Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/326223
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 JUNE 2014 14 News Paceville, but not as you know it? Billionaire's 'Plan B' berths at Vittoriosa BILLIONAIRE philanthropist Ted Waitt (pictured, inset) has his superyacht 'Plan B' berthed at the Grand Harbour Marina in Vitto- riosa, this newspaper has learnt. The 239-foot 'Plan B' was built in 2012, and can sleep up to 12 guests in eight rooms, including a master suite, six double cabins, and two cabins. She also takes up to 20 crew. Amenities include a helipad, gym, Jacuzzi, swimming platform, and an elevator – and they do not come for nothing, the superyacht com- mands a €550,000 weekly charter (plus expenses…). The American entrepreneur is a co-founder of Gateway, the Ameri- can computer hardware company which manufactures personal com- puters, monitors, servers, and computer accessories. Gateway was ac- quired by Acer in October 2007, for approximately USD 710 million. Waitt has held a spot on both the Forbes 400 Richest in America as well as Forbes' list of the World's Billionaires. He has also been listed on Fortune Magazine's "40 Richest Under 40". In 2009, his net worth of $1.4 billion fell to $900 million, with Forbes speculating that the drop from the previous year was a result of "sour- ing real estate" and a divorce settlement. Waitt went on to form the private investment group Avalon Capital and non-profit organisations Waitt Foundation, Waitt Institute and Waitt Institute for Violence Prevention. The Waitt Foundation funds partnerships and projects that seek a deeper understanding of human history and improve mankind's knowledge through historical and scientific exploration. Following the launch of her collaborative book on Paceville with photographer David Pisani, Night & Day, anthropologist Elise Billiard speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about what the year-long project has taught her about Malta's contentious entertainment hub PUBLISHED by Ede Books last month, Night & Day – a 'coffee ta- ble' format book of photographs and impressionistic non-fiction texts – is a unique look at Malta's fraught but persistently popular nightlife hub, Paceville. When they first began work on the project around a year ago, anthro- pologist Elise Billiard and her husband David Pisani set out to document – primarily through photography – the Paceville area with a non-judgemental eye, viewing the place not only as a fetishised night-life district, but also a place in which people live and go about their normal day-to-day existence. Dividing their 'duties' on the project along the binary suggested by the title, Billiard photographed and made notes about Paceville by day, while Pisani took care of its more familiar iteration at nighttime. Now that the project has culminated with the publication of the book, Bil- liard spoke to MaltaToday about what she learnt about the Paceville area as the duo worked on the project. Finding a direct link between an- thropology and photography, Billiard said that observation – as opposed to simple illustration – was the key to whole project, as both her and Pisani set out to discover telling details about the area that could give them a deeper understanding of what makes Paceville 'tick' as an urban area – both as a place of residence and entertainment. "To give you an example of how I worked in the case of Paceville, I can say that looking for photographs helped me to enter this world," Billiard said. "For instance, on the very first day that I embarked on the project, I parked next to the rocky beach at the bottom of Wilga Street. While parking I kept my eye on a man who was gardening in the tiny piece of soil that sat between the street and the parking places. "He was tall, thin and well mannered and yet he was wearing worn clothes and a digging fork. Once out of my car and with my camera around my neck, I shyly walked up to him to ask about his gardening. He told me he was tak- ing care of what he considered to be the 'community garden' and was plant- ing a new plant in memory of one of his fellow residents, who had just passed away. "I expressed my amazement and he proceeded to name each and every plant – agaves and oleanders mainly – with the names of deceased residents. Finally he showed his beloved wife's tree. A beautiful little olive tree that he had planted two years ago when his better half died. I was touched by this, and asked him whether I could photo- graph him in his little garden. "He posed with his digging fork in one hand along his leg and the tree leveling embraced with his other arm. Proud and serious, facing the camera… "In the end the photograph did not really come out good; I couldn't find a suitable angle nor the right frame. But I knew that I had found a door to enter the reality of the Paceville's residents community." Billiard was also surprised to discover just how "segmented" an area Paceville is, with the many hotels that surround and frame it sharply dividing the tourist areas from the residential ones which, Billiard deems, "has strong social im- plications" while also commenting that Paceville has a "compressed Los Angeles quality… which is quite jarring when you consider how small Paceville is, for that kind of milieu." "I guess this is my point of view on the area – and thanks to the book, I can share 'my Paceville' with others." Purchase Night & Day by logging on to http://edebooks.eu/night-and-day/. The book was part financed by the Mal- ta Arts Fund and is co sponsored by SO Galerie and Computime Ltd PHOTOGRAPHY BY ELISE BILLIARD AND DAVID PISANI PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD