Two computers have taken a seat in a building on St Lucy Street in Valletta to discuss the human rituals of fasting.
In the next room, shelves are lined with cans containing anything from pineapple chunks to math soup.
It is a peculiar combination of displays, but the main ingredient is the same: food.
You Are What You Eat is an exhibition at Blitz in St Lucy Street, Valletta, curated by Alexandra Pace, following a collaboration between Blitz and the human rights NGO Aditus.
Three people were chosen for the project, each tasked to come up with a piece that delves into the cultural roots of Malta’s main dishes and ingredients.
Aaron Bezzina created a kinetic sculpture reflecting the culinary effect of Turkey on the Maltese islands, while Sarah Maria Scicluna weaved a sea from plates made of salt – a universal ingredient.
Meanwhile, video game-maker Pippin Barr came up with a setting where two computers discuss the rituals of fasting and abstinence.
The project includes a programme with floor talks, a panel discussion on food, society and migration, and a children’s workshop. The latter came up with a fantasy supermarket selling canned food.
Asked how challenging it was to explain the concept of migration and food to children, Ms Pace said the participants were “quite young and thankfully untarnished with any resistance or opinion about anyone who appears any different to them”.
“Our little audience was mainly fascinated by the various contraptions, items and talking computers. So once we had their attention, we proceeded to explain the relationship between food and migration in a very simple way,” she said.
Although it was hard for Ms Pace and her colleague Nicole Bearman to pick just one favourite, the math soup caught the eye of many.
“We were all extremely impressed by the limitless ideas of young minds. As expected we had a range of gory, fantasy contents in the cans such as vampire lollipops, fermented squid eyes and kangaroo toe nails, but our favourite had to be the math soup which promised to help you do your math homework.”
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