Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1068299
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 DECEMBER 2019 THIS WEEK ARCHITECTURE Forming part of a wider project whose wistful undercurrents its subtitle certainly bears out, 'Antiporta: A Fading Negotiation' is an architectural-artistic installation currently taking place at Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier, Valletta, which explores the rapidly disappearing and entirely Maltese feature of the antiporta. TEODOR RELJIC speaks to curator Andrew Borg Wirth How did the concept for Antiporta first come about, and what were the initial stages of its realisation like? As Chris [Briffa] approached me, he insisted he wanted this to be more than just a representation of work the studio had already done but rather to use the exhibition as a platform for potential in the future. He engaged me precisely because of this reason -- to seek a topic and to direct an investiga- tion. The initial stages of the project were based in discussion with personal anecdotes from each of the members of the team about the topic and how overlooked it is. My interest with studying the fading of the antiporta was invested in what social implications this had. The Venice Architecture Bi- ennale, where the project was first presented, is a hub for conversation pieces and research projects and I really wanted to understand how architec- ture was illustrating contemporary realities in Maltese society. As stated by yourselves, the very concept of an 'antiporta' has become associated with notions of a 'typical' idea of Malteseness, or at least Maltese architecture. With this in mind, what did you want to express about our built heritage with the piece? The narrative is invested in how this was an im- portant intermediary between public and private space. It serves as an illustration of an ongoing conversation: is this still the case today? Is our ar- chitecture providing several layers of encounter? Are our thresholds still permeable enough to allow for the negotiations they once did? Would you say that an installation like yours is redolent of a sense of preservation of typical architectural features, as the trend towards more accelerated and -- by definition -- compressed expressions of our built environment continue to take hold as a result of Malta's construction boom? It is an investigation, rather than a reflection, of the social construct that this was and in some plac- es, survives as. Rather than preservation, the pro- jects calls for contextualisation and deliberation of values. There is skill behind each of the materials and processes that the antiporta portrayed which we investigated. The skilled workers that we met expressed a Teodor Reljic A door to perception The Antiporta installation will remain on display at Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier, Valletta until February 3 Andrew Borg Wirth • Photo by Lisa Gwen