The Minister for National Heritage, Arts and Local Government Owen Bonnici launched the Malta Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale, Italy. The Pavilion was commissioned by the Maltese Arts Council where Malta is being represented by the artist Matthew Attard and his innovative project “I Will Follow the Ship”.
Matthew Attard’s exhibition combines Maltese cultural heritage with artificial intelligence technology. The co-curators of “I Will Follow the Ship” are Elyse Tonna and Sara Dolfi Agostini. Maria Galea and Galleria Michela Rizzo are overseeing the project management, Vicenzo Casali is the consulting architect, and Joey Borg is taking care of the project’s programming and software development.
Minister Owen Bonnici, in a speech on the occasion in Venice, Italy, explained how La Biennale di Venezia is one of the most prestigious international institutions in the cultural sector for the presentation and promotion of contemporary art. He said that after a long absence of 17 years, Malta returned to the Biennale di Venezia in 2017, as well as in 2019 and 2022.
He referred to the government’s significant investment in Malta’s arts and culture sectors, and explained that in the last decade, Malta has seen unprecedented growth in careers in the cultural and creative sectors, -the number of individuals working in the creative fields will double. Between 2022 and 2023, careers in this sector increased by 13%. He said that this is a positive trend and one of great encouragement.
He said that the visual arts sector is moving forward and he mentioned as examples the opening of the MUSEUM that took place in 2018, the launch of the first edition of maltabiennale.art that took place this year and how also the opening, which will take place this year, of MICAS. He claimed that this is all an investment in our artists and in the creative field.
The minister concluded by thanking the Maltese Council for the Arts which is carrying out crucial work in the promotion of local artists, both in Malta and beyond our shores.
For his part, the Executive Chairperson of the Maltese Arts Council Albert Marshall said, “Matthew Attard is a clear example of a young artist from a small country who managed to overcome geographical limits. Perseverance, his determination to succeed, his passion for art, and his extraordinary talent, led him to Venice.”
He mentioned how the theme of the Biennale is reflected in the Malta Pavilion where the starting point was the graffiti of the ships which, although they are scattered around Malta and are part of our cultural heritage, are also scattered in more countries around the Mediterranean. Mr. Marshall concluded by thanking the staff of the Maltese Arts Council for their work in organizing and coordinating the Malta Pavilion in Venice.
The artist Matthew Attard said that it is an honor to be entrusted with Malta’s first solo pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia. For this pavilion he explored the interplay of historic ship graffiti, contemporary drawing and digital technology. By examining historical imagery through eye-tracking equipment as a drawing tool, Attard prompts reflections on the contemporary reliance on digital technology.
The co-curator Elyse Tonna, who is the first Maltese woman curator who is part of the Malta Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, explained that in “I Will Follow the Ship”, the image of the a ship materializes as an eternal symbol of hope and possibility, which has powerful resonances in today’s world of technological progress.
The co-curator Sara Dolfi Agostini said that Matthew Attard’s work brings within the Biennale the lingua franca of the maritime community, where he makes use of residual images that belong to Malta, to Venice, and to everyone— as a means of communication spread across the borders and cultures of the unknown seas of the information society and its wider ecology.
La Biennale di Venezia will be held between 20 April and 24 November 2024.
Photo: MHAL
