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maltatoday SUNDAY 11 MARCH 2018 42 This Week Fourth edition of the Valletta International Visual Arts Festival launched EARLIER this week, Fondazzjoni Kreattività an- nounced the fourth edition of VIVA; Valletta Inter- national Visual Arts Festival. VIVA 2018 will take place from April 14 to May 27, with several collateral events and linked projects around the programme. This year's edition has been developed through numerous collaborations, and will host exhibitions around Valletta, as well as in The Mill in Birkirkara. VIVA serves as a platform for the contemporary arts in Malta, exhibiting the work of Maltese and international contemporary visual artists. Over the past years, VIVA has hosted around 25 separate ex- hibitions with almost 100 artists, curators and col- laborators, in various venues and formats. During the press launch, Minister Owen Bonnici, Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government, said that VIVA has become a key event in Malta's cultural calendar, providing a platform for new and emerging Maltese artists, alongside their more expe- rienced colleagues. This year's context of Valletta's title of European Capital of Culture will serve to strengthen the festival internationally. Fondazzjoni Kreattività Chairman, Rupert Cefai said that this is a pivotal year for VIVA; after four strong years, VIVA has now matured into an es- tablished festival. The festival's collaborations and long-term development of projects ensure a broad resonance within the visual arts scene in Malta; its sustainability in future years is essential to the con- tinuation of this work. VIVA 2018 will host ten projects; from (Met)afour- isms; a visual discussion between artists and philo- sphers facilitated by Niki Young, to Fluid Space; a questioning of the dynamics of Malta's changing urban landscapes and social structures curated by Nikki Petroni, and VAC – Visual Acoustics, which will link visual and acoustic elements through the work of ten local and international artists, curated by Zsolt Gyenes. This year, VIVA 2018 will collaborate with the German visual arts festival Ostrale, to produce the exhibition Found â mentalism, and is collaborating with Valletta18 and EU Japan Fest, to produce Eu- ropean Eyes on Japan. Another important collabo- ration is that with the Malta China Cultural Centre, which will see two prominent Chinese artists exhib- iting in Malta. French artist Sebastien Caillieux, will continue his long-term project in Malta through Im- agine Water, while emerging Maltese artist Matthew Schembri will juxtapose chance, lottery and personal loss in WiN. Lastly, VIVA will also build on a fruitful Artist's Residency in Gozo; the Azure Watch project with Giuseppe Fanizza. Following this community- sourced work, a public Call for Concepts is being made which will invite artists to submit proposals for new works that reinterpret the iconography of the Azure Window and of the Azure Watch pro- ject. VIVA 2018 invites creative reassessments of the Window via any artistic medium, taking on concepts such as built and monumental heritage, nostalgia, collective memory, environmental destruction and decomposition. A number of these proposals will be selected and developed by Spazju Kreattiv later dur- ing 2018. VIVA 2018 will take place from April 14 to May 27, at Spazju Kreattiv (St James Cavalier), the German- Maltese Circle (Palazzo Messina), Malta School of Art, and at The Mill (Gabriel Caruana Foundation) in Birkirkara. VIVA 2018 is produced by Fondazzjoni Kreattività, in collaboration with ACM, the Goethe Institute, the German Maltese Circle, Malta China Cultural Cen- tre, Malta School of Art, Spazju Kreattiv, Ostrale, the Gabriel Caruana Foundation, the Meta Foundation, EU-Japan Fest and EDAAV and is supported by Val- letta 2018 From left: Spazju Kreattiv Artistic Director Toni Sant, Minister for Culture Owen Bonnici and Spazju Kreattiv Chairman Rupert Cefai Celebrating the European Day of Early Music BESIDES being the first day of spring and the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach, March 21 is also the Euro- pean Day of Early Music. To celebrate, Teatru Manoel is presenting a concert by VIBE (Valletta International Baroque Ensemble) at St Dominic's Church in Valletta at 20.00 with a programme entitled 'Music at the Court of Kromeriz' with works by Schmelzer, Vejvanovsky, Tuma, Rittler and Biber. The European Day of Early Music is a project piloted by REMA (Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne/ European Early Music Network) which is the only Rep- resentative for Early