful novels, “In the Eye of the Sun”, and tackling many of the above-mentioned challenges, architect Richard England was designing and realising the church of Manikata (1962-1974), in a small rural village in the North of the island - intriguingly similar to the sets chosen by Ebejer for his stories. The project was influenced by the school of thought called ‘critical regionalism’, advocating adopting modern architecture while prioritising topography, climate and light rather than ‘scenography’, and it was therefore intrinsically and solidly grounded in the local context too. According to critic Chris Abel, greater emphasis was placed on the building as the “house of the community”, reflecting the local character and culture, rather than as the “house of God”, as it would have been expected. With its locally sourced limestone, its colour palette inspired by the nuances of the Maltese landscape and the organic shape perfectly integrating into it like a strange girna (a traditional Maltese hut) that has been there forever, the Manikata church qualifies as one of the best examples of post-colonial architecture representative of the quest for identity of its post-colonial society – at a point in time in which the latter was particularly aware of and reactive to its colonial past.
After the Manikata church was completed and until the end of the ‘80s, amid the evolution of Post Modernism, the debate on a potential ‘alternative contemporary Maltese architecture’ was still strong, together with a deep understanding of the British colonial attitudes towards the local built heritage, as witnessed by a number of projects and of publications in newspapers and journals. The artistic sector at large lived an unprecedented period of intellectual freedom, potency and experimentation until that proverbial wind of change picked up, towards the end of the century, sweeping the vernacular - meant as ‘counter-coloniser’ and ultimate source of independent artistic expression, in a corner where it would be almost forgotten, together with many elements of the Maltese Mediterranean culture of Semitic and Maghrebi origins.
The idea of the ‘Maltese Mediterranean’ as a happy symbiosis between the peculiar mixture of Latin, Maghrebi and Anglo-Saxon cultures has been conflicting with the ubiquitous and flattening conformism required by the predominant cultural and economic systems that enriched the islands during the past 3 decades, and which would require a much broader analysis, also in relation to the wider European context that Malta is part of.
The interest in the debate on post-colonial issues has recently been renewed by a few publications and research-based initiatives, such as the book “Decolonising the Maltese Mind” by Charles Xuereb. As the author writes in the introduction, the way forward to a decolonised mindset is dialogically and polyphonically. In this spirit, a collective and highly critical reassessment of the metamorphosis of Malta from periphery and bastion of the Christian Catholic world into British colony, and most recently into young European nation, at the border once again but with a chance of emancipation from the tyranny of the centre, could generate a new and decolonised perspective on the current state of the built and cultural heritage. This is the ultimate sine qua non condition for the development of a much needed fresh and original outlook on the Maltese Mediterranean vernacular, beyond its most elementary understanding, and the most common stereotypes that it produces.
The wider meanings of these works and their very Mediterranean sophistication were the result of a rigorously reasoned juxtaposition of colonial past and present, in which the vernacular was tapped into as a source of stimulation for what today would be described as a ‘decolonised’ mindset.
Maltese born photographer Stephanie Galea exploded onto the high-end magazines early in her career with her edgy and distinct editorial shoots set in iconic Uber-kitsch very-Maltese (or Gozitan) urban village-scapes. Her beautiful work graces covers and major editorial projects with couture and pieces from fashion houses like Chanel, Givenchy and Hugo Boss in Vogue Italia, Vogue Portugal and Vogue Arabia amongst many others. We caught up with our favourite story-telling fashion photographer now based in London
When did you move to London and why?
I moved to London in 2012 to pursue my studies at Central Saint Martins UAL. I read for a masters in fine art photography as I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in this medium. I started assisting various photographers in London during my studies and developed an affinity for fashion photography which is what I mainly practice today.
What is it that you like about the medium of photography and how did you get into it as a career?
I love the tactility of the medium and the ability to tell a story and create a narrative through a single image or a series of them. I’m drawn to analogue photography and have been practising that way since 2012. I also shoot digitally for commercial clients.
I got into photography during my 1st year on the architecture course at University of Malta. There was a module on the subject and I was hooked. I haven’t looked back since!
Where is your favourite hangout in London and where do you go to get your art fix?
I do really love East London and have been living in the area for the last 10 years. I hang out in Hackney Wick quite often - there are many alternative bars and warehouse venues but also the canal, Victoria park and the Olympic Park.
