As part of the celebrations to mark Malta’s four big anniversaries this year, artist Pierre Portelli will be unveiling four themed large-scale works. The first has just been revealed and Veronica Stivala prods him to find out more about the other three which are still under wraps.

Pierre Portelli

Don’t you just hate it when someone shares juicy information with you and then tells you that you can’t tell anyone? Pierre Portelli explains to me how his four-part project of large-scale works – commissioned as part of the events to commemorate the four national anniversaries – will be revealed over the course of the year. And then he tells me I can’t tell anyone. Great.

You see, although this artist has a year-long project mapped out, he feels that revealing too much will spoil the fun of it. He has a point, and on further explanation it becomes clear that the entire project cannot be explained, quite simply because it will only be complete when the other works have materialised.

Portelli is no stranger to the arts scene and many will be familiar with his works in conceptual art and installation. He is also a set designer, his most recent work being the impressive projection screen set for Simone Spiteri’s Forget-Me-Not, held at the MITP earlier this year.

Portelli’s four-part project ties in with the many anniversaries Malta will be marking this year. Starting tomorrow, Malta remembers 35 years since British troops left Malta; on May 1 it will have been 10 years since Malta joined the EU; on September 21, 50 years since Malta became independent; and on December 13 it will have been 40 years since Malta became a republic.

During his research, it dawned on Portelli that a common theme could be drawn from these four events: sound. So although each project can stand on its own, they are all somehow linked to each other.

Portelli explains: “Each event can be linked to the voice or a sound, be it discordant, harmonious or merely the noises of a meeting of people. This inspired me to design four structures which are fully functional only when people come in contact with them when they connect.”

The unifying element in this series of works is interactivity and the use of technology

Indeed the idea of connecting is central to Portelli’s projects. The four projects are all linked not only by the common theme but also physically, in that the fourth and final project will be an amalgamation of the previous three projects (while also featuring something new. But that’s where my lips have to be sealed again).

Seasharp is the first of four themed works to be unveiled.

Following again on the idea of connecting people is that the projects will all be interactive. In fact, they will come alive only when people interact with them, be it through speaking, walking through parts or turning or touching objects.

Although the three other projects are still under wraps, we can discuss the first, Seasharp, which has just been unveiled. It is two massive functional steel harps which jut out seawards at the Vittoriosa waterfront, directly opposite the Freedom Day monument.

As the pun in the name gives away, there is a strong maritime link to this structure. Besides the obvious link regarding Malta being an island, Portelli explains more detailed links with the sea and the first anniversary:

This work, which marks the Freedom Day celebration, draws inspiration from Grand Harbour as a significant factor in shaping Malta’s history. The work is inspired by the hull of a ship, with obvious reference to the vital economic maritime legacy of Grand Harbour and HMS London, the last Royal Navy ship to leave Grand Harbour on March 31, 1979.

Portelli elaborates how “the ship within the historical narrative symbolises both the vessel that carries on it the aspirations of freedom and the closing of a chapter with the colonial past”.

Portelli is poetic in his explanation of the influence of the sea on his project: “The sea with its swells, drifts, currents and tides, like history itself can both be an obstacle or the medium for change or safe passage.

“This is, however, not simply a reflection on a point in time but more so on the fact that as an interactive piece it draws on the notion of proactivity, the public as actor, with different voices harmonious, discordant or ambivalent as in any democracy.”

Portelli says he does not want to reveal the next projects but can he give us a teaser for the May one? “The unifying element in this series of works is interactivity and the use of technology. The next work will probably be at the Upper Barrakka Gardens and will require the public’s participation.”

What will become of these structures once the project is over? Portelli says: “These are not meant to be permanent structures but they can always find a home. Anyone with a large garden?”

www.fcn.org.mt/events/category/arts

www.pierreportelli.com