Setting the stage

By The Valletta 2018 Foundation in collaboration with Arts Council Malta

Ask any practitioner of the performing arts in Malta what their biggest cross to bear is, and a veritable list comes pouring out like burning lava. However, once you plough through the expected maladies that plague every small art scene—limited audiences, limited sources of funding available, unctuous reviews—in Malta, you’ll always arrive at this: a lack of viable spaces for productions and rehearsals.Continue reading

Design

Prostitution no.2 by Abigail Attard Prostitution is known as the oldest profession. It is also the one with the highest human cost. This artwork reflects the pain female prostitutes feel contrasted by the coldness of the men who fuel the business. Attard was inspired by news items on these issues, and her belief that more measures are needed to bring an end to the business that fuels the objectification of women.
Prostitution no.2
by Abigail Attard
Prostitution is known as the oldest profession. It is also the one with the highest human cost. This artwork reflects the pain female prostitutes feel contrasted by the coldness of the men who fuel the business. Attard was inspired by news items on these issues, and her belief that more measures are needed to bring an end to the business that fuels the objectification of women.

 

CuriouSedative by Sharon McLean Many idioms reflect how curiosity is not always a good thing. This artwork personifies the mental struggle suffered when a curious mind tries to seek tranquility. It also represents a person’s cautiousness sheltering the self from exposing their state of mind.
CuriouSedative
by Sharon McLean
Many idioms reflect how curiosity is not always a good thing. This artwork personifies the mental struggle suffered when a curious mind tries to seek tranquility. It also represents a person’s cautiousness sheltering the self from exposing their state of mind.

 

Untitled 1 by Lara Gove This artwork is part of a series interpreting a text known as Cities and the Dead 4 which is found in Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities. The painting reflects a state of decay, an entire city turned into a burial ground with confined spaces with restricted movement.
Untitled 1
by Lara Gove
This artwork is part of a series interpreting a text known as Cities and the Dead 4 which is found in Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities. The painting reflects a state of decay, an entire city turned into a burial ground with confined spaces with restricted movement.

 

Wooden Sculpture no.1 by John Paul Muscat This artwork’s imagery reflects multiculturalism. It is the artist’s first wood carving.
Wooden Sculpture no.1 by John Paul Muscat
This artwork’s imagery reflects multiculturalism. It is the artist’s first wood carving.

 

Hollow by Nicolai Schembri Cyberbullying can have dreadful repercussions. This art installation with figures made of transparent tape reflects the emptiness a person can feel when they are the victims of online harassment. The figures merged with their surroundings and became part of the space, with an almost ghost-like effect.
Hollow
by Cristina Formosa
Cyberbullying can have dreadful repercussions. This art installation with figures made of transparent tape reflects the emptiness a person can feel when they are the victims of online harassment. The figures merged with their surroundings and became part of the space, with an almost ghost-like effect.

Bridging (through) the performing arts

Theatre, dance, and music are changing at the University of Malta. Recently, three new research groups were launched by the School of Performing Arts (SPA) with the aim of bridging different disciplines through  the development of shared work processes and research areas. Through interdisciplinary research, these groups want to look outwards towards new concepts.

The groups cover three themes. First, ‘Twenty-first-Century Studies in Performance’, which is committed to the locating, reimagining, and development of performance practices in the 21st century. Second, ‘Culture and Performance’, which is guided by the premise that culture and performance refer to complexities that emerge from the multitude of phenomena these terms describe. Third, ‘Performing Arts Histories and Historiographies’, which investigates and archives material related to historical events across the performing arts. These themes are possible thanks to a web of local and international collaborations, ranging from the Digital Arts and Humanities to Cognitive Science and Intelligent Computer Systems.

These new research platforms seek to facilitate dialogue between scholars and practitioners, academics and citizens.

Annual Collective Performance of the School of Performing Arts. White White is a performance about space, or the absence of it. Once upon a time, characters were in search of an author. Today they are in search of a space. The characters, played by the students of the School of Performing Arts at the University of Malta, are lost in a corridor in-between places. Around them all is empty. A void. Like a vault, all they have isÖWhite! Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi
Annual Collective Performance of the School of Performing Arts.
White
White is a performance about space, or the absence of it.
Once upon a time, characters were in search of an author. Today they are in search of a space. The characters, played by the students of the School of Performing Arts at the University of Malta, are lost in a corridor in-between places. Around them all is empty. A void. Like a vault, all they have is White!
Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi
inFragments A devised performance created by the students of the School of Performing Arts, University of Malta MITP Photo by Darrin Zammit Lupi
inFragments
A devised performance created by the students of the School of Performing Arts, University of Malta
MITP
Photo by Darrin Zammit Lupi
SPA has an upcoming conference featuring some of the above topics called Interweaving Cultures: Theory and Practice in March 2017. For more information contact Dr Stefan Aquilina (stefan.aquilina@um.edu.mt) or, on the conference, Prof. Vicki Ann Cremona (vicki.cremona@um.edu.mt).

l-għ

L-għ is a thoughtful, innovative, and interactive exhibition. The reaction it provokes is from the very base of the senses and is the first final year project exhibition from BFA in Digital Arts degree students organised by the Department of Digital Arts, Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences.

The exhibitors chose an intriguing moniker: the most enigmatic and iconic rune in the Maltese alphabet (L-għ). Together they used it as a starting point and explored the thematic elements it connotes. The students tapped into six themes and developed twelve projects.

Despite majoring in animation or graphic design, each artist worked with a subject they discovered and developed over several months. Creativity and variety are abundant, with projects ranging from audio-visual experiments and curatorial work to interactive documentaries and highly thematic visual material. The body of research and thought behind each project sheds recognition on conceptual and creative transformations currently occurring in the practice of art and design. They shift the boundaries of art, design, and media and how they can be used together.

L-għ, the Degree Exhibition of the BFA in Digital Arts (Department of Digital Arts, Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences, University of Malta). Artists: Ramon Azzopardi, Matthew Calleja, Caroline Curmi, Darryl Farrugia, Danika Muscat, Angele Pollacco, Lucrezia Rapa, Pascale Spiteri, Michelle Trapani, Siobhan Vassallo, Matthew Vella and Ryan Zammit Pawley.