I do love going to the Tate venues for my art fix and I am a member, though I recently discovered this great gallery in Bethnal Green called the Chisenhale Gallery - its a non-profit gallery and allows artists to exhibit experimental work which is not necessarily commercial.
How would you describe the difference between the process and experience between your commercial and personal work?
My career as a a professional photographer is very hectic! I don’t really have a routine and my days change depending on whether I’m shooting, doing admin, working in the darkroom, conducting meetings, or travelling for a job.
When I’m working on personal projects time does slow down, and I get to enjoy what I’m doing much more. I get to do exactly what I want to do and I am not told what kind of deliverables or imagery is needed! It’s more free!
What jobs and personal work are you working on now and do you have any exhibitions coming up?
At the moment I’m working on a few fashion jobs and will be going to the USA later this month. I am currently working on two personal projects; I am part of a collective exhibition in Malta at Society of Arts this July and I hope to have my next solo exhibition in December 2024!
London 2023
SAM VASSALLO
CO-MA centres a desire to experiment at the forefront of his art practice. Replacing his paintbrush for sticks of charcoal and “using cheap makeup brushes” in 2019, he began creating strikingly vivid portraits, which mesh desolate bodies and figures in decay with mystical, otherworldly overtones. His work has no frills but contrasts living in the world of black and white.
“Charcoal gives me freedom to have a full range of control to play with values, textures and intricate details. I’m drawn to the medium because it feels natural, especially when dealing with skin textures,” CO-MA explains.
The Self taught artist spends his days in his art studio, where he works on monochromatic pieces as well as objects which include bespoke, upcycled lamps and bespoke furniture.
CO-MA is a “collector of nice things” which are broken down into their primary parts and find themselves in the new objects that he builds. From which he exhibited a collection of lamps and benches at his last solo show at Lily Agius Gallery last November.
“I had 10 boxes of things I’ve collected throughout the year: parts from cars, fridges, washing machines, an antique hose, doors and windows that are 300 years old,” the artist explained. The result are pieces that are at once functional, intriguing and otherworldly.
CO-MA likes to challenge himself; he also repels anything normal or doing what’s expected of him, “I find it easier to shock than to please” the artist concludes.
CO-MA will be taking part in the group exhibition titled HoverStill at the Malta Society of Arts from the 6th of July. For more information on CO-MA view his website www.coma-artist.com and follow Lily Agius Gallery on Instagram and Facebook.
BACKLOT is part of a new body of work by Charlie Cauchi, based around Malta as a filming location. This interdisciplinary work fuses Charlie’s past academic endeavours with her current artistic and filmmaking practice. Malta attracts foreign film productions for a multitude of creative and economic reasons. High on that list is its aptitude to stand in, duplicate or replicate a variety of temporal and physical spaces. Ready and available, adaptable, and pliant, the island is a backlot in its own right. Malta is an openair studio in and of itself. Inevitably public buildings, beaches, streets, doorways and sometimes even our own homes end up playing host to visiting productions, often transforming them into something entirely other. As is often the case, a new reality is imposed on Malta’s existing body. Throughout this exhibition, Charlie uses video work, photographic images, built structures and more to break down the complex possibilities of interpretation.
RECCE is a geotagged application that takes the form of an audio-guided tour of Valletta and its surroundings. The title lays the groundwork for this investigation: recce, short for reconnaissance, refers to the pre-production phase of a film shoot when a production team visits a location to determine its suitability for filming.
The work draws a portrait of this landscape through contrast: dismantling the cinematic depictions in our popular consciousness to reveal what lies beneath. Using a collage of speech, music
and ambient sound, the filmed images we are familiar with are refocused. With each footstep, the guide lays bare the geographical topographical, architectural, and aesthetic depictions of the city and the historical significance of these sites. The tour also shines a light on the more personal lived experiences. The tour also shines a light on the personal histories
and lived experiences of the city’s people.
A screen location is often an amalgam of real spaces, film sets and digital manipulation. Therefore, many of us can never truly have a tangible, embodied interaction with the places presented to us by filmmakers. Yet, at times, film experiences can also alter our spatial
awareness of places we think we know. Airborne views or cameras set up from vantage points inaccessible to us in our daily lives may provide the inhabitants with a shift in perspective, confronting them with the realization that the spaces they long thought they knew well may not be quite what they once thought. The guide gives the listener the opportunity to imagine a new screen persona.
