A big wall painting of a map representing the Mediterranean welcomes visitors to contemporary Italian artist Rossella Biscotti’s exhibition currently on at Blitz in Valletta.

Titled Three Works and a Script, the exhibition features seemingly unrelated projects, yet they are mostly the result of Ms Biscotti’s concern with identity, demographics, statistics as well as migration within the broader field of social change.

The above-mentioned map forms part of The Journey (2016), which was first exhibited at Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. It is the culmination of the artist’s investigations into the marine, military and migrant situation of the sea between Italy, Libya and Malta.

“The Journey represents the complexities of the Mediterranean,” says curator Sara Dolfi Agostini.

“Rossella is very concerned with facts and investigates very deeply. She also looks into fragments of history, some of which are left unresolved.”

Ms Biscotti collaborated with various entities, including oceanographers from the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, the Sopraintendenza del Mare of Palermo and the University of Brussels for this project.

The main map of The Journey features a slide show of alien algae, molluscs, fish and crustaceans juxtaposed over scattered information about military operations.

“We get a lot of data on the Mediterranean but we don’t go into so much depth. That’s perhaps because fish form part of the marine ecosystem but not the human ecosystem,” notes the curator.

Another map locates and dates sunken ships, while a more complex one pinpoints oilfields, gas pipelines, internet cables and also the GPS points from where migrants sent out distress signals.

The artist used blueprints for these two maps, a very old photography technique whose colour also represents the sea, while also expressing romanticism.

“Rossella thought it was very important to bring out this side to her in the investigation,” remarks Ms Dolfi Agostini.

Since the artist’s works involve a lot of research, they take time to produce. In fact, The Journey saw its infancy in 2010, when Ms Biscotti received a block of marble after winning the Premio Michelangelo at the XIVInternational Sculpture Biennale of Carrara in 2010.

You would probably ask what does a block of marble have to do with all this.

“As many young artists, Rossella had never worked with marble due its monumental status in the history of art,” explains the curator.

Rossella is very concerned with facts and investigates very deeply. She also looks into fragments of history, some of which are left unresolved

“She spent several years researching how to make use of her prize and eventually decided to create an anti-monument.”

The above-mentioned maps were actually conceived as an archive and a script (hence the title of the exhibition) for a performance which will see the sinking of the block of marble in international waters outside Malta, making it permanently invisible and inaccessible.

“Through her research, Rossella picked a spot where she will drop the marble this year. Malta will be at centre of the performance and we’re very excited about this project,” Ms Dolfi Agostini says.

The other works on display in Three Works and a Script include Alfabeto (2018), a series of 12 photographic prints showing someone relearning how to walk with the aid of a treadmill. Here, Ms Biscotti pays homage to Eadweard Muybridge, the pioneer photographer of motion.

“This is a very personal piece,” the curator points out.

“Rossella had to learn to walk after an accident and she realised how mechanical it is to relearn something which is a given. The movement is fragmented, showing the fatigue and information processing that takes place with every fraction of a step.”

The artist chose to feature these photos in black and white and to intentionally omit the face, so as to minimise distractions from the subject matter.

Another work on display is Acquired Nationality (2014), a Jacquard-woven textile from the series 10x10, where the artist questions the gap between statistics and reality.

Ms Biscotti used the 2001-2006 census information of Brussels, where she currently lives, with each tiny box representing a group of citizens sharing the same characteristics. The artist decided to give the details of only two sets of data.

“Acquired Nationality represents the tension between a group of people and the world around them,” the curator says.

“It should reverberate with what is happening in Malta, which is experiencing economic and political migration.”

Forming part of the exhibition is also a video project titled The Undercover Man (2008) which features FBI agent Joseph Pistone, also known as Donnie Brasco, mechanically re-enacting his testimony against the Mafia after serving undercover for six years.

The artist herself interrogates Mr Pistone in two rooms that partially reconstruct the club where the FBI operation took place and also recall the stage of a film noir.

The audio is out of sync at times, suggesting the web of rehearsed testimony and personal memory 30 years after the trial.

Three Works and a Script marks a new direction for Blitz. After concluding a three-year residency programme, it is presenting a series of curated exhibitions of established international artists whose works have never been exhibited in Malta before, but whose works resonate with Malta’s history, cultural and social landscape.

Ms Biscotti’s works are on display at Blitz, 68, St Lucy Street, Valletta, until March 23.

A children’s workshop will be held on the final day. Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday from 1 to 6pm and Saturdays from 10am to 1pm. It is closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays. For more information, visit www.thisisblitz.com or call 2122 4992.