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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 MAY 2021 4 ART 'Playful futures' with artist Laura Besançon AUDREY JANDIN AFTER being forced to be sus- pended during the lockdown the exhibitions are back for all to enjoy. Laura Besançon is a Mal- tese-French multidisciplinary artist delighted to exhibit 'Playful futures' with six inter- national guest artist until 6th June at Valetta Contempory. The exhibition includes pho- tography, photographic-sculp- tural work, moving image and participatory-based works. Playful Futures is a bid to refresh our perspectives and attitudes towards ever chang- ing contexts beyond our con- trol. It questions the parallels drawn between the interrela- tionship between the state of mind and destructive manifes- tations of untamed landscapes. A more utopian and sometimes even a humorous perspective is adopted to act as a starting point to diminish the effects of disorientation in the conscious mind. During her undergraduate degree in Communications and Psychology at the University of Malta, Laura began to turn towards a fine art approach in researching her fields of stud- ies. In 2017-2019 she pursued an MA Photography degree at the Royal College of Art where she developed a multifaceted practice. She was a finalist for the 2019 MTV RE:DEFINE Award by the Goss-Michael Foundation and recently, the 2020 Aesthet- ica Art Prize. We met her. You have a background in communication and psycholo- gy. How does this feed your art practice? Before pursuing my MA at the Royal College of Art, I had never followed any kind of for- mal art education, but always wanted to 'do something more'. I had previously pursued Com- munications and Psychology at Undergraduate level, as they were both broad subjects cen- tered around the complexities of human life and our daily reality – human nature, social dynamics, interconnectedness, perception and reality. I real- ised I wanted to explore and re- search these complexities from an artistic perspective and to use all communication tools for an artistic purpose, rather than for the media world, espe- cially in such an image-saturat- ed world. I often utilise com- munication tools in my artistic practice, combining both older, slower mediums and new tech- nologies and communication tools as part of the process, or the final work. A lot of the work is more conceptual than retinal, hence why I feel that having a varied background, rather than a formal art educa- tion prior to my MA, has been beneficial. I am interested in ideas, concepts, more than the final visual product, although I strongly place importance on both. In my opinion, ideas are more important in today's world. Tell me about your exhibition... What has influenced you for this work? My artistic research and prac- tice, which centres around play and playful action, was a key starting point to the develop- ment of my practice and the creation of the works in this exhibition entitled "Playful Futures". My current practice and ongoing research has de- veloped from one of my main projects, which is included in this exhibition, called Alone, Together (2018-). This is a participatory, live work with diverse communities living in a London high rise in east Lon- don, called Landmark Heights. What remains is its video doc- umentation. I sent letters to residents to listen to a particu- lar song at a particular time on a particular night and openly invited them to play with their lights to the beat of the music, improvising in any way they wish. The result is a kind of visual orchestra, a shared mo- ment and a co-created artwork. One that can be seen by any passerby in real time, at that moment, anyone who is look- ing up, away from their phone screen. The work has also re- surfaced during these times, and can be seen in new light, in the pandemic context. I also wanted to bring the spirit of collaboration into the exhibition, where I invited five artists (who I met in Lon- don) to exhibit works which fit the thematic very well, many of which have a very photo- graphic-sculptural practice, as I would call it. These are Tom Lovelace (UK), Gökhan Tan- rıöver (Turkey), Tom Medwell (UK), Dawoon Kim (South Ko- rea), Ignacio Barrios (Spain). What role does music play in your work? I am influenced by music, without a doubt. My MA dis- sertation was entitled "See- ing Music", centring mainly around the formal qualities that architecture and music share. Many artists and archi- tects saw similarities or were deeply influenced by music in their work. I find myself looking for a certain musical- ity in visual art. My musical influence is definitely evident in Alone, Together – a music track is used as a tool, as part of the process, with the beat, rhythms converted into action and light in the windows – a visual, collaborative piece with the result being a kind of visual orchestra. In other works, I al- so see and create with a musi- cal, rhythmical attitude. I live around music all the time, lis- ten to music hours on end, re- search music and I also plan on going back to experimenting with audio production. I had created my first track, which I had sent to another building as part of the ongoing Alone, Together project and feel that it is time to get back to it. It is a part of me that I feel I need to explore further. Where does your inspiration come from? Are there any artists who inspire you? My inspiration comes from an intuitive reaction to my surroundings and daily obser- vations. An intuitive need to create a particular work in a playful manner. Works that tend to speak of contrasts and apparent dualities. It is proba- bly about the complexity of life and the fact that change is the only constant. I live in the present and react to the present. Life is full of contrasts and the more I focus and navigate them, becoming aware of the changing nature of things, the more I find that I can deal with, progress and remain future positive. The way I look at the world is with curiosity. I like to use some of the most common things in my work, playing with them in one way or another to shift one's perspective of it – like with the street sign frames. I just imagine, what if it had a photograph inside of it instead of the text "Diversion"? These moments in life where I think, what if? A gut feeling, an intu- ition and an invitation to play with what's there. Regarding whether I have any favourite artists – a very interesting question because Laura Besançon (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)