Dates: Friday 28 February – Sunday 6 September 2020
Venue: Space C, Spazju Kreattiv
Free entrance
The project focuses on the creation of artistic and original content through collaboration between two artists, namely Isaac Warrington and Alessio Cuschieri. It is suggestively entitled ‘Aghti Kbir Alla’ because it explores Maltese identity through typical local cultural idiosyncrasies, and discloses spiritual, psychological, and social aspects rooted in the Maltese local scene. Furthermore, it bespeaks existential and, at times, absurd conundrums related to the contemporary paradigm, as dictated by excessive consumerism and capitalism expressed in terms of overdevelopment, exploitation, and mass consumption.
Visual content features dystopian visions, illustrating quasi-neurotic undertones which inform our contemporary paradigm and society. The juxtaposition of cultural narratives will also reveal typical peculiarities revolving around the current state of the Maltese context, characterised by the equivocality of construction, sacred and religious practices, and engagement with the environment. Within these visual accounts, one finds several references to religious and spiritual undercurrents being analogised through innovative installation work, experimental prints, and drawings.
This project is supported by Art Council MaltaPhoto Credit: Isaac Warrington
Scala Dei
Scala Dei is a visual representation which is directly based off of a traditional ladder. It is composed of discarded materials that populate the Maltese construction sites. Its composition was directly inspired by the numerous issues which plague Malta’s construction industry, particularly with regards to health and safety. The ladder may be viewed as being a symbol representing the lost lives within this contemporary tragedy.
However it moreover represents the notions of moving to a higher social stratification within society. Ultimately is also a reference to the notion of ‘‘Scala Dei’’ within the context of humanity seeking to progress further than they can succeed, ever attempting to reach godhood.
“Scala Dei… is composed of discarded materials that populate the Maltese construction sites. Ultimately it is also a reference to the notion of ‘‘Scala Dei’’ within the context of humanity seeking to progress further than they can succeed, ever attempting to reach godhood.”
IBNI
“God is dead, God remains dead, and we have killed him!”, proclaimed Nietzsche. When the idea of God ceases to exist in the minds of many, do you think we have solved a problem or created a new one? Perhaps both are correct as an answer.
Let us look now towards the Maltese context. The Maltese archipelago is currently in the process of losing its God. Two consequences arise from this phenomenon. The first being that once you have eliminated the idea of God, the slot still exists within man, woman and child, and must be filled with something that can substantiate the void equally. The second being: now what? What do we do now that we no longer have a god to believe in? Nietzsche has also presented us with a possible to solution to this issue, stating that we should look to the arts and aesthetics to fill such void. Personally I would tend to agree with this. The most spiritually engaging action I have ever witness is the creation process of an artwork as well as being the audience of a great artwork. Art has always had within itself the potential to be transcendental. Turning our gaze once again to the current situation in Malta, one must ask oneself, what have we, the Maltese people replaced our god with?
A sculpture of Christ crucified to a tower crane constructed out of wrought iron, anchored in place by two solid blocks of concrete. The whole sculpture painted Gold to take on an ornamental like appearance. This work could very well be imitating an altar piece in some manner, or rather an icon of worship. It also pays homage to the reference of the adoration of the golden calf, as represented in Christian scripture (also mentioned in Islamic and Hebrew scripture). The idolatry of the calf very much resembles our approach towards the tower crane and its seeming omnipotence.
This work does not seek to defend the existence of a god, nor does it claim that one must find God for ones life to be fulfilled and complete. Rather it highlights the issue of not having replaced god adequately. How is the local paradigm replacing God? With what is it replacing God? Aesthetics. Philosophy, Culture? If one seeks answers to these questions, one ought to look no further than what we as a people invest our time, money and energy on. One might also find the answer simply by looking at how we are morphing our environment. “I believe that a human being, is fundamentally a spiritual being, and that our vision of the world must be extended to encompass all the invisible energies with which we have lost contact”. -Joseph Beuys
““God is dead, God remains dead, and we have killed him!”, proclaimed Nietzsche. When the idea of God ceases to exist in the minds of many, do you think we have solved a problem or created a new one? Perhaps both are correct as an answer… This work does not seek to defend the existence of a god, nor does it claim that one must find God for ones life to be fulfilled and complete. Rather it highlights the issue of not having replaced god adequately. How is the local paradigm replacing God?”
The Schizophrenics Series
This is an ongoing series of drawings that bore into several contemporary issues that concern the spiritual, the built environment and Maltese Identity, from an existential perspective.
