BOV supports the Malta Pavilion at ‘La Biennale Arte 2017’ in Venice
After an absence of almost two decades, this year brings the return of Malta to La Biennale di Venezia, the 57th International Art Exhibition. Bank of Valletta is proud to support the Malta Pavilion, commissioned by Arts Council Malta, which showcases the Maltese talent on such an important international forum.
The conceptual exhibition:
delivers an associative investigation of Maltese identity in a complex installation that brings artworks, objects and documents together in a non-hierarchical, a-chronological setup.
The 19 chapters will take audiences on an elaborate journey that travels simultaneously in different directions, taking in specimens of natural history, a national genome, an ancient shipwreck, migration, cartography, ritualistic objects, transgender characters and other artefacts that playfully combine fact and fiction, identity construction and deconstruction, with subversive objects meeting obedient objects.
The 19 characters of the Maltese alphabet have also been used as chapter headings by the artistcurators Raphael Vella and Bettina Hutschek, who have explained that: “The relationship between chapter titles and individual letters of the alphabet is perhaps arbitrary, but we liked the idea that a Maltese alphabet made of both Semitic and Latin roots could represent the hybrid nature of identity that our ‘incomplete inventory’ represents.”
The result is a spirited, often provocative address of Maltese cultural identity, history, religion, myths and politics, expressed through over 200 items of ephemera and historical artefacts and the work of 13 Maltese contemporary artists either based in Malta from the Maltese diaspora. It brings together examples of what is fascinating and fantastical, imaginative and inspiring about Maltese culture and places contemporary art at the heart of it.
Arts Council Malta executive chairman Albert Marshall added: “Through the selection of around 200 objects making up the Malta Pavilion, the curatorial concept aims to create a dialogue as well as open up a discussion on who we are – or perhaps who we think we are – as Maltese people.”
Charles Azzopardi, head PR & Marketing at Bank of Valletta explained: “Bank of Valletta has been an active patron of arts and culture on the national scene for decades. We feel very strongly about contemporary artists who delineate the face and voice of Malta in the present. This is why several years ago, the bank set up the BOV Retrospective Arts Committee that organises a retrospective exhibition at the BOV Centre once a year, celebrating the artistic life of contemporary artists that made a name for themselves and for Malta. It gives us great pleasure to be part of this event which showcases the talent of our artists while concurrently putting in relief the evolution of the Maltese identity in the most creative media possible.” brings together works by artists based in Malta, works by artists from the Maltese diaspora, folk artefacts, works from private and national collections, as well as artefacts and images from different sources such as journalism, national and private collections and popular culture, that combine, interpret, question and define the imaginative spirit of the Maltese identity.
The Malta Pavilion is centrally located inside the Arsenale in Venice and the exhibition will run until 26 November.