An artistic project at Ġgantija Temples inspired Immanuel Mifsud to write a poem about the heritage site. He tells Veronica Stivala why he has a special affinity with prehistoric structures.
In the same way as William Wordsworth’s famous poem Composed Upon Westminster Bridge was inspired by the majestic city, London, artists, musicians and writers have been inspired by the wonderful and mysterious Ġgantija Temples in Gozo.
Last summer, around 300 people were lucky enough to witness first hand an unusual performance held late one evening at this Unesco World heritage site. Entitled Art Project Ġgantija 2013, it consisted of a live performance of musical work performed by Ars Vitae Ensemble, with sculptures and interventions installed inside the temples. A number of workshops about contemporary art and the Ġgantija heritage were also held.
This was part of a year-long project, the idea behind which is to form an interdisciplinary collaboration between contemporary art, music composition and literature and use it to dialogue with a prehistoric site. Having started in June last year at Ġgantija, the project will end in the coming weeks in Valletta.
In order to take the project to a wider audience – indeed bringing new audiences closer to Maltese heritage and attracting newcomers to the field of contemporary arts – is one of the project’s many objectives. Ġgantija 2013 has been converted into an exhibition by Victor Agius, curated by Vince Briffa, in collaboration with soprano Mariella Cassar at St James Cavalier in Valletta.
This final event will contain documentation of the project, the performance and a new body of works, mainly mixed media sculptural interventions, video and works on panel at the upper halls. Another hall will be dedicated to a video that will be documenting the music and performance held at Ġgantija last June.
Immanuel Mifsud is also collaborating through literary works inspired by the grandiose of the heritage of our temples.
Mifsud’s poem was sung at the event last June. Having seen the poem brought to life, Mifsud was inspired to write an addendum to the poem. While the first part was experimental and playful, the second adheres to Mifsud’s more conventional style. He admits that “some would say it’s pretty old fashioned, given my obsession with hendecasyllables” (which is the style he uses again in Part II).
Speaking about the creative process, Mifsud explains how he went to Ġgantija in order to get a feel of the place. The music had already been composed and he was asked to write words for it.
Mifsud elaborates upon his special relationship with prehistoric structures: “I had always had an affinity for prehistoric buildings, so working with Ġgantija was a familiar experience. I grew up next to the Hypogeum which gave me a special link with temples.”
Mifsud believes that the Sleeping Lady, found at the Hypogeum (and that in itself makes him feel so proud that they share the same geographical origins since they were both ‘born’ in the same town), is the most fascinating work of art ever.
What also interests Mifsud very much is stone. He notes: “I think, or hope at least, that I managed to get that through in the second part of the poem. Our island is just stone, lacking rivers, forests, etc. So I think we have this particular affinity to stone which we have, unfortunately, misdirected through savage construction. It may sound very romantic – and it is – but I feel prehistoric locals had a way with showing their respect to stone itself and to space.”
Entitled Il-Ġgantija, the first part is playful and very onomatopoeic: Tiġrix qalb il-ħaġar ġgant tal-ġgantija./Tiġri tiġri tiġrixxxxxxxxxx./Tiġrix qalb il-ħaġar ġgant tal-ġgantija.
Together with these words being sung, Mifsud says the atmosphere during the performance was almost ephemeral. “The very fact that we were in the temples at night, something hardly anyone ever gets to experience, made it all the more special. The light reflected on the stones, offset by the natural darkness and shadows, added to the wonderful aura only such a temple can possess. There was something spiritual about the event,” he muses.
This makes you want to experience the performance, doesn’t it?
Art Project Ġgantija runs at St James Cavalier, Valletta, from July 12 to August 24.
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to listen to the first part of Mifsud’s words com-ing to life in a recording of the performance by soprano Miriam Cauchi.