Through Recce and Backlot, Charlie posits herself as a surrogate for the location scout, pitting the real against the “reel”. She asks: What is our relationship between the reality we live in as Maltese people and the artifice projected onto us and, in turn, onto screens, big or small? This work reclaims these spaces and reframes our gaze to dispute or acknowledge the real, recreated and the suppressed. Which places and spaces appear again and again in differing guises? Which are those that have had more fleeting screen time? What are the liminal in-between spaces that end up on the cutting room floor?
BACKLOT: Space C, Spazju Kreattiv. St James Cavalier, Castille Place, Valletta, Malta. 26 May until 2 July 2023.
RECCE: Launch last week of June 2023. The app will be available from Spazju Kreattiv.
This project is supported by Arts Council Malta and Spazju Kreattiv. Special thanks to Malta Film Commission, Faces, Pellikola, Valletta Pictures, Sajjetta and The Pub.
Alexandra Aquilina is a Maltese Berlin based pop artist whose colorful and vivacious work is a celebration of popular culture and everyday objects. Her art is a love letter to the history, folklore of Malta, where the past and the present collide in a riot of vibrant colors and bold imagery. Through techniques such as screen printing and found sculpture, Aquilina challenges the status quo in art and society with a keen sense of irony and satire. Her work is selfaware and deeply introspective, inviting viewers to reflect on the duality of nature, humanity, and spirituality.
Aquilina’s art draws on visual themes of spirituality that are distinctly Maltese and Mediterranean. The island’s rich culture and symbolism are celebrated in her work, which takes inspiration from
prehistoric pagan temples, folkloristic and superstitious beliefs, Catholic art, and iconography. Her work is an exploration of the complexities of the human experience, where interpretations may vary, but are always welcomed.
At heart, Aquilina finds beauty in the grotesque and creates from a space of mental associations, solving problems that don’t exist with whatever mediums are available. Her work is drenched in carnivalesque colors, bringing her visions to life with a healthy pop culture and
odd associations. Through her art, she challenges viewers to take a step back and reexamine their own spirituality and essence, to redefine it, and to create their own deities and discover their own version of solace among the chaos.
The exhibition titled Shrine, takes place at The Malta National Museum of Fine Art, Valletta. Opening 7th July, and runs until the 13th of August, Monday to Sunday 10am to 6pm..
Her art is a love letter to the history, folklore, and international mass media of Malta, where the past and the present collide in a riot of vibrant colours and bold imagery.
In 1982, photographer David Pisani embarked on a personal project to photograph the city of Valletta (Malta) and its infamous red light district of Strait Street and ‘The Gut’. What began as a photographic essay on the city’s derelict buildings
Site specific art intervention and book by Austin Camilleri
turned into an epic documentation of Valletta that spanned 29 years.
Most of the photographs in the exhibition are taken from the book Vanishing Valletta, published in 2018, a sort of Maltese equivalent of the book Paris Perdu. Thirty original prints from this series
are held in the permanent collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The exhibition will present an equivalent number of selenium and/or gold-toned silver prints made by the photographer. The publication titled The Black Rose consists of a collection of anecdotes about Strait Street and The Gut and including a limited-edition print.
David Pisani’s photographic work can be summed up as a relentless pursuit of the sublime and the erotic. His earliest works (c. 1980’s) already showed a deep concern with the representation of the human body, the erotic nature of places and objects as fetishism and the inevitable association to sexuality and death; themes which are consistently present in all his work.
Disgha is a site specific art intervention across the Maltese islands. The work consists of verses from 9 different poems by 9 different Maltese authors engraved on different sites and rock formations across the islands, effectively creating a land constellation across the territory. The verses, all engraved using a purposelycreated Maltese font, focus on the transient nature of the work itself and are a reaction to the current environmental situation and an attempt in blurring the lines between permanence, impermanence and memory. Most of the engravings perished or eroded in time, making the publication the only testimony of this art installation. The book about the project is produced in large format is designed by the artist himself, and may be considered as an extension of the project. Text in the book is by Rosa Martinez, Alex Torpiano, and Immanuel Mifsud and photography by Daniel Cilia.
