Malta’s Ambassador of Culture FRANCIS SULTANA shares his sixth monthly arts and culture column in collaboration with Times of Malta, this time discussing this year’s Venice Art Biennale and Malta’s participation in the prestigious art show with Diplomazija Astuta which centres on Caravaggio.

The last time Venice opened the doors of its pavilions, palazzos and museums to the international art world was 2019. Later this month, the great and the good of contemporary art will gather once again for the 59th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia.

Not only is the event a wonderful exploration of the current themes and ideas within the world of modern art, it is also a much-needed escape for us all. The beautiful turquoise canals, the azure blue Italian skies, the romantic buildings, and of course, the exquisite food, is really something I have missed so much, and I cannot wait to return on the back of the vaporetto, whizzing across from Marco Polo Airport across the Grand Canal.

Right now, there is such a strong sense that the world is at a hugely crucial crossroads. This is going to be something that is very evident in the works on show in Venice, especially as we reflect on the terrible events unfolding in Ukraine. Art and culture have always been used as propaganda, and now more than ever with the rise of social media, the images that we see (or are told to see) have had a huge role in crea­ting the rhetoric that is shaping much of what is happening around the world.

Simone Leigh

The global pandemic, Brexit, the climate emergency, #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, all reflect a world that really is in flux – the old versus the new, the past clashing with the present, and most importantly, the future. What kind of world do we want to live in? This will be a tangible theme throughout the Biennale in Venice this year, which runs until November.

Simone Leigh is the first black woman to represent the USA at Venice. Sonia Boyce is the first black woman to represent the UK.

This will be a truly wonderful moment when two of the biggest pavilions in Venice embrace narratives that have been for too long underrepresented in mainstream art. Simone Leigh’s large-scale sculptures in bronze and ceramic are an essay in mystery and concealment with a focus on themes such as race and gender. If you have walked down the High Line in New York, you may well have seen Leigh’s huge sculpture entitled Brick House.

For the UK, Sonia Boyce’s work is highly collaborative and will offer visitors a multimedia installation across video, wallpaper, sound and sculpture. Sonia said: “Few would question the enormous challenges we have collectively faced over the past two years. What has shone through, for me, in this journey to create a new body of work is the irrepressible spirit of human creativity. The people that have agreed to go on this journey with me have shone bright.” It is a positive position, to have a sense of hope, and the belief that we can, as a collective, enact change, be that gender and racial equality, climate solutions or gaining peace in our world.

Sonia Boyce. Photo: Sarah Weal

The bravery and fortitude of the Ukrainian team, who have managed to evacuate fragments of the installation by Pavlo Makov from Kiev since the war broke out, is testament to the strength and resilience of the Ukrainian art community that will not let its spirit be diminished. Their collective belief that Ukraine must remain an ever-present force on the international stage puts everything into context.

Curators Maria Lanko, Lizaveta German and Borys Filonenko said: “In times like this, the representation of Ukraine at the exhibition is more important than ever. When the sheer right to existence for our culture is being challenged by Russia, it is crucial to demonstrate our achievements to the world.”

Fountain of Exhaustion is a kinetic sculpture, water is poured into one of 72 funnels, and as it descends the pyramid only a few drops reach the bottom, symbolising exhaustion on both a personal and global level.

On February 28, the entire Russian team at the Biennale resigned, instantly cancelling the participation of Russia in this year’s exhibition.

Malta’s Diplomazija Astuta will show the work of Italian sculptor Arcangelo Sassolino and Malta’s Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci

One of the interesting elements of the Biennale are all the off-site exhibitions – there will be so much going on all over the city, it’s worth letting yourself wander around for an afternoon and just discover whatever you find, as you go. At the Palazzo Grassi, the work of Marlene Dumas is one stop I urge you to make. Dumas’s work is strong, it is visceral, and it does not hold any punches.

One of the amazing things about going to Venice is seeing very strong art, such as Dumas’s, hung within the stunning backdrop of a Venetian palazzo – it is rather alluring seeing something so arresting underneath such stunning golden vaulted ceilings and frescos.

Pavilion of Malta at Biennale Arte 2022. Photo: Massimo Penzo

Venice biennale always reminds me of visiting St John’s Co-Cathedral, seeing the violence of Caravaggio’s work yet set within such a magnificent baroque space – the juxtaposition has always thrilled me. I am therefore very excited that Caravaggio’s work will be the basis of Malta’s pavilion this year.

Man’s tempestuous relationship with industry and, by default, the natural world, will be two strong themes at this year’s Biennale. Two of the large and industrially immersive installations that will be on show come from Malta and from Italy, and I feel that they will be very reflective of the current state of the world.

Malta’s Diplomazija Astuta will show the work of Italian sculptor Arcangelo Sassolino, and Malta’s Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci. The pavilion has been curated by Keith Sciberras from Malta and Jeffery Uslip from the US, and this year it will feel very relevant, evoking an emotion that I believe audiences will find highly effective and moving.

Reimagining Caravaggio’s The Beheading of St John the Baptist, that we in Malta all know very well, the work has been transposed to a thoroughly modern setting – allowing the past to inhabit the present and also forcing us to confront the future. Giuseppi Schembri Bonaci, Brian Schembri and Arcangelo Sassolino have together created a site-specific work where molten steel droplets will fall from a structure overhead into seven basins of water, each representing a subject in The Beheading.

Artist Gian Maria Tosatti (left) and Eugenio Viola, curator of the Italian Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2022. Photo: Elena Andreato

Upon contact with the water, the bright orange embers will hiss, cool and recede into darkness. Brian Schembri’s soundscape based on a Gregorian chant will further enhance the sense of the past coming to life for a contemporary audience.

This will be a very physical and thought-provoking presentation for Malta, and I think the strongest since we returned to Venice in 2017.

For Italy, this year it is the first time a single artist has represented the host nation. History of the Night & Destiny of the Comets, by Gian Maria Tosatti, like Malta, offers an industrially focused site-specific immersive experience.

Curated by Eugenio Viola, the work will look at man’s role with industry and with nature.

A visual essay in two acts, the History of the Night looks to the past while the Destiny of the Comets looks to the future and what a possible outcome might be. The entire installation in the Tesse delle Vergini offers a complex and experiential narrative that is often unsettling, yet like the work of many of the pavilions in Venice, the artists are offering us also a sense of hope and promise, the idea that the future has yet to be written, and we all have the chance to create a new history. Let us hope that the future is one of peace, with art being the strong narrative to unite us all.

Gian Maria Tosatti working on the Italian Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2022. Photo: Elena Andreato