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MT 5 June 2016

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 JUNE 2016 39 THREE years of intense work and research from the first batch of graduating Digital Arts students at the University of Malta will culmi- nate in a collective exhibition. Run- ning until June 17, the exhibition is titled 'L-gh', a name which serves as an umbrella term to describe all twelve projects together whilst simultaneously exploiting the indi- vidual uniqueness of each one. By playing around with the most iconic member of the Maltese al- phabet, another five connotations were drawn out of the original name, resulting in a total of six themes under which the twelve pro- jects were sorted in twos. The first is the Maltese letter it- self, l-gh, enveloping notions such as typography and Maltese iden- tity. Danika Muscat's project, 'Dis- tortion', is a study of the synthesis between the visual and verbal ele- ments of typography, in an attempt to reveal the communicative strug- gle pertaining to addiction. Ramon Azzopardi Fiott's 'Il-Mizragh' is ful- ly inspired by the Maltese aesthetic, drawing from traditional architec- ture and our natural environment, and infusing them with contempo- rary elements. The second is 'l-ghajn', the seeing eye, for the most visual projects. In 'Facets', Angele Pollacco explores the dichotomy between the authen- ticity and perception of portraiture and, consequently, how it provides different layers to an objective im- age. On the other hand, Darryl Far- rugia's 'Arkikuluri' focuses on the human perception of colour, allow- ing viewers to create a space with any desired colour scheme. Next is 'l-ghajn' as a source, such as the popular 'ghajn tal-ilma', which houses projects related to stories and regeneration. Pascale Spiteri's promotional campaign 'Fix Wisely' is meant to raise awareness on the abuse sometimes inflicted on the historical identity of art objects through conservation, by means of a set of intelligently-parodied post- ers. 'The Greatest Siege' is an exag- gerated adaptation of the Ottoman attack on Malta in 1565; through means of sequential art and anima- tion, Ryan Zammit Pawley aims to inspire others to move away from fact-driven retellings of historical facts. Fourth is 'l-ghajn li tghajjen', or the cursing eye, taking into considera- tions notions of the spiritual and su- pernatural. Caroline Curmi renders Alice's renowned narrative relevant to modern-day society in 'Exposing the Rabbit Hole', a project that fuses fairy tales together with psychology and philosophy, using dance and sign language to raise awareness on mental health. Michelle Trapani's 'The Voice of Creativity' challenges the vernacular approach of the 'he- ro's journey', and seeks to identify the individualistic discovery within the creative self. Through the inter- textuality of a Shaman Myth, her experimental animation seeks to identify the purpose and essence in this unfolding truth. Line, the Eng- lish term (pronounced 'lajn'), as a connector relates to linework and ideas of minimalism. Lucrezia Ra- pa's 'Dismissed Bullying in a School Setting' explores and exposes a so- cial issue by means of animation and satire, seeking to make a state- ment on apathy in the face of bully- ing. 'Feelings Spaces' is based on the applied use of theories of Proxemics and other non-verbal communica- tion, manifested by Matthew Vella in an interactive piece of product design: a bench. And lastly /la:jn/, the phonemic transcription which attributes sound to visuals, closing off the set with projects relating to audiovision and sound. Matthew Calleja's 'Qamar' is an interactive, non-linear documentary that at- tempts to represent reality objec- tively, allowing the viewer to ex- plore the topic through hyperlinks and various virtual paths. Founded in collection and curation, Siobhan Vassallo's 'Seeing Sound' explores the relationship and translation be- tween the visual and the aural, alon- gide notions of interpretation and individuality. This elaboration al- lowed for the diversity and individ- uality of each work to be exploited and promoted as a unique product, whilst still keeping in mind the way in which each project compliments another and these together form a unified work. The first of its kind, the visual identity developed for the exhibi- tion and all the work done to ad- vertise and promote it have worked together to bring out these very val- ues, highlighting the project as truly unique. Despite majoring in either graphic design or animation, each partici- pating artist shall be demonstrating their ability to work with a subject they personally have found and de- veloped a connection with over the past three years. There is no lack of creativity or variety in 'L-gh': projects range from audio-visual experiments and curational work to interactive documentaries and highly-thematic visual material. Despite being dissertation projects, all the works serve to highlight the increasing importance of art in Malta and showcase local talent. 'L-gh' will be on display at the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences at the University of Malta until June 17 This Week Punning potentials leads to collective student exhibition 'Fix Wisely' by Pascale Spiteri 'Exposing the Rabbit Hole' by Caroline Curmi

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