Music in Europe. Its aim is to fa- cilitate a collaborative network for its members and to encourage the sharing of information, knowledge and co-operation among its members. The network now boasts a membership of around 75 Early Music organi- zations from 21 countries. This year it held its annual conference in Malta during the Valletta International Baroque Festival in January. Early Music spans more than a millennium of music from the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century. Through concerts, events and happenings taking place simultaneously across Europe, The European Day of Early Music is an important tribute to this historical musical heritage. The Valletta International Baroque Ensemble (VIBE) brings together leading and up-and-coming musicians who share an infectious enthusiasm for making music, and who seek to breathe life into early music. Their concert on March 21 will be streamed live simultane- ously with other similar concerts taking place through- out Europe. The original manuscripts for the music included on this programme are to this day preserved in the Mora- vian city of Kromeriz, in what is today the eastern part of the Czech Republic. Following the devastations of the Thirty-Years War, during which much of the city had been destroyed, Carl Liechtenstein-Castelcorn (1624- 1695), Prince-Bishop of Olomouc, began rebuilding the bishop's personal palace and gardens in Kromeriz and, as a further essential ornament to his court, formed a small musical ensemble and sought to obtain copies of the newest pieces from the Imperial Hapsburg court in Vienna, Salzburg, and even from Rome. Many of the sonatas were probably used during the services at the Church of St Maurice next to the Prince- Bishop's palace in Kromeriz. It should be noted, how- ever, that the realms of the sacred and secular were not that distinct in this period. As Schmeltzer wrote in the preface to his Sacro-Profanus concentus musicus in 1662, "this Sacred-Profane Musical Concord thus is col- lected especially so that it would be able to serve both to the pious worship of the saints and the honest pleasure of mankind, both to arousing piety in church and out- side the church by refreshing the human spirit". The concert on March 21 at St Dominic's Church, Merchant Street, Valletta starts at 20.00 is just over an hour long. Tickets can be purchased online at www.te- atrumanoel.com.mt, or email bookings@teatrumanoel. com.mt, or by calling the Teatru Manoel Booking Office on 21 246389 The giant fennel (M. ferla) has to be one of the most conspicuous flowering plants at the moment. It towers head and shoulders above most other countryside flowers, and at two metres or taller it often towers over us humans too. It is also very visible as it grows its flowers in this profusion of ball-shaped, bright yellow in-your-face clusters. In this way the plant advertises to all insects in the vicinity that they are all very welcome to the feast. And indeed insects do respond, because the plant is rarely without an attendant array of bees, ants, wasps, flies and small beetles vying for the goodness in its thousand florets. The leaves are also an eye-catching glossy green lacy affair but, unlike the true fennel (M. bużbież), they are not scented. The giant fennel grows in steppes, garrigues and along country lanes. The globe artichoke, what a curious vegetable. So spiny and prickly on the outside, but when cooked, so soft and buttery inside. Keep your eyes peeled for fields full of these massive plants this month. If you're not sure what to look for, think of a giant thistle. It is no surprise that they resemble this bristly flora, as they are both part of the same group of plants with prickly stems and leaves, members of the Asteraceae family. Also part of the same family, but actually not a type of artichoke, is the Jerusalem Artichoke. Although the name would imply otherwise, this root vegetable forms part of a plant that more closely resembles a sunflower than an artichoke. The reference to Jerusalem is also a bit of a mystery, but a theory is that it is a corruption of the Italian word for sunflower: girasole.FoE Malta published the AgroKatina report about the local fruit & vegetable supply chain, and the pocket guide highlighting when local fruits & veggies are in season. Find out more on www. foemalta.org/agrokatina, where you can also order a free copy of the pocket guide. 600. GIANT FENNEL Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 503: Find out more and try our tasty artichoke recipe: www.foemalta.org/fab/artichoke Text Victor Falzon Photo Desirée Falzon What's in season - March