Minister for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government José Herrera announced that the Maltese Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia 2022, commissioned by Arts Council Malta, will be curated by the international team of Keith Sciberras (MLT) and Jeffrey Uslip (USA) with the concept ‘Diplomazija astuta’.
The Maltese Pavilion features artists Arcangelo Sassolino (ITA), Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci (MLT) and composer Brian Schembri (MLT), who will re-articulate Caravaggio’s seminal altarpiece ‘The Beheading of St John the Baptist’ (1608) as an immersive, kinetic, sculptural installation. Through their signature artistic vocabularies, Sassolino, Schembri Bonaci and Schembri bridge biblical narrative with contemporary culture, transposing the zeitgeist of the Oratory of the Decollato in Valletta – the site of Caravaggio’s ground-breaking canvas since the seventeenth century – onto the Malta Pavilion. ‘Diplomazija astuta’ re-situates Caravaggio’s immanent themes within modern life, addressing many of the global challenges we face in today’s world.
This creative collaboration transports spectators into the compositional and thematic space of Caravaggio’s ‘The Beheading’, unfolding the altarpiece into the space of the Malta Pavilion and the realm of contemporary social and political discourse. ‘Diplomazija astuta’ presents an urgent forewarning, prompting viewers to traverse an environment where the tragedy, brutality and injustice of St. John’s execution are experienced in the present day. Through this re-presentation of St. John’s beheading, biblical tragedy resonates with current cultural events, overlaying the first century A.D. onto the twenty-first.
Minister Herrera commended Arts Council Malta’s commitment towards the internationalisation of Maltese artistic talent. “I am very pleased with the theme selected to represent Malta, as presented by co-curators Keith Sciberras and Jeffrey Uslip; ‘Diplomazija astuta’ which re-situates Caravaggio’s immanent themes within modern life, addressing many of the global challenges we face in today’s world, from inequality to justice and peace,” said Minister Herrera.
Arts Council Malta Executive Chairman Albert Marshall explained how, “This extraordinary and timely installation – an invention of the collaborative creative effort between our curators and artists – puts forth a Maltese Pavilion that layers that which is said to have passed with that which is still unfolding. ‘Diplomazija astuta’ creates a palimpsest that uniquely operates within the realms of Caravaggio’s altarpiece and contemporary Maltese visual culture.”
The Malta Pavilion is supported by the Malta Tourism Authority, Bank of Valletta, Heritage Malta and the Embassy of the United States for Malta. The 59th International Art Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia 2022 will take place between April and November 2022. For more information, one may visit artscouncil.mt.
Photos: MHAL
