'Live art performance' by Marco di Mauro

The artists of the Malta International Art Biennale have participated, since 1995, in 'live performances' in the US, Italy, France, Germany and Greece.

In 1995-1996 the Biennale's Maltese sculptors' exhibition at the Lincoln Centre in New York (Anton Agius, Nikki Arnett Depasquale, Gabriel Caruana, Paul Haber and Joe Xuereb), organised and curated by the Biennale's founder-president Dame Françoise Tempra, inspired a ballet performance under the direction of Malta Biennale vice-president Vivienne Wechter of Fordhan University, New York.

In 1999, the Centre Culturel Christiane Peugeot in Paris accompanied the Malta Biennale presentation with a musical performance. In 2000 the Summer Tempra Academy, held at the town hall in Bonn-Bad Honnef, Germany, included an impressive instrumental performance organised by Milena Kunz-Bijno.

It was followed in Greece by the Tempra-Papanicolaou Symposium that witnessed painting, sculptural and architectural performances by creators from 14 countries, including the Maltese Anton Agius and Joe Genovese .

This year started with an impressive "live culture" exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London, with extraordinary performances sponsored by the Arts Council, the Felix Trust for Art and the Henry Moore Foundation. It was followed in Germany by the Malta Biennale musical, instrumental and installation performances in Düsseldorf, curated by Dame Françoise in conjunction with Biennale deputy vice-president R.O. Schabbach and Biennale sponsor and consultant Wolfgang Prinz.

This month Malta welcomed Marco di Mauro at Villa Tempra in Mgarr. The Italian painter arrived from Bologna with his brother Guido for the performance during a two-day visit to Malta, at the instigation of Ruth Grixti. And thus to create his Expressionist pictorial work inscribed, after 45 minutes, when completed: "Anche se è infinito non è detto che devi starci dentro" (even if it is infinite, you do not necessarily have to stay inside it) selected to participate in the next Malta Biennale (June 11-October 1, 2005).

Having read poems in Italian by Giuseppe Burgio, Luciano Gasper and Milena Kunz Bijno (2002 Summer Tempra Academy volume), Marco proceeded to attack the canvas with the brush. Standing in his seemingly belligerent trousers, between two gigantic loudspeakers that played his own timeless selection of inspirational music (from classical to Jazz and Pop) to a seemingly fascinated public, he left Dame Françoise to translate his message in various languages. We all face "our infinity" or what seems to be symbolically so, represented in the forefront of the picture by a circular unavoidable destiny-container, around which are linked all the human figures within a circle of fire. However a glorious light shines for the figure on the left contemplating it: "The escape of the dreamer!"

Those present included nationals of various European countries, the US, and Canada and members of the Chinese, German, Italian, Libyan and Russian embassies in Malta.

An instrumental and vocal concert followed, with song dedications by Marie-Therese Vassallo accompanied by Mro Alan Chircop, in Italian for Marco di Mauro, in Russian for Russian Ambassador Valentin Vlasov and the new director of the Russian Cultural Centre, Sergey Medvedev and Mrs Medvedeva, in French for the Biennale's founder-vice-president, Fr Marius Zerafa (a great fan of Edith Piaf), in German to welcome the newly appointed cultural attaché of the German Embassy Mrs Kerstin Platsch and Mr Thorsten Platsch, and of course her own composition in Maltese for Minsiter Censu Galea and his wife Grace, which received a hearty applause.

Violinist James Grech, accompanied by Vanessa at the piano, performed again to everyone's delight.