Hayward Gallery has one. Whitechapel has one. Schwartz Gallery has one. And so does Marsden Woo.

This work is not only about creating and defining new spaces, but also about transparency, colour and drawing

Museums and galleries have recently been investing in setting up project spaces.

These are not merely for exhibition purposes, but neither are they working studios.

Such spaces present artists with an opportunity for dialogue (artwork/space/audience), for experimentation, and for the showcasing of works by distinguishable emerging individuals.

And that is why our attention fell upon the young London-based artist Patrick Mifsud, whose work is currently showing at Marsden Woo’s Project Space.

Titled On Different Levels, this is his first solo exhibition in the UK. After participating in a group exhibition in March 2011, he was approached by exhibition programme curator Tessa Peters at Marsden Woo with whom he has been working closely since last May.

“I am presenting a site-specific installation, three photographs and five drawings, which represent my current practice,” the artist says.

“On Different Levels plays with space, various sites and locations and also deals with the process of making which I find intriguing… I wanted to create an installation (Connect/Dissect), which defines and alters the physical space of the gallery, without taking away any of its volume.

“This necessitates the viewer to physically interact with the space and not use it as a disembodied viewer.

“Connect/Dissect is created out of more than 5,400 metres of polyester thread and 900 nails.

“By creating new fixing points and using the architectural features of the space, the installation runs through the gallery; connecting the ground floor with the space downstairs, while at the same time dividing and creating new spaces.”

Mr Mifsud adds: “This work is not only about creating and defining new spaces, but also about transparency, colour and drawing. Although it is sculptural, as it occupies space, I also consider it as drawing in space”.

The repetitive process engaged in while creating this and other similar installations was the starting point for the series of drawings titled Margin of Error, also currently being exhibited.

Also on show are photographs titled Geometric Forms (Urban Series) I, II & III.

This series is part of an ongoing body of work which Mr Mifsud is currently working on depicting minimal interventions in different locations.

These interventions were created at night using simple cotton yarn.

The work is then photographed and the site is abandoned with the installed intervention.

“These interventions are generally destroyed the day after, sometimes even a few hours later … I do not create any fixings, I use whatever I find on site such as lampposts, railings, fencing etc,” he says.

“The photographs are not simply a form of documentation … I have a clear idea of what each intervention will look like through the camera lens.”

Thus, the work not only exists for those viewers experiencing the work first-hand, but also for those viewing the photographs.

“The removal of the interventions by unknown viewers is as important as the intervention’s creation,”adds Mr Mifsud.

“By installing the work, I alter the site’s function and by removing the work viewers restore it.”

Mr Mifsud is showing this body of work for the first time. Up until now he has been involved in individual projects, mainly of the site-specific kind.

This time around, however, he could afford to include works related to the concept of space, architecture, viewers and drawing.

Mifsud’s work is very architectural for a visual artist. So where does this linearity, this preoccupation with space come from?

“Honestly, I don’t know what triggered this interest in space, linearity and architecture,” he says.

“The University for The Creative Art at Canterbury has a very strong architecture course and I was always surrounded with people who had similar interests.

“So this most probably left an influence on my practice.

“As viewers we are constantly inhabiting and moving through a series of different spaces, including our own kinesphere.

“I find immersive art very exciting as it affects all the senses, thus working with architecture and space offering the right solution for my practice.

“Often, I let the architecture dictate the nature of my work and use it as a starting point.

“I then tend to use everyday materials to occupy and modify space, while simultaneously remaining honest to the site.”

Most of Mr Mifsud’s work has been shown in the UK.

Before leaving Malta, however, he participated in a number of shows and organised a small exhibition at St James Cavalier in 2006.

The work exhibited then was very different as his conceptions were still evolving and maturing. Since moving, the only time he showed his work locally was in the collective exhibition, Relocation: Emerging Artists From Malta (2010). But how does he feel about the availability of exhibition spaces in Malta?

“There are many interesting places that can house contemporary art,” he says.

“However, I don’t think there is enough drive to create a permanent space for contemporary art.

“Sadly last year we saw the Malta Contemporary Art Foundation closing after a year since moving to Valletta.

“We need to believe these spaces are vital for our culture and we need to keep them financially supported in order to show the work of talented Maltese and foreign artists alike.

“On the other hand, art can exist anywhere and it does not necessarily have to be exhibited in a conventional gallery. This, however, still needs to be funded in order to keep the artistic momentum going.”