Austrian cathedral hosts artist's installation

The Galerie der Schwarze Punkt in the historical centre of Constance, in Germany, and the Johanniterkirche, a mediaeval cathedral in the hub of Feldkirch, in Austria, have played host to artist Vince Briffa's video installations, which are hitting the international scene.

Body of Glass - After Caravaggio is Mr Briffa's multiple video, audio and water installation that is showing in Austria until the end of September.

It is the second time that the Maltese artist has been invited by the curator of the Johanniterkirche to show a seminal work in this prestigious cathedral. His first work was Amen - Nemmen in 2002.

Mr Briffa's installation at the Johanniterkirche succeeds works by well-known international contemporary artists such as Anish Kapoor (2003), Jenny Holzer (2004) and Michael Craig-Martin (2006).

Body of Glass - After Caravaggio is aesthetically inspired by two seminal works of Caravaggio from his period in Malta around the early 1600s, namely the Beheading of St John and the St Jerome. Reflecting the same chiaroscuro idiom, the video work makes references to the human body as being both a performer and a performative object, capable of providing spectacle, Mr Briffa explains.

"Just as in Caravaggio's paintings, Body Of Glass not only makes use of the body as a medium of spectacle, sculptural component and primal material, but also takes the concept further and addresses the body as a unique object which, because of its cultural history, has the ability to transgress its physicality."

As part of its summer series of exhibitions, with the theme Human Implementation, the curator of the Galerie der Schwarze Punkt, together with philosopher and art historian Johann-Peter Regelmann, chose to show Hermes - Mr Briffa's video, audio and soil installation that was also shown at the 48th edition of the Venice Biennale in 1999 and at St James Cavalier's inaugural exhibition in 2000. It followed Austin Camilleri's video installation, Deposition, shown in the same gallery.

Mr Briffa's multiple video, audio, text and mirror installation, Alternative Journeys, which also includes a work by local artist Pierre Portelli, is moving to Amiens in France and the Kolossi Castle in Cyprus in late 2006 and early 2007 respectively.

It was shown in Fort St Angelo earlier this year and forms part of the Crossings Project, an exhibition of European Contemporary Art, supported by Culture 2000.

The project is led by the Pierides Foundation of Cyprus and coordinated by the Foundation of the Hellenic World, Greece; the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, Malta; the Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche of Rome and the Centre De Recherches En Arts, Images Et Formes, Université De Picardie Jules Verne, France.