For more information: www.austin-camilleri.squarespace.com/disgha-1
The link between decay and architecture is most evident in his photographic essay on the city of Valletta and the red-light district of Strait Street entitled ‘Vanishing Valletta’ which was first exhibited in Paris in 1996 during the Biennale of photography: Mois de la Photo à Paris under the title “La Valette et le Grand Port – Portrait d’une Capitale Maritime”. In the year 2000 a selection of the Vanishing Valletta archive was included in the permanent collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Pisani has also produced photo essays on the city of Dubai, the conflict zones in Cyprus and the city of Kyoto in Japan.
The exhibition, The Black Rose, runs until the 25th of June at the Adrian Bondy Galerie, Paris.
Fondazzjoni Patrimonju
Malti, a non-profit voluntary organisation, have been setting-up exhibitions since the early 90’s, with the aim of sharing and safeguarding the artistic and cultural heritage of the Maltese Islands, locally and internationally. It’s forte lies in its connection and collaboration with a fascinating network of private collections, and its ability to bring together ‘hidden’ and largely unknown treasures to the viewing public – as an artefact staged in an exhibition or a more lasting impression in a catalogue. This has gradually given rise to a sense of national pride, both in the viewer and the private collector. Following a few decades of numerous objets d’art curated exhibitions, of which the Foundation has become synonymous with, FPM now finds itself exploring new territories, in search of something beyond the tangible, in search of new lines.
IN SEARCH OF LINE is FPM’s latest exhibition project which has been in the works ever since ‘Music in Malta – From Prehistory’ to Vinyl’ was taken down back 2019. Through research and conversation,
the endless support and generosity of our private lenders, as well as the collaboration with public institutions, this exhibition will see one of history of art’s greatest subjects of exploration; the line. Both on the page as well as into space and time, the line has manifested itself in many ways, from drawing to weaving, writing, mark-making, singing and storytelling.
IN SEARCH OF LINE will explore these fascinations and break down ‘line’ to its core elements, exploring the artist’s drive to create and represent images, meanings and emotions through line.
Whilst the line may present itself to be a rather ambiguous subject, reluctant to stay within the confines of the obscure classification on which we rely, it’s open nature, complexity and radical transformation have seen the often overlooked medium create an infinite number of works of art. The line is often a trace of a manual gesture, a trace of the free expression of artistic thought, the expression of the artist’s ideas and impressions. Till today, artist’s question and challenge the line, it’s meaning and representation, it’s linearity and its culture.
FPM is in collaboration with contemporary artists and academics, whom have been invited to engage with various aspects of the curatorial narrative, both within and outside of the exhibition space. The project will also see the creation of an exhibition catalogue which will include reflective writings inspired by the artworks by Richard England, Vince Briffa, Michael Zammit, Matthew Attard, Giulia Privitelli and Robert Brewer Young. In October of 2022, the exhibition project was officially launched via a collaboration with The European Graduate School and a threeday seminar titled THE MUSICAL LINE. The event brought together Christopher Fynsk, Dean of the European Graduate School, Michael Schmidt, Robert Brewer Young, luthier, and musician Antonin Stahley and culminated in a performance at The Casino Maltese in Valletta. The drawing and music in this performance are expressions of interconnected harmonies. Heirich Biber’s Passacaglia weaves four central, descending notes on the violin into layers of proportional consonance. These have counterparts in the Euclidian composition of lines drawn on the floor. The golden ratio and the geometric section, here expressed in chalk and fundamental to architecture and design, have music in their lines and relations.
More recently, FPM has collaborated with dance artist Florinda Camilleri, taking the line of flight as a departure point and together asking the question
what happens when the straight line we associate so much with rational thought, intellect and modernity, is refracted and diffracted through affective, sensorial pathways? MOVING IN LINES: Mapping Affective Geometrie, a live-composition performance emerging through somatic and sensorial encounters, presented an invitation to reflect upon our material environment and consider alternative perspectives. The performance saw a collaboration with sound and audiovisual artist Niels Plotard and light artist Andrew Schembri.
Following these events, the exhibition is now set to open on 27th September 2023 and will also see the launch of the new Victor Pasmore Gallery in Valletta. Further to an agreement with the Victor Pasmore Foundation in December 2020, the Pasmore collection was handed over to FPM for permanent display at St Paul’s Street, Valletta. The gallery will continue to research, promote, and display Pasmore’s important cultural legacy that impacted Malta and his Maltese contemporaries. Through the works of Maltese artists from the twentieth century, along with works from FPM’s collection of Pasmore himself, IN SEARCH OF LINE will take us out for a walk, just as Klee’s line does, to freely explore and understand the vast spectrum which is line.
