Along with a thousand and one other guests I attended the launch of the Renzo Piano Project for Valletta in Republic Street, Valletta last Saturday. Nothing unexpected really apart from the fact that those who imagined that the plan for a roofless theatre instead of, or rather, on top of the opera house ruins, would have some futuristic device that would render it weather proof and noise proof remained as mystified as before. Mr. Piano is a genius but he is not Merlin, is he? The membrane that will box in what remains of the Barry ruin, which, we are told, will be further enhanced by the bits and pieces that have not been spirited away from that infamous field near the Addolorata Cemetery, will be able to project virtual images and also be rendered transparent so as to enjoy the incomparable views of Auberge de Castille, the Victory church and the church of St Catherine of Italy on the one end and Palazzo Ferreria on the other. Big deal!
Although Mr. Piano is not Merlin, I am indebted to him for pulling off what none of us Maltese could do; persuading the government that, because of what the opera house site symbolises in popular memory, it should be used as an arts centre and not Parliament as originally envisaged. Ironically, what tipped the scale towards this change of heart was that the opera house site was far too small to cater for the needs of our 60 something MPs and that a spanking new building in the more spacious Freedom Square would be more suitable. Conversely, 1,200 hoi polloi, us, the audience, must make do with the opera house footprint under the stars both real and man-made.
The Parliament design promises to have all the Piano hallmarks of ingenuity even making a stunning feature of the odd angles caused by St James Cavalier.
At least, this building promises to have the iconic splendid quirkiness of Mr Piano's other works like the music theatre and casino in Potsdamerplatz but is not as traffic-stopping as the new opera house in Rome. Therefore, the government has had its cake and eaten it too. Everyone knew that, by hook or by crook, there was no way that this government was to be dissuaded from its decision to have Parliament next to City Gate sitting like a "tewma fuq suflè" between two arts centres. What does this government care as to whether the country desperately needs a proper concert hall for its superb philharmonic orchestra? What's the point of continuing one's campaign to convince it that Malta has no museum of modern and contemporary art and most art produced from 1800 to the present day is relatively unaccounted for and not displayed anywhere?
Notwithstanding all this I am prepared to accept the plans for the opera house site as they are, provided the membranes will be made up of glass panels instead of membrane and the place is roofed and climatised. In for a penny, in for a pound. Anyone who has been involved in the organisation or who regularly attends summer al fresco events is fully aware of what the drawbacks are.
Besides the atmospheric ones, the most insidious are the man-made ones; fireworks, for instance, which from May to October are an everyday occurrence. We also have al fresco locations two a penny and we really do not need another when there is such a dearth of locations for the rest of the year. To make artistic and even economic sense, the plan should be altered to somewhat resemble Mr Piano's superb Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. In that way we will be able to enjoy Mr Piano's masterpiece all the year round.
Nothing will convince me that the whole fait accompli does not smack of a tremendous arrogance by a political party that has by default been handed electoral victory on a golden platter for far too long and has now outstayed its welcome. The Nationalist government is ignoring the opinions and thoughts of the very electorate that placed it there precisely because it once promised to be a party based on "dialogue, transparency and consultation". With whom I wonder? Its yes men? Its hangers on? Its nepotists? All those who hold lucrative positions? All those riding the governmental gravy train running from Valletta to Brussels and back?
I will remind the Prime Minister and his cronies that in Republican Rome when a general was accorded a triumph by the senate, while riding on his golden chariot in resplendent armour, his face painted red, every few minutes the slave who held the laurel wreath above his head whispered "Remember, thou art but mortal" in his ear. Perhaps the practice should be reintroduced.
kzt@onvol.net