Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/714702
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 AUGUST 2016 31 This Week The trouble of time Following the MCAST Fine Arts students end-of-year exhibition – this year entitled 'Leave a Mark' TEODOR RELJIC speaks to their students about their progress through the course, and how they plan to develop their work and aesthetic in the future. This week, he speaks to Emma Grima and Domnick Sorace When did you first decide to pursue the visual arts, and how did you first set about following this passion? Emma Grima: I have always had a passion for art but only recently decided to study it full time. Af- ter sitting for my A 'levels, I was stuck between two disciplines: art and science. I finally chose the path I knew would make me happier and decided to presume a BA in Fine Arts at MCAST. Domnick Sorace: I have always had an inclination towards art from an early age, but decided to take this passion seriously when I attended Giovanni Curmi Sec- ondary School, acquiring my O Level under the guidance of Robert Zahra, in the time frame of one year. That amount of time was enough for me to conclude that Fine Arts was something which I wanted to study further, in great depth, at MCAST Institute of Creative Arts. To date, I can honestly that this was the best decision taken, as I can't imagine myself doing anything else. How would you describe your experience at MCAST, and how has it affected your progress as an artist? EG: My educational experience has been a positive one. I came from a traditional educational background and had to adapt to a practical educational sys- tem. I realised that this method of learning suited me better and saw a great improvement in my work method and technique. The course challenges and push- es us to work hard while making us conscious about meeting our deadlines. What I feel that made me progress most is being sur- r o u n d e d by great s t u d e n t s a n d t e a c h - ers with different c a p a b i l i - ties and ways of thinking that has influenced the way I tackle my work. DS: My experience at MCAST has been like a rollercoaster ride, with its ups and downs, both con- tributing to a more mature idea of this artistic career, which I am pursuing. It has taught me how to produce art works of a good consistency of skills and con- cepts. Thanks to MCAST I now am able to manifest my ideas in a much wider range of mediums, such as the traditional ones of ceramics, print making, photog- raphy, and my absolute favourite, oil painting, which I am currently specialising in. I have also come to understand divergent think- ing, which sometimes can lead me to use unconventional ma- terials such, embroidery, glass, collages and also using the above mentioned mediums in a non- conventional way. Could you speak about your contribution to 'Leave a Mark'? How did you interpret the brief, and what do you hope to ex- press with the work you've pre- sented? EG: The work which we cre- ated for this exhibition stemmed off from the seven main themes of contemporary art. I chose to follow the themes of science and time in hope of challenging and making my viewers realise the limitations of the human eye sight. I went about this by show- ing them three works: one was an optical illusion and consisted of flickering lights on water which transform the appearance of a steady stream into droplets. The second was achieved through photography, by capturing an image not visible to the naked eye (which only captures an av- erage of 45 frames per second). The camera on the other hand, captures up to 4,000. One experiences depictions of the frozen moment through two different mediums: photography (where I allow the viewers to see beyond their capacity of frames per second), and sculpture, where one experiences solidifies wax/aluminium after it touches water and thus experiences the frozen moment. DS: My contribution to the 'Leave a Mark' Exhibition con- sisted of a triptych which re- volves around the retrieval of my own memories, selecting three that have gained a significant meaning along the years. These memories were recovered in a non-chronological order, using the method of automatic writing in the form of small paragraphs. The nature of the process al- lowed me to gain momentum, recovering more and more in- formation about specific events. The paragraphs act as starting point to be later visualized meta- phorically rather than directly, through the medium of collages, constructed and reconstructed from various and unrelated pic- tures found online, to form one single image. My characters are placed in a domestic setting which repre- sents the "familiar", while their actions create the contrasting ef- fect of the "peculiar". This allows the viewers to create their own assumptions and stories of what each individual painting can pos- sibly narrate, perhaps relating them to their own meaningful memories. destination also played with objects, cre- ating maps and giving each other gifts. Rebecca gave me a nude bath (which never hap- pened) and I cut her toe nails. And importantly we spent most afternoons playing with my three-year-old son Rio. And yes, I would say there is a difference between play- ing with a child and a more "grown up intellectual" way of playing. Both were important in our process, and at least for me in my general practice and life. How are you leading up to the final products of THINK- DODOC? What shape will they take? RC: Since we do not want to make a final product, we de- cided to focus on the process. At Casa Vecina, a contempo- rary art space in Mexico City, we will present who we are, the project and open the process to allow the public to partici- pate in the tasks which we will offer. There will be walking, writing, moving, creating with objects, documenting and dis- cussing. We are also invited in Procesos en Diálogo by La Mecedora, a platform sharing performative processes. MD: The aim was always to not make a final product, to allow us to really live the pro- cess, respecting each step that was needed for it, respecting it without it having to lead us anywhere specific. But very early we realised that there was a huge paradox, we didn't want a final product… but we did want a final product. We could have just left the pro- cess as an internal one, but we decided to share it on a blog, and by opening it to others in different venues in Mexico. So I guess you could say that to invite an audience to partici- pate in our process and to hear about it is, in some ways, a fi- nal product. But at least there is no performance or art piece created from the project. Would you recommend this kind of process – one that privileges play – to local practitioners? RC: Absolutely! This process has been very inspiring and has revived something which had been dormant for a while in me. I am looking forward to coming back on the island and exchange this experience. MD: Definitely! To break away from the way I have been making art and defining myself the last years has been so important. More than any- thing, it has reconnected me with much I had left behind. This was both thanks to the playing itself and thanks to the fact of living out a new col- laboration without worrying about a final artistic product. THINKDODOC is supported by Arts Council Malta. To follow the project's blog, log on to: htt- ps://thinkdodoc.wordpress.com/ Emma Grima Beyond Perception by Emma Grima Domnick Sorace Via Del Anamnesi, 165, Gzira, Reggio Calabaria, 1709 by Domnick Sorace