JA: Dystopia is fast becoming a 21st-century reality, or maybe we are fed news from earthly hells, or are intrigued by catastrophe and cataclysms. Most pointers are indicative of a descent into an unearthly mess and that the chance of reaching the realm of utopia has perhaps passed us by. Is the human condition in this century more conducive to Dystopia?

RV: The globalising tendency towards technological, consumerist and other forms of conformity and homogeneity is presented to us – and largely accepted – as an ongoing form of progress that has accompanied modernity. This needs to be seen against a backdrop of palpable inequalities, particularly the inequalities that affect individuals and massive groups of people who need to move away from their homes. It is also confronted by a climate crisis that ignores territorial boundaries and is increasingly affecting people’s lives.

Empty Vessels make most Noise, drawing on pages from a book on bacteriology (2020).

While some of the work in this exhibition seems to refer to a general deterioration of the human condition, I personally believe that changes at grassroots level are not only important but also achievable. Real political change is crucial at the community level and is often a case of mere rhetoric at the larger institutional level.

I should add that these contrasting narratives are filtered in my work quite intuitively. For me, it is the ‘feeling’ that these different narratives need to be brought together that ultimately justifies their employment in the work. Intellectual reflection about the themes plays a part too, but people’s encounter with the aesthetic is rarely purely intellectual.

Frame from animated video bitterbetter (2023).

MR: I think it is both. Dystopia has become a reality and we are fed with dystopian news to a great extent, in which empathy or solidarity can last or survive only for a very short moment, as populism operates around us. Scales of natural disasters, for example, have become larger and their intervals smaller. In Raphael’s works at Valletta Contemporary, sicknesses and vulnerabilities are a central artistic motif, whether it is the political systems, the environment, or humans. We have to create new politics of curing and caring. And this is what the artist’s exhibition suggests in my opinion. And as Raphael has said earlier, we can’t wait until representative politics might change. We have to form a resistance from below, from ‘That Other Place’ to quote the exhibition title.

Real political change is crucial at the community level and is often a case of mere rhetoric at the larger institutional level- Raphael Vella

JA: Juxtaposition of themes is recurrent in these works. Singular narratives merge into storylines that add layers. Empty vessels make most Noise maybe refers to recent events; the pages from a book on bacteriology have been used as the backdrop for a monochromatic representation of the European Parliament – the hollow and helpless cacophony of political demagogy when confronted by a silently lethal viral epidemic. Has the political class become a shell, an echo chamber for nothingness? How does the work in this exhibition relate to contemporary political realities?

RV: The COVID-19 pandemic showed us how the health system and global care have become central to our lives. We also saw how governments sometimes made use of military language to speak of a virus that was seemingly ‘attacking’ humanity, as though we were in some kind of war with aliens from another planet.

Mixed media work from the series Body Politic (2023).

The reference to bacteria in some of the works in this exhibition hopefully makes us reflect about how the perceived ‘enemy’ is often an externalisation of issues already living in our midst, within us. But political leaders thrive in a discourse laden with militaristic jargon as well as medical jargon. The external ‘enemy’ is presented as a threat that governments can and will save us from.

What you refer to as the ‘political class’ in your question becomes a sort of medicine that will ultimately make us all feel better. I’m interested in various disciplines and institutions that promise a better, healthier, more comfortable or more democratic present and future life: politics, medicine, education, architecture. This is why political manifestos, architectural plans and medical or surgical imagery are frequently juxtaposed in the drawings, collages, videos, and so on.

View of Antibody video animation and wall drawing at Valletta Contemporary.

Frame from animated video bitterbetter (2023).

Installation view of That Other Place.

Installation of Empty Vessels make most Noise at Valletta Contemporary.

Projection of Raphael Vella’s bitterbetter (2023).

Installation view of That Other Place.

MR: Raphael Vella wears more than one hat, as he likes to say. His political responsibilities as an educator and an artist merge in this exhibition by questioning various current institutional frameworks and representations. The exhibition title That Other Place refers to the political tactics of creating categories of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, insides and outsides, which is not new, but maybe reflects the complexity of posing the right questions and creating strategies of resistance in the current environment of propagandas.

This makes it very complicated for the political class. I joined a panel of the EuroPride Valletta 2023 Human Rights conference last week. A panellist from Turkey said that the Turkish government made the LGBTIQ+ community responsible for COVID-19. In other countries, there were other ‘enemies’ according to different political agendas. I think it is no coincidence that this pandemic plays a crucial role in Raphael’s work, displayed in the gallery. In these last years, we were able to witness a lot of different ‘sick’ mechanisms from around the globe.

That Other Place, curated by Maren Richter and hosted by Valletta Contemporary, is on until October 28. Log on to the venue’s Facebook page for opening hours and more information.