A new performance piece is taking aim at the encroachment of public places and reflecting on the relationship that people have with the dwindling free open spaces around them.

Malta Ħanina? Tużana u Tarmina is a collaborative performance piece that combines music, poetry and dance to create a commentary on how people’s ability to enjoy public spaces is constantly under attack.

Created by Ġagħel Dingli as part of the Artivisti mentorship programme, the artist said she wanted to collaborate with poet Francesca Sammut and music producer Funky Monkey to express the frustration she feels at the way private commercial interests seem to be continuously prioritised over public common good when it comes to the use of public open spaces.

“I wanted to create the piece to showcase our relationship with public spaces and how that is reflected in the people that we consider to be less than ourselves,” she said. “The connective factor is vulnerability and increasingly, access to public spaces is becoming vulnerable.”

The 22-year-old, who recently graduated from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, said collaboration was an important factor in creating the piece, particularly, she said, to accurately portray the frustration that many young people feel at how the environment is being treated.

“I am a dancer by training, but it was important to me to collaborate with a musician and a writer and work together to bring the project to life,” Dingli said. “Like a lot of other people, I feel incredibly frustrated at the way public spaces in Malta are always decreasing because commercial interests are put before everything else. It is especially frustrating when we know what a positive difference in our lives having easy access to public spaces can have, on our mental health, for example, and the fact that these spaces are decreasing reflects poorly on us as a society.”

The fact that these spaces are decreasing reflects poorly on us as a society

She went on to say that recent episodes had further highlighted how public spaces are exploited for the benefit of the few.

“It’s not just Comino, which is such an obvious example of how a beautiful and unique space was shamelessly exploited,” Dingli continued. “Try walking down Merchants Street in Valletta. There are so many tables and chairs out in the street that you have to squeeze through a narrow corridor just to pass through.”

The three performances have been tailored to areas where Dingli felt it was pertinent to point out that the fabric of public spaces has deteriorated. To that end, she chose to stage the performances outside Spinola Garden in Paceville, outside is-Suq tal-Belt in Valletta and in Mosta’s square.

The three performances have been tailored to areas where Dingli felt it was pertinent to point out that the fabric of public spaces has deteriorated.

While high-rise development in Paceville and the controversial redevelopment of the Valletta old market have been public bones of contention for a number of years, developments in Mosta have come closer to Dingli’s heart.

“I am from Mosta myself and I have seen first-hand the gradual degradation. There’s a huge difference in the way the space is used from when I was younger to now,” she said. “The pjazza is the epitome of public life, people have always gone there to relax and socialise but this is also being encroached upon to make room for commercial activity. The centre of a locality should be a place where people can get together and serve to strengthen the community, but we have been seeing it decline rapidly.”

Dingli said she was grateful for Artivisti, which is run by Aġenzija Żgħażagħ, and Arts Council Malta, for affording her the support and guidance to put up the project.

“I like to advocate for art as a means to make social and political issues more tangible for people, so thanks to this collaboration, we were able to create something that hopefully tugs at people’s conscience and maybe inspires action about the themes we’re dealing with,” she said.

“I feel that this cry is coming strongly from my generation and others before me, and I feel that if we can make this issue more comprehensive, then maybe we can inspire action.”