Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/384358
28 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2014 THIS WEEK CULTURE | TV | FILM CINEMA LISTINGS FOOD | WHAT'S ON THIS WEEK Striving to fit 'science in a box', the AMAZE2 project will plonk a giant room in the middle of St George's Square in Valletta, where visitors will be able to explore an interact with various scientific developments. TEODOR RELJIC speaks to Pierre Mizzi of Logix, one of the collaborators in the project Take a walk through the maze How did the concept behind AMAZE2 first come about, and what was the original aim behind it? Our team comprises creative de- signers from different disciplines that thrive on bouncing creative ideas off each other to formulate project concepts together. This particular idea was developed through several creative sessions we had done internally as part of the development process. Our aim is to enclose the visitor within an immersive experience that changes as you walk around the maze. The labyrinth concept achieves this very successfully and gives us the opportunity to create rooms and wall spaces which do not normally exist within the open air space of the Piazza. What is it like to coordinate an exhibit of such a large scale and that incorporates so many different entities? What were some of the biggest challenges? Dealing with the different organ- isers was relatively easy as both Sci- ence in the City and Notte Bianca are being managed by very capable teams. The Valletta 2018 Founda- tion was also very accommodating. Apart from the extremely short time frames, our first big challenge was to achieve what we were after within the budget constraints we had. But these are issues we are of- ten faced with on a day-to-day basis and always manage to overcome somehow. In this case, we were able to rope in a few corporate partners to augment our budget and that in itself causes a lot of delays as you have to wait for replies from a lot of different people. Doing this in the height of summer only makes things more frustrating. Other than that, there were daily issues we had to deal with which are quite normal when you are creating something of this magnitude. Another big chal- lenge we managed to overcome was keeping the normal work of our other projects and clients flowing, as we couldn't just drop everything to focus solely on this. We are for- tunate to have a very effective team and an extended network of con- tacts we can rely on, and I suppose this makes it easier for us to achieve big ideas. How was it for you to promote science in fun and artistic ways? Over the past few months we've been working very closely with the Malta Council for Science & Technology on the branding and environmental styling of the new Esplora Science Centre, so we were already in the right frame of mind so to speak. The science and artistic teams involved with SITC came on board with a clear picture of what they were after, so that too made things easier. Then we devised oth- er concepts to give our corporate partners an opportunity to relate their brand story from a scientific perspective and we're looking for- ward to see everything come to- gether with an element of fun. Do you think we need more interdisciplinary events of this kind in Malta? From our own experience as a creative company with two decades working experience, we are very pleased to note that this kind of event has become much more com- monplace over the past few years. Events like SITC, Notte Bianca, De- sign Week and Fashion Week give a lot of opportunity for creative peo- ple to showcase their work and col- laborate. It then often boils down to budgets because when you compare with similar events in other coun- tries, we always seem to make mira- cles with very little money. What do you hope visitors will get out of this experience? We hope that visitors will appreci- ate the scale of this project and the fact that all this effort has gone into building a complex structure that only exists for one week. We're con- fident that both the labyrinth itself and the ancillary structures and fa- cilities will give visitors a spark of imagination and a place to rest and relax for a while to soak in all that they have seen. AMAZE2 is being organised in collaboration with Science in the City Consortium, Notte Bianca Val- letta, Biopilot, Izaxa, Valletta 2018 Foundation and Logix/Daaa. It will be unveiled for Science in the City on September 26 and remain on dis- play for Notte Bianca on October 4 Dante Can Dance: with Divine The Gozo-based Naupaca Dance Factory and Gozo at the end of October WITH the help of Italian dancer Francesco Mariottini (of 'Amici' fame) as Virgil and his Russian col- league Sergey Kheylik as Dante, Naupaca Dance Factory is celebrat- ing its ten-year anniversary with Di- vina, a contemporary dance adapta- tion based on La Divina Commedia, the epic Italian poem by Dante Alighieri. Similarly arranged as the poem it takes its name from, Divina is com- posed of three visually distinct acts, namely Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory) and Paradiso (Heav- en). The journey will be narrated through dance, poetry, song and music. The concept behind this produc- tion is the exploration of states of being rather than simplified nar- ration. This is directly translated into dance where there is a steady progression from the element of absurdity and juxtaposed heaviness that Inferno represents to the light- er, more extended choreography of Paradiso. Apart from the three main char- acters, individual bodies in Divina represent states of emotion rather than specific characters. During the fifteen-minute pre- view, the pieces chosen showcased snippets of the actual show high- lighting the emotional rollercoaster that is Divina. Departing from a point of despair and Dante's subsequent descent into Inferno with Virgil, the main protagonist is met with an unex- pected representation of love in hell narrated through the story of Paolo and Francesca. Purgatorio offers a state of transition, exploring a state of meditation and purification. Dante's final journey through Par- adiso takes the audience closer to perfection with the entrance of Bea- trice who represents both innocence and knowledge. The obsession and incessant search for perfection and beauty is at the heart of Divina. The Gozo-based Naupaca Dance Factory has collaborated with a number of renowned local musi- cians who have provided the origi- nal music score that follows the choreographed script. In the leading roles, Sergey Khey- lik (RU) will dance the role of Dante, Francesco Mariottini (IT) will dance the role of Virgil, and Naupaca Dance Factory's Deborah Agius will be dancing the role of Beatrice. "When we set about devising the piece, our starting point was to im- agine that Dante has returned to our world and is revisiting his epic poem and is revisiting it in 2014," director and choreographer Joeline Tabone said. Tabone is confident that even those viewers who may not be all that familiar with the original text Pierre Mizzi