For more information visit www. victorpasmoregallery.com
Decadence, Now. by City of Art, explored key relationships between exponential European visual artists, musicians and writers from the Belle Epoque Period who symbiotically inspired each other’s work into visionary manifestations of beauty.
This project was one part contemporary art reaction installation and one part concert series, aiming to argue that decadence is more than a compendium of the transgressive themes and images by which it is usually identified; a zeitgeist which has been carried on well into the twenty-first century, seeking to reposition artefacts, reconstruct narratives and reopen artistic debates through visual, sung and spoken conversations; creating a friction and a presence that is expressed by a number of collaborators investigating a common theme.
Essentially aiming to produce a high-quality and engaging programme of events ranging
Decadence, Now. explored key relationships between exponential European visual artists, musicians and writers from the Belle Epoque Period who symbiotically inspired each other’s work into visionary manifestations of beauty.
from exhibitions featuring loaned artefacts from acclaimed European museums to a weekly series of salon recitals; Decadence, Now. seeked to create a sustainable, research-based platform which supports collaboration and opens up possibilities for internationalisation and an open multicultural discourse promoting exploration and plurality.
Architect Andrew Borg Wirth, couturier and fashion historian Luke Azzopardi, pianist Lucia Micallef, soprano Gillian Zammit, and theatre director Denise Mulholland were the curators of Decadence, Now. which featured contemporary reactions from architect Michael Zerafa, poet and writer Maria Theuma, composer Karl Fiorini, Azzopardi, Borg Wirth and performances by world class Italian tenor Raffaele Abete and German baritone André Morsch.
Decadence, Now by City of Art took place at the Malta Society of Arts between 11th and 31st of May 2023.
LILY AGIUS GALLERY
Lily Agius is a Malta-based curator from London who has established herself with her many exhibitions presenting emerging and established artists from Malta and various countries over the last 15 years. Agius ran a successful art gallery in the commercial district of Sliema for 12 years before going nomad again this year, in search of unique spaces. www.lilyagiusgallery.com
Founded in 2016, by Maria Galea, Marie Gallery 5 launched with a goal to represent the most promising artists and exhibit their work both locally and internationally. Having represented local artists in international art fairs in New York, Miami and Dubai, the gallery has established itself as a space dedicated to cultivating and promoting local artists through a new lens. The Gallery offers several curatorial services which enable collaborations with corporate and hospitality companies. The latest collaboration has been that of the Iniala Harbour House Hotel in Valletta, whereby the gallery curated all the spaces within the hotel representing over 18 artists now part of the permanent and private collection. www.mariegallery5.com
BLITZ
Blitz, founded in 2013, is an artist-run contemporary arts space housed in a four-level Valletta townhouse, which was the family home of founder Alexandra Pace’s grandparents and previ ously left empty for over 30 years.
Blitz has become a reference for contemporary art in Malta. Since its inception, Blitz has formed an identity and a presence that has extended beyond the island to the international art world, through prominent collaborations with institutions such as Royal College of Arts (London), Central Saint Martins University of the Arts (London), the European Graduate School (EGS) and the annual Network of European Museum Organizations conference (NEMO). www.blitzvalletta.com
MUZA
MUZA, the national museum of fine arts, was formerly located at Admiralty House between 1974 and 2016. It houses a collection of works by Maltese and international artists mainly representing the major European artistic styles. www.muza.mt
Valletta Contemporary collaborates extensively with local and international organisations and collectors, running regular outreach programmes and diverse educational and knowledge-sharing initiatives. Each aims at establishing a meaningful connection between the local community and contemporary art. The gallery also runs a thriving education programme, whose spirit holds parallel with director Norbert Francis Attard’s residency programme, Gozo Contemporary (launched in 2001), an endeavour that introduces artists and creative practitioners to Gozo’s offering as an inspiring creative environment with opportunities for exploration and discovery within a Mediterranean setting. For more information, contact the gallery via email at info@vallettacontemporary.com www.vallettacontemporary.com
The Art Galleries of the Malta Society of Arts (MSA) are housed on the upper floor of Palazzo de La Salle, one of the first grand palaces to be built in Valletta at the end of the sixteenth century. The four inter-linked rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art lighting facilities and offer an uninterrupted programme of monthly exhibitions open to the public all year round. In addition, the MSA issues regular calls for artists to submit exhibition proposals, which an independent Arts Advisory Board reviews. During the past century and a half, the Society has sponsored many of Malta’s bestknown artists through bursaries and prizes. At the time when Malta’s Modern Art movements were flourishing, the Society was associated with many high-profile artists such as Antonio Sciortino, Anton Inglott, Ganni Bonnici, Willie and Vincent Apap, Emvin Cremona and Carmelo Mangion. Many local and internationally wellknown artists, sculptors, photographers, and installation artists have exhibited at the MSA in recent years. www.artsmalta.org
ART SWEVEN
lI-Kamra ta’ Fuq is a new exhibition venue, situated on the first floor of the iconic New Life Bar (a typical hanut tat-te’), in the quaint village of Mqabba. Monthly exhibitions are held at this venue, curated by the Art Sweven team. www.artsweven.com
R Gallery is a contemporary art space located in the heart of the bustling seaside town Sliema in Malta. Built as a British military hostel at the turn of the 20th century, the art nouveau edifice has been transformed from a place of sanctuary for soldiers into a spacious vessel for bold art and events. www.rcontemporaryart.com
Roza Kwir opened last year in the central town of Balzan. It was co-founded in 2021 by multidisciplinary artists Romeo Roxman Gatt and Charlie Cauchi, and began as a digital archive compiling LGBTQ+ histories and narratives. Now branching out into a physical space, the venue is looking to expand the narrative around queer identity in Malta and beyond. What sets Rosa Kwir apart from similar LGBTQ+ cultural ventures is its emphasis on the experiences of trans men, transmasculine people and gender-non-conforming individuals. This is, in part, inspired by elements of cofounder Roxman Gatt’s practice, which he describes as including “documentation and archiving of trans and queer experiences” as well as the “critical observation of macho behaviour, specifically in relation to Maltese men”. www.rosa-kwir.com
Spazju Kreattiv is in the heart of Malta’s capital city, Valletta. Situated in Castille Place and a few metres away from MUZA, Auberge de Castille, Parliament and Upper Barrakka Gardens, Spazju Kreattiv is the perfect stop for anyone visiting Valletta. With something always going on related to any and every art form, there’s always something at Spazju Kreattiv for everyone. Spazju Kreattiv is a programme of creative arts and cultural events happening primarily across Malta and Gozo. Established by Fondazzjoni Kreattività in the year 2000, it is in St James Cavalier, Valletta, a 16th-century fort converted into the National Centre for Creativity. Spazju Kreattiv hosts a range of visual arts exhibitions in the gallery spaces, performances in the theatre, films at the only arthouse cinema on the island, workshops in the studios, an artist-in-residence programme, and tailored events for children and their families. www.kreattivita.org
01. ELISA VON BROCKDORFF LOBSTERS Limited edition print, signed 60 x 90cm, unframed £450 info@lilyagiusgallery.com 02.GABRIEL BUTTIGIEG ON LITTLE HANS’ FEAR OF HORSES (AND MAX GRAF), 2023 Willow charcoal, white emulsion, acrylic paint and satin varnish on raw linen 120 x 130cm stretched £1,750 info@christinexart.com 03. ALEXANDRA AQUILINA STRAWBERRY WIGGLE 2 colour screen print, No. 5 of 10 editions, signed 22 x 22cm £90 info@lilyagiusgallery.com 04. PATRICIA O’BRIEN TWIST OF FATE, 2022 Mixed medium on canvas 100 x 100cm £1,150 info@christinexart.com 05. CO-MA EST.RANGE Charcoal on Canson 180gr ‘C’ grain paper 32 x 48cm £1,050 info@lilyagiusgallery.com 06. MARIO ABELA EARTH JUICE, 2022 Oil on canvas 100 x 80cm £1,700 info@christinexart.com 07. JAMES MICALLEF GRIMAUD STATE OF LIMBO Fabriano printmaking rag 310gr, no. 9 of 10 editions, signed 60 x 40cm unframed £175 info@lilyagiusgallery.com 08. JULIEN VINET ANCIENT OLIVE Ink on paper monoprint 60 x 80cm, unframed £880 info@lilyagiusgallery.com 09. STEPHANIE GALEA LEANING IN COLOUR Acrylic paint on silver gelatin handprints on RC photographic paper, shot with Pentax 67 medium format camera 72 x 62cm, framed £700 info@lilyagiusgallery.com
