Malta
Biennale
CAN YOU SEA? THE MEDITERRANEAN AS A POLITICAL BODY
Dock 1 / Undrground Valletta
Adrian Paci
Agnes Questionmark
Andreco
Anna Raimondo
Anne Immelé
Anthony Spagnol
Basim Magdy
Claude Borg, Mariah Borg, Rebecca Mifsud, Sumaya Ben Saad
Edson Luli
Josian Bonello
Karyn Olivier
Laure Prouvost
Leo Chircop
Simon Benjamin
Siwani Buhlebezwe
Rosa Barba
Tania Bruguera
Teresa Busuttil
Zineb Sedira
The first edition of Malta Biennale was divided into four curatorial sections, exploring themes that revolve around the concept of Insulaphilia, focusing on the importance of recognising hybridity within culture.
Hydrography in Malta goes as far back as 60AD, the island has been in turn a refuge, a hideaway, a port, a silo, a defender, and a ‘brave fortress’ – this multi-faceted identity highlights that the geopolitical significance of this island is indelibly linked to its maritime identity.
We focused on the word “Melite”, meaning refuge, which was the name bestowed by the Phoenicians to these islands. We can affirm that it is the sea that has shaped the land and defined Malta’s trajectory. It lays claim to territorial waters of 12 nautical miles – the waves that flow towards the shore, just as soon bounce back until they reach another, and in this way the people of this region have always been connected, travelling across the sea that is irremediably wild and refractory to domestication, alien to containment and control.
As we steered from land to sea, from air to water, we proposed for the participatory artists and voices of the biennale to explore ways to occupy this ‘space’ without claiming it, steering away from the confinements of territorial discourse toward a dialectic that was free and unbound, just at the sea has always been.
Curatorial Team
READ THE CURATORIAL STATEMENT
- / Can you Sea?
The Mediterranean as a Political Body
- / Decolonizing Malta:
Polyphony is Us - / The Counterpower of Piracy
- / The Matri-Archive of the Mediterranean
- / Public Program