Installation by Victor Agius. Photo: Daniel Cilia

Following six sold-out performances and tours of the multi-disciplinary exhibition within St Agatha’s Catacombs in Rabat, Layers came to an end last week with a special guided tour featuring composer Mariella Cassar-Cordina, artist Victor Agius, author Immanuel Mifsud and curator Vince Briffa, who conducted one final guided tour and a hands-on workshop before revealing the official catalogue to mark the end of the critically-acclaimed exhibition.

The Layers multi-disciplinary exhibition, which took Cassar-Cordina and Agius two years of research and work to put together, had six sold-out performances and brought together numerous elements ranging from contemporary art to music.

Renzo Spiteri and Alistair Attard.

Audiences who managed to snag a ticket to one of the six performances were treated to a multi-layered recital of Cassar-Cordina’s score with words written by Immanuel Mifsud. Performed by the Schola Cantorum Jubilate male choir under the direction of Marouska Attard, the performance also included the input of Renzo Spiteri and Alistair Attard, with each element creating a new layer to the music. This was followed by a guided tour around the catacombs, where Agius’s specially-created pieces played on intertextuality and combined the history of the catacombs with our modern understanding of the world, culture, religion and politics.

“The project was designed to be responsive, roving, innovative and groundbreaking, placing the emphasis on the process itself and the close interaction of the audience during the performance,” said Cassar-Cordina and Agius, joint artistic directors of the Ars Vitae Ensemble.

The hands-on workshop was an exercise in listening, appraising and composing music as well as in fresco painting

“The hands-on workshop was an exercise in listening, appraising and composing music as well as in fresco painting,” the directors said. “This was open to students aged between nine and 13 and was aimed to increase their awareness of art both old and new.”

Following the workshop, the team behind the exhibition gave one last guided tour of the exhibition that culminated in a talk by the artists and the launch of the official Layers catalogue, which featured photography by Daniel Cilia and Therese Debono. Those who attended one of the six Layers performances, as well as those present on the day, received a free copy of the catalogue.

Layers was supported by the Malta Arts Fund and the Janatha Stubbs Foundation.

Stennija: Bone and China.

Photo: Daniel Cilia