The first edition of the Night of Ideas in Malta celebrated collectiveness in creation. 

The French Embassy in Malta, together with Spazju Kreattiv, the Alliance Française de Malte-Méditerranée and the French Institute in Paris organised the first ever Night of Ideas in Malta on Saturday, March 12 at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta.

During the Night of Ideas, places of knowledge and culture around the world are invited to celebrate the free flow of ideas by offering conferences, screenings and artistic performances.

After two years punctuated by the coronavirus pandemic and its repercussions, with the whole planet experiencing closed borders, lockdown, suspended activities, another aim of the Night of Ideas was to address the challenge of reconnecting together. One of the answers, particularly illustrated by artists and thinkers, was given through the collectiveness in creation.

On the first roundtable, Sandro Debono, culture advisor to President George Vella, Dr Matthieu Quiniou, Laura Besançon, visual artist, together with moderator Margerita Pulè explored the notion of being an author in the frame of a collective creation: from a historical perspective, by questioning the notion of copyright across ages and geo-cultural areas, to the interactive and participative creation of today.

Night of Ideas

Gaëtan Le Coarer, PHD student in digital arts, presented two VR projects about heritage in Valletta between the two roundtables.

The second roundtable gave the floor to Caldon Mercieca, former manager of the Valletta Design Cluster, Eugénie Drion, dancer and member of the NFT platform DoinGud, Lucie Duriez, deputy director of La Friche Belle de Mai in Marseille, and moderator Toni Attard, to discuss initiatives that share the good practices for co-creation.

Another highlight was the collaboration between Besançon and the French Embassy.

Born in 1993, Besançon is a Maltese-French multidisciplinary artist, with an MA degree from the Royal College of Art. Her practice includes photography, moving image, installation and participatory projects. Central to Besançon’s practice are notions of play, connectivity and place explored through a playful approach which often utilises various communication tools as part of the process.

Besançon participated in the Night of Ideas with her project ‘Alone, together’. Her participation followed an invitation by the French Embassy – and she participated not only as a speaker, but also through an artistic residency, shared with Egyptian musician Yunis. During a full creative week hosted by the Spazju Kreattiv, they explored traditional Egyptian mythologies, rituals and material culture – particularly the use of archaic, anthropomorphic dolls as praxis during rituals. The outcome of their research took the form of a performative, participatory and public installation, called ‘I will make a bride for you’.

After this exciting collaboration with the French Embassy, Besançon applied to a programme of artistic residency in Paris, at Cité Internationale des Arts – she was selected with the continuation of her work-in-progress ‘Alone, Together.’ With the support of the French Embassy and the French Institute in Paris, Besançon will spend three months in the French capital, to further develop further her artistic research and connect with a whole Parisian and French artistic network. Besançon is the first Maltese beneficiary of this programme.