The work is done in an illustrative manner. Making use of pen and paper, with the aid of several acrylic and ink washes, as well as the occasional use of pencil. Each composition made with simplicity in mind, as not to clutter the viewers mind. Nothing is there that does not need to be there. Yet it is littered with subliminal references to Jungian imagery and Freudian symbolism.
Religion used to be a heavily defining quality of what composes the Maltese morality and behavior. As the physical changes around us, so do our mental landscapes. Of all the issues that existentialism aims to contemplate, there is not one that is unrelated to our environment. Where we inhabit and how we dwell there, is detrimental to our mental and physical well being. As Winston Churchill once said: “We shape our buildings and thereafter, they shape us”.
We currently live in a very schizophrenic time. The state of the land is changing fast, undeniably, these changes cause a disruption in the previous frame of life. With all this turbulence the landscape of our very beings starts to morph and mutate. This work aims to highlight those mutations, through the use of several narratives that present visuals of a dystopian and bleak setting. Peppered throughout the series of drawings, are many religious, biblical and spiritual images.
The series is not a plea for help or awareness, nor is it a call for change. People no longer need to be reminded of the problems they face, for they know of them well. It is rather, an observation and perhaps a criticism made from a standpoint that tries to be as neutral as possible. It is also a visual ache and sorrow towards the degradation of ones home, country and mind being raped in front of ones eyes, all in the pursuit of god knows what. “Environmental pollution advances parallel with the pollution of the world within us” -Joseph Beuys.
“This is an ongoing series of drawings that bore into several contemporary issues that concern the spiritual, the built environment and Maltese Identity, from an existential perspective… We currently live in a very schizophrenic time. The state of the land is changing fast, undeniably, these changes cause a disruption in the previous frame of life. With all this turbulence the landscape of our very beings starts to morph and mutate.”
Migrating Cranes
One could call this a performance piece, I would prefer to think of it as a ritual. Cranes made from matchsticks individually put together one by one, doused in Ethanol and set ablaze. The cycle of destruction and rebirth is one that is mentioned in several world mythologies. Agni, the two headed god of fire in Hindu mythology, burns the forest and destroys the life within it during the process. Whatever comes after is fertilized by the ashes, the trees grow stronger and space is cleared to make way for the new life to come. A notion that is not so happily received in our roman catholic bred society. We do not seem to accept our roles in the world. We seek to live forever, to immortalize ourselves in the form of buildings that keep getting higher, as though we are trying to reach some form of absolution or deity in the sky.
The name for this piece is metaphorical. Birds known as Cranes tend to migrate, as do most birds. Instead of moving from one physical space to another, the tower cranes move from a physical object to a transcendental one. A spiritual ladder that will help us reach ultimatum. As the metaphorical migration of cranes happens, our perception of them shifts from the objective to the phenomenal. How many times have you seen a crane being built? Perhaps quite often if you work in the industry. During your day to day ventures however, maybe not so often. They just appear, sprouting from the ground and they start building, as though they are these massive lumbering giants forming the new world around us. At times, they seem as though they are operating independently without human intervention. Ironically we have become accustomed to them, and hardly notice their interventions
In multiple cultures one can find in reference the burning of effigies. Constructs meant to resemble a human figure, set to be burned symbolically. This process has been mimicked in ‘Migrating Cranes’. The Crane being presented as the life giver, the builder, the harbinger of prosperity and development. Burned beautifully during this ritualistic ceremony. An ecstatic sight to bear witness to, roaring fires destroying a structure before your very eyes. Fire, a great force of nature, one that can not be tamed till this day. Fire the great cleanser, giving life and taking it. The Yin and the Yang.
“One could call this a performance piece, I would prefer to think of it as a ritual. Cranes made from matchsticks individually put together one by one, doused in Ethanol and set ablaze. The cycle of destruction and rebirth is one that is mentioned in several world mythologies… The name for this piece is metaphorical. Birds known as Cranes tend to migrate, as do most birds. Instead of moving from one physical space to another, the tower cranes move from a physical object to a transcendental one.”
Texts: Isaac Warrington and Alessio Cuschieri
Documentation photo credits: Rachel Micallef Somerville and Luca Azzopardi
Creative Team
Alessio Cuschieri, Isaac Warrington, Roderick Camilleri
Ticket Information
Adult
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Concession tickets include students, senior citizens and Special ID Holders (SID).
Venue Information
Spaces
St James Cavalier Castille Place,
Valletta
VLT1060Malta
