Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/994982
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 JUNE 2018 If we can sidestep the film for a bit and talk about your ca- reer as a whole... You define yourself as a 'multimedia art- ist' – which is a term that en- compasses so much. Why did you choose to define yourself as such? It's a definition I've adopted over just a year ago... and it's sim- ply because I do so many differ- ent things! Like for example, I do opera, but even there I use a lot of projections. I incorporate light in a very direct way, as well as smell and touch. And I also do digital art – in fact I have an alter-ego called Rosa Borchovski which I created through the Second Life interface. And I also create im- mersive installations. So it got to a point where it became difficult to even begin describing what I do – even if I'd win an award in one field, I would then be moving on to work on something that's in a completely different genre or format. So settling under the 'multimedia artist' umbrella felt like the best way forward! Do you think that such a mul- tidisciplinary approach is par- ticularly relevant to this day and age – with its varied and sometimes fragmented plat- forms? I think about this a lot when I consider, for example, the im- mersive installations that I do and augmented reality initiatives, for example – which, to me, simply feel like a poor man's version of the former. I love doing immer- sive installations – even if they're not always viable because they're so expensive – because they give a total experience and a keen sense of freedom to the viewer. A recent one we did in Russia had screens placed on a large towers, and people could just wander through them at their own pace, and craft the story their own way. You can spend thirty minutes or three hours at the venue and still have a significant experience of it either way. Of course, there is a degree of manipulation from my end – I do create a basic sense of beginning, middle and end, for example – but the rest of it is re- ally up to the audience to decide. And 'shaking up the building' in this way really excites me. Okay, you have to tell me about your alter ego... (Laughs). Sure... well, that's somewhat tied to the way my life and career began to change after I'd met Peter. I was 32 at the time, and very much a stubborn artist who wanted to carve a niche for herself. But soon I'd realised that my name began to disap- pear into his. This caused me no small amount of grief, as you can imagine, and it goes on to this day. Even as we were out promoting The Greena- way Alphabet... in one particu- lar territory, they promoted a screening as a film 'about Pe- ter Greenaway... by his wife'. They didn't even bother to mention my name! So I was al- ways sensitive to this – I knew it was a reality of the industry. And I created Rosa as a way to counteract that – to disap- pear into her instead of Peter. But after a while, people began to associate her with Peter as well, so I decided to let her go for a while... Have you 'retired' from Ro- sa for good, then? Actually, no – I'm thinking of reviving her again for an- other project soon enough! But even independently from Rosa, I think that the Second Life interface is such a great facility for me. In fact, it's be- come both a workshop and an exhibition space for me. I can test out installations and performances there at no cost, and I still have an exhi- bition going there that's vis- ited by at least 50 people each day – which is quite amaz- ing. Especially given how open and democratic it all is – it doesn't cost anyone any money, and it's connected me with so many great artists from all over the world that I've since collaborated with. My approach with it is to al- ways go beyond the 'gaming' paradigm with it, to prove that you can have a serious art experience in this me- dium. It's also something of a challenge to deal with fi- nancially, since you can never really sell anything you make on Second Life – as opposed to, say, a painting that you do in the 'real' world – but the affection I have for it really keeps me going. Would you say that there is any connection between your other work and The Greenaway Alphabet in par- ticular? You know what... I really don't know. The Greenaway Alphabet is certainly dif- ferent. It's my first film, for a start. And while I've very much enjoyed the process of making it and touring with it – we've had quite a lucky run, and scored the oppor- tunity to travel all over with it – I still feel very much like something of an outsider. The Greenaway Alphabet was screened at this year's edition of the Valletta Film Festival. Boddeke, Peter Greenaway and their daugh- ter Zoë were present at the special screening of the film on June 9 at Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Valletta THIS WEEK FILM home Multimedia artist Saskia Boddeke: "I knew that if I gave Peter any control of it at all, I would lose all control" Family affair: Saskia Boddeke, her daughter Zoe and her husband Peter after the screening of The Greenaway Alphabet at Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Valletta. Photo by Ioana Popescu