Malta will hold one of the most premium spots at the upcoming London Design Biennale 2023 for what is to be the country’s first participation at the global event.

“It’s Malta’s debut so there are obviously a lot of expectations,” said fashion designer Luke Azzopardi, who will be representing Malta at the show along with other members of the Open Square Collective.

The Biennale, which began in 2016, is a global exhibition for design-focused innovations and contemporary creativity that sees artists from diverse sectors collaborate on projects. Hosting its fourth edition in June at Somerset House, the event’s central theme is ‘The Global Game: Remapping Collaborations’.

Open Square’s exhibition not only conforms to the playful theme but, as one of its aims, focuses on viewer participation.

“It’s a bit like a game, like a labyrinth,” Azzopardi said.

The exhibition, which will be shown in Somerset House’s open-space courtyard, will feature a maze of corridors formed by wooden frames and draped with a variety of fabrics and materials dyed and displayed in a gradient of purples.

“We are sort of delving into the past,” Azzopardi said as the design team seeks to re-contextualise the traditional Maltese village core by merging traditional city planning and the Phoenician-Maltese tradition of fabric production, colour and dyeing.

Natural materials such as hemp, cotton, linen and silk will be used in harmony with the project’s other theme of nature and sustainability by combining recycled polyester, triacetate and nylon with the historically accurate elements.

Supporting the eclectic collection of materials will be a series of free-standing wooden frames which will support each other without the need for external reinforcement – an achievement considering that some drapes weigh up to 10 kilos, Azzopardi said.

“It really is a team effort,” the fashion designer emphasised the group’s parallel nature and the importance of each member’s speciality.

“We took a divide and conquer approach.”

Along with Azzopardi, the team is comprised of six members: architects Alessia Deguara and Matthew Joseph Casha, artist Trevor Borg, communications specialist Ramona Depares, and accountant Gilbert Micallef.

We are sort of delving into the past

With over 40 drapes spread across a 600 square-metre space, participants will venture into the installation, exploring the claustrophobic purple walls and, with enough success, they may find themselves in an open-space centre.

“We call it ‘The Square’ (The Pjazza),” Azzopardi said with the “space within a space” featuring artwork and pieces chosen by Arts Council Malta.

As participants walk through the draped corridors, cameras and heat sensors will also track their movements, collecting data which will then be used to create a “cyberspace extension” to the installation.

A rendering of what Malta’s exhibition space at London Design Biennale 2023 will look like.

“We have the main courtyard space which is the big fountain in the middle of the courtyard,” Azzopardi said, a spot which many exhibitors aim for as it sits within an open public space meaning that visitors will not have to pay to view it.

Yet, the team has had to face challenges that other exhibitors may not have even thought of: artificial lighting in the evenings, the large footprint that needs to be filled and even the spot’s exposure to the elements.

Still, the collective is excited to see how their space transforms over the course of the three-and-a-half-week viewing as humidity, temperature, weather and even the courtyard’s fountain tamper with the material.

“We are encouraging people to touch the fabrics,” Azzopardi said, yet another factor in their exhibits gradual but thematic deterioration.

Once the exhibit is over, the installation will continue to exist but in different formats as the materials will be brought back to Malta and presented with another design in Valletta, he said.

“Everything is going to be reused and transformed… representing the cyclical quality of the instalment.

“We are thinking of it like a tumbleweed,” he said because once the project leaves the Biennale, it will drift into different hands as the materials will be reused once again by other artists following the Valletta exhibit.

London Design Biennale 2023 will be held at Somerset House from June 1 to 25 with Malta’s exhibit free for viewing to the public.