Last weekend, the Sliema Street Art Festival 2014 took over the Sliema promenade and gardens. It was more of a rock festival than an arts festival, but also short on melody.
The bass was turned up to maximum, limiting any enjoyment or discussion of the limited art on offer. When asked to lower the volume by the police, the bands complied, only to turn it up again once the police had moved on.
The event was presumably billed as an ‘Arts’ festival in order to obtain a permit, which would otherwise not have been granted.
Among the art, one of the few artists worthy of the name was Francis Galea, whose paintings of classic Maltese scenes, are truly mesmerising.
For street art, the work of pavement artists Vera Bugatti and Valentina Sforzini more than justified their inclusion, their chalk drawings being both dramatic and original.
A 3D portrait of a fish playing the piano was entertaining and worthy of study, but otherwise there appeared to be a total lack of originality. It was just a miscellany of papier-mâché statues, recycled plastic, cling-filmed trees, tourist prints and battered cars.
In the newly-inaugurated children’s playground, the hippopotamus rubbish bins and the colourful slides and swings offered more in the way of art.
Among the tourist-tat, some artisans from the Crafts Village displayed their stunning Maltese filigree, but such stands were few and far between.
Was the three-day ‘Arts’ festival worthwhile? I would say not, for it didn’t deliver what it promised and the apparently poor attendance did not justify the disruption to those living in the neighbourhood.
The illumination of the rocks, where the bands were situated and people were dancing, was patchy, the unevenness of the rock surfaces and the channels cut across them making personal safety an issue.
Fortunately, these areas were not crowded, which marginally lessened the risks, and an ambulance was sensibly stationed at mid-point.
It seldom rains in July, which is just as well, because the numerous electric cables snaking across the pavements were both an obstacle and an electric hazard.
If it is to be repeated next year, before putting more money into it, the Sliema council needs to have a major rethink.