Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1418273
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 OCTOBER 2021 5 CULTURE FOLLOWING the success of the first cultural symposium held jointly with the French Embassy in Malta, the Office of the Pres- ident shall be holding a second cultural symposium, this time with a focus on the Sovereign Order of Malta. The symposium will take place on Wednesday 13 October, to also coincide with the feast of Blessed Gerard, the founder of the Order in Jerusa- lem in 1048. This second symposium will seek to explore the political, cultural, and institutional re- lationship between Malta and the Order of Malta, with a fo- cus on the history of diplomatic relations and the history of the Order following its departure from Malta in 1798, the artistic and cultural patrimony of the Order of Malta today, as well as the function, role, and purpose of the Order of Malta. The symposium will be ad- dressed by the President of Malta; the Maltese Ambas- sador to the Order of Malta, George Buttigieg, who will also be one of the academic speak- ers, and the Ambassador of the Order of St John to Malta, Au- gusto Ruffo di Calabria. Spe- cial guests to be interviewed during the symposium include Douglas Graf Saurma-Jeltsch, member of the executive board of Malteser Hilfsdienst in Ger- many and former ambassa- dor of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Lithuania, as well as Dominique Prince de La Ro- chefoucauld-Montbel, Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion in Obedience. An interesting line-up of speakers will cover various aspects of the historical and cultural ties between the Order of Malta and the Republic of Mal- ta. The main proceedings will be happening at Sant'Anton Palace although also avail- able in hybrid format via a video conferencing service. A limited number of seats are available on a first come, first served basis. Those interest- ed in participating in person or via the video conferencing service may register by send- ing an email at oprculture- symposia@gov.mt. The second symposium in the Presidency Culture Symposia Series announced THE central theme of Blitz's current exhibition Gravity re- volves around the notion of the body, together with the many references, perceptions, meta- phors, emotions and stories that this can entail. The first mean- ing that comes to mind of the term 'body' often refers to our physical body and that of our friends, parents or pets; some- thing we can touch and engage with every day, but how can we move beyond the mere tangi- ble representation of a familiar body? And how can we relate to the body of others, the bod- ies that we do not know, includ- ing those of non-human beings, such as in the case of the stones conceived by Pierre Portelli, the bird evocated by Eva Kot'átk- ová or Batman depicted by Jesse Darling? Reflecting on the varied col- ours and textures, as well as on the different body parts, features and subjects that have been presented by the artists, the children are invited to cre- ate their own visual-story by using anthropomorphic and natural elements, real or fic- tional characters as well as text if they feel like. The focus will be on imagining the body of someone you have never drawn before; someone whose story is less told and yet is representa- tive of communities, relations, and roles that are part of our society. This is an exercise in under- standing and treasuring di- versity, as well as finding an artistic way of expressing it. Each story can include fantasy elements and evolve into rep- resentational or abstract form. The workshop will be led by Kristina Borg, a visual artist and an art educator. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Art Ed- ucation and a Master's degree in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies. Her interdisciplinary research-practice focuses on socio-political issues in ur- ban-collective spaces, in dia- logue with the community and/ or the place. Borg placed first in the 3rd edition of Divergent Thinkers, Malta and she forms part of the Salzburg Global Fo- rum for Young Cultural Inno- vators. She collaborated in a num- ber of local and international projects as artist, curator, ex- hibition designer and project manager. Blitz announces the children's workshop as part of the exhibition's public programme