Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1124848
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JUNE 2019 5 THIS WEEK ART emoji, which was also dignified with Word of The Year status by the Oxford University Press in 2015. To me, this is a sign of a cultural shift, from the exacti- tude of the written word to the playfulness of computer cul- ture. If the role of emojis, gifs, memes, social media, and vide- ogames in our lives is unques- tioned, what is yet unknown is how decisively they have trans- formed an audience of adults into one of eternal kids and adolescents. Back in the Old World, artists were the only adults allowed to look at and be inspired by chil- dren. At the end of the 1850s, influential art critics like John Ruskin and Charles Baudelaire encouraged aesthetic throw- backs to childhood for artists to recover freshness and inno- cence. The cliché of the eyes of the child now applies to every- one. Then what happens when every message, personal or pub- lic, can have multiple interpre- tations ranging from serious to teasing? What present reality and future can we build? The nine artists of this show – Cory Arcangel, Simon Denny, Andy Holden, Maurice Mbikayi, Al- exandra Pace, Rob Pruitt, Paul Sochacki, Amalia Ulman, and Serena Vestrucci – are respond- ing to this intriguing question. Do you believe that the deliberately fragmented nature of an exhibition such as this one will lead to a more streamlined aesthetic in the (perhaps near) future? Based on your experience and overall perception of the scene, would you say that 'new media' art will calcify into something a bit more concrete and cohesive? I personally welcome the plu- rality of forms and aesthetics of contemporary art today, and think the age of artistic move- ments and manifestos is over, and that this is for the best. A few years ago, the art world seemed to converge in the label 'post-internet' for artists whose practice explicitly reflected on the impact of the internet in arts and culture. I remember it referred also to Simon Denny and Amalia Ulman, as they critically infiltrated the virtual aesthetics of global power and self-fetishism on platforms like Instagram. However, the label was soon abandoned and now it sounds limited. In fact, by blurring the lines between producers and con- sumers, free live updates, social networks, apps and videogames have impacted all contempo- rary art, not just that openly em- broiled with new media. So the way Simon Denny mingles old board games, colonialism and media culture to criticise liber- tarian mythologies and utopias powered by technologists like PayPal founder Peter Thiel in his new work currently showing at Blitz is just as contemporary as his previous productions. A similar attitude can be found in Cory Archangel's resurrection of the Java applet 'lake', a once popular device in the '90s used to create a seemingly liquid re- flection, or Alexandra Pace's ap- propriation of the mainstream movie The Shining (1980). Their works question images as both products are encapsulated in a specific time and society, yet are also as intensively inter- active, interchangeable, and in- complete elements for different epochs and generations. What was it like to work with Blitz? How would you say the venue contributes to the local arts scene, based on what you've had a chance to experience of the visual arts in Malta? When I first visited Malta in early 2017, Blitz was the only independent contem- porary art space, operating since 2013, and several inter- national colleagues told me to get in touch with its founder, artist Alexandra Pace. Our collaboration started officially in 2019, at the end of a three- year residency project with more than 200 international artists applying for the open calls. However, the magic of art residencies mostly hap- pens behind closed doors, and visitors were constantly knocking at the door, looking for inspiration. Now residencies are upon invitation, and respond to the needs of a new curated exhibi- tion and public program which kicked off last January with the solo show of Italian artist Rossella Biscotti, strategically planned to find partners for an ambitious performance work on migration that will happen later this year in Malta. Solo and group shows like Face with Tears of Joy are conceived to nurture the art community, while establishing a strong dia- logue with the international art scene through artworks that deeply resonate with some of the major visual challenges of our Western societies. In fact, these challenges are all very evident in a small country with an incredible heritage – from the Megalithic temples to the Baroque churches and mas- terpieces by Caravaggio – and a strong ambition to be on the forefront of the growing fin- tech, blockchain, new media industries and… contemporary art. Face With Tears of Joy will remain on display at Blitz, Valletta until June 14. Opening hours: 1pm to 6pm (Tuesday to Friday); 10am to 1pm (Satur- day) Alexandra Pace and Maurice Mbikayi Cory Archangel Andy Holden Serena Vestrucci Above: Amalia Ulman and Paul Sochacki