People’s reaction to Austin Camilleri’s horse sculpture is a wake-up call that Malta needs more exposure to art. The three Gozitan artists participating in the Valletta International Visual Arts Festival discuss public participation with their art with Veronica Stivala.

“It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. How on earth would a horse remain in position with only three legs?”

This was one passer-by’s reaction to Austin Camilleri’s horse sculpture that currently graces City Gate for the month of September as part of the Valletta International Visual Arts Festival (VIVA).

One of the aims of the festival is to “encourage public participation in the arts”.

While many argue that reactions such as the above are certainly not creating informed debate, one cannot disagree that the public is participating in the arts.

That said, another aim of the festival is to initiate a process of change in the local cultural scene. Whatever your views, such reactions are a sign that Malta needs more such festivals.

What kind of public participation are the artists seeking? The three participating Gozitan artists speak about their projects.

A dark horse

Austin Camilleri on Żieme, a horse sculpture made of bronze and Gozo stone, at City Gate.

“I’d like to think Żieme deals with absence or hidden presence. It points at the disparity between power and its representation, at how such images have been tailored to highlight dominance, purity and assertiveness.

“What interests me is the manicuring of the image – which is a political exercise in itself, being it done officially, mediatically or personally… see social media, for instance.

“The fact that we have no equestrian monuments is tangential to the whole concept. It is intriguing, being shown for the first time here and not abroad, but not defining. What I’m not looking for is a prescribed reaction.

“As for my source, the late Palestinian poet Edward Said makes a distinction between ‘sources’ and ‘beginnings’. I needed an established imagery.

“Equestrian monuments such as the Marc Aurelio at the Campidoglio, or those of kings and emperors in Austria, France, Holland, Belgium, Hungary and generals in the UK are the source.

“The choice of the medium is a source. The dots in between are the ‘beginnings’ and thus are always in the process of ‘becoming’.

“And finally, what better place to discuss transparency and precariousness than in front of the seat of power.”

In the beginning

Victor Agius on Genesis at the Museum of Fine Arts.

“This sculpture originally formed part of works exhibited last month at St James Cavalier during the final exhibition of Ġgantija 2013 project. This project, curated by Vince Briffa, was a collaboration between composer Mariella Cassar Cordina, writer Immanuel Mifsud and me.

“We aimed to create a dialogue with Ġgantija not from a romanticised view but more from a personal and contemporary perspective.

“I chose to investigate natural matter like clay, sand, soil and our earth because I see the spiritual link between these primal elements and our existence. The site of Ġgantija is synonymous with ritualised life, death and regeneration.

“Ġenesis, with its rugged and agitated surface, alludes to the vastness and infinite forms that know neither beginning nor end, reminiscent of our ancestral birth.

“The audience visiting the Fine Arts Museum can experience this work from the balcony, enjoying a bird’s eye view of the work.

“The public in the courtyard can actually walk around the work to touch and feel the rugged agitated skin of unfired raw Gozitan clay.

What I’m not looking for is a proscribed reaction

“The transverse diameter of the sculpture measures about 2.7m while the top part of the work stands about 1.9m from the ground.

“The dimension of the work helps to give a physical presence to this elliptical form when it is experienced in this late baroque courtyard.

“Ġgantija was brought to Valletta not to merge two Unesco world heritage sites but to give another dimension to the Ġgantija project.

“By exhibiting the works, playing the compositions and reviewing the performance in Valletta, we are exposing the project to a wider audience.”

Power and glory

JP Azzopardi on Power Exchange (created together with Michael Camilleri) at Ordinance Street.

“Power Exchange is an installation, a construction of an irregular hexagon room with moiré patterned glass.

“The pattern’s interactive movement refers to the dynamic structure between dominant and submissive in sadomasochistic activity.

“This relation is then compared to the interplay that happens in a democratic constitution between voters and political parties. The centrepiece of the installation is where the activity of the rules of engagement occurs between both parties.

“If a work of art is both clear in its aesthetic narrative, along with its title and text, it then should captivate and hopefully influence the observer.

“One then automatically participates. On the one hand, on an unconscious level and on the other on a rational (conscious) level. Both domains can interpret the work differently.

“An interaction has to occur for there to be a relationship of power. In the case of Power Exchange, there must be a dominant and submissive source. The dominant is useless without